Suns fans, I am going to dump the formalities here and get down to brass tacks ... Whereas yesterday I was lost, today I was found ... Yesterday I questioned whether there was a true rivalry between the Spurs and Suns anymore. But today I awoke to sunshine, and an odd, familiar feeling.
IT IS SPRING.
And spring means a couple of things to me, the most important being the Suns usual run at the playoffs. And when I think of the Suns and playoffs many thoughts race through my mind. But inevitably it all fades to black. And silver. Yeah, the Spurs. Tim Duncan, Bruce Bowen, Robert Horry, Tony Parker and the ever smug yet somehow brilliant Gregg Poppovich.
Suns fans, you know as well as I do that San Antonio is, was and will continue to be a hated rival and arch nemesis of the Phoenix Suns long into the future. Well after Steve Nash dishes his final NBA assist, Timmeh limps off into the sunset, and Pops slinks off into some dark cave where he belongs.
There is no need to toss out fancy, colorful graphs, and I feel there's no use in dissecting this matchup in order to determine what the Suns need to do in order to win. I don't care about X's and O's tonight. I care about heart and pride. And while most of the present Suns were not on the squads to experience the misery of the early to late 2000s and the complete glee of the 2010 SWEEP, I believe they will understand how big a victory against the Spurs is.
For the 2012 Suns, the season gets no more important than March 27, at home, versus the San Antonio Spurs.
If you aren't jacked up for the game tonight, you may as well burn your Nash jersey and pick up a nice black and silver one with the letters B-O-W-E-N or H-O-R-R-Y etched into the back.
[Note by Wil Cantrell, 03/27/12 6:05 PM MST ]
Tiago Splitter and Stephen Jackson are "doubtful" tonight for the Spurs.