Not To Make Excuses, But... (To The Defense of the Suns)

The Suns, for the first part of the 2009-2010 season were the feel good team of the NBA.  It took them less than one week to come crashing down to earth and send every self-righteous ESPN/Yahoo! Sports/blogger-type analyst typing away at some headline along the lines of: "Suns Rise Like A Phoenix, Then Come Crashing Down To Earth".

Rightfully so.  The 14-3 Suns lost, after a few days rest, to a 3-14 New York Knicks team.  A very motivated, angry D'Antoni led Knicks team, but still.  The records don't lie.

However, at this point in the season, there are a few other teams at very similar (I'll be focusing on the ones that have the same records...for now) points in this season.  These teams are: the Cleveland Cavaliers (15-7) and the Dallas Mavericks (15-7).

The Schedule

Many of those "ESPN/Yahoo! Sports/blogger-type" analysts I mentioned earlier at least managed to mention the strength of the Suns' schedule.  However, with all of the hullabaloo surrounding our hometown team, there are other teams that seem to be gliding along, under the radar.  Oh, the joys of surprising people, and popping up on everyone's radars (again).  I looked at the schedules, and I found some interesting things.

Here's the shakeout of each team.  The @ denotes an away game, and a B2B denotes the second game of a back to back series.

Cleveland: Boston, @Toronto (B2B), Chicago, @Washington (B2B), @Charlotte, @Memphis, @Houston (B2B).

Dallas: Washington, @New Orleans (B2B), @San Antonio (B2B), Golden State, @Cleveland (B2B), @Memphis, Atlanta (B2B).

Phoenix: @Orlando (B2B), @LA Lakers (B2B), @New Orleans, @New York, @Cleveland (B2B), @LA Lakers (B2B), @Dallas.

Right now, most people are thinking, okay...so you can list teams.  So what?  Next, I'll touch on one of the more obvious statistics: the fact that three or four "B2B"s show up in each of the aforementioned teams' seven losses.

The Story of the Back to Back

It's no secret that many teams are worn out on the second night of a back to back, if the prior game was against a formidable opponent, and especially if they had to travel.  So, I took the liberty of looking at what teams came before the B2B losses.

Cleveland:

Loss: @Toronto, Prior Game: Boston (L); Loss: @Washington, Prior Game: Golden State (W); Loss: @Houston, Prior Game: @Memphis (L).

Dallas: 

Loss: @New Orleans, Prior Game: Utah (W); Loss: @San Antonio, Prior Game: Houston (W); Loss: @Cleveland, Prior Game: @Indiana (W); Loss: Atlanta, Prior Game: @Memphis (L).

Phoenix: 

Loss: @Orlando, Prior Game: @Miami (W); Loss: @LA Lakers, Prior Game: New Orleans (W); Loss: @Cleveland, Prior Game: @New York (L); Loss: @LA Lakers, Prior Game: Sacramento (W).

There are a few things that stand out here.  Of the back to back losses for each team, only one of those teams is a current playoff team for Cleveland, one is a playoff team for Dallas, and all four are playoff contenders for the Suns.  Let's not forget to mention that 3 of those back to back losses came at the hand of last year's NBA Finals contestants: twice to the Lakers, and once to the Magic.

The Open Road Song

Anyone you talk to, be it athlete or not, can attest to not feeling 100% after a long plane trip, bus ride, or other form of lengthy transportation.  Whether it's attributed to jet lag or just sitting in one spot for hours at a time, one thing is for sure: long road trips and extended periods of time on the road can wear on anyone, especially an NBA team full of athletes playing at the highest level of competition.  Well, usually.  Out of the 22 games our three contestants have played in, 12 have been on the road for Cleveland, 12 have been away from home for the Mavs, and 15 have been in a state not named Arizona for the Suns.  That's 54.5%, 54.5%, and 68.2%, respectively.  Sixty eight point two percent.  I'm not here to point any fingers, but it appears the Suns are on the short end of the stick when it came to early season scheduling.

Conclusion

I know the season is early.  I know that on any given night, a terrible team can find it within themselves to beat a good team.  I just felt the need to offer a more complete point of view and come to the defense of a team that many bandwagon followers started hating on after a few losses.

But even through all this, we can all breathe a sigh of relief and say this: at least we're not the Nets.