Welcome to the playoff's my friends. If you are anything like me watching the final 3 minutes and then the OT you have just finished restarting your heart, changing your shorts, and apologizing to the dog for booting him across the room. Not that he didn't deserve it for those bad calls and missed rebounds!
But its all good.
If you asked anyone who follows the NBA before this game to rank the top 5 teams it might look something like this or like this. And then if you asked them to really rank the teams based on their legit changes to win the title is would be more like this:
1a and 1b - Pistons/Celtic
2 - Lakers
3a 3b and 3c - Spurs/Suns/Jazz
And that's how this game turned out. Despite some crappy calls, right now the Pistons are just that little bit better then the Suns. But its close. And after all the turmoil of the season and just coming out of the big mid-season pre-season rebuild project you can't be too unhappy about that. For this new Suns team to learn how to win these close games you sometimes have to lose them. That's one of those things that you gave up in the trade; - that team memory for how to get it done on a night like this. and yes, I went all semi-colon on your ass right there grammar police!...and got busted for it...:(
On the Bright Side:
The Suns shot 50% against the league's 3rd best defense and held Detroit to 45% from the field. Most nights that's going to get it done. Tonight they played a grind it out sub-100 point game and barely lost on a few bad bounces (and questionable calls). And give Sheed credit. As Eddie Johnson said on the Suns telecast, when this guys shows up, he's a top 5 player. He's one of the worst matchups for Amare.
On the Brighter Side:
The Suns gave up a few more offensive boards which were crucial at the end of the game but played well enough to win a tough one on the road. I'll take it.
I am going to hold off on the POG and some other thoughts until after I have finished watching the game. I listened to Al McCoy for the first quarter from my desk (still a real treat) and then caught most of the 2nd and all of the last 4 minutes and over time.