Phoenix Suns fans tried to show some real class tonight. The crowd chanted "WE WANT STEVE! WE WANT STEVE!" so loud at the 5-minute mark of the 4th quarter that when ESPN went to commercial, we all assumed Nash would come back in. He didn't. And the Suns promptly lost the lead. Finally, after another timeout at 3:57, Nash re-entered to raucous cheers. And then turned the ball over. And then was taken right back out of the game.
During that one minute of game time, the Suns went from a 6-point lead to a 7-point deficit. Just like that. The Spurs reacted to being dissed by going on a 13-0 run while the Suns were acting like it was prom night. Game over.
Sigh.
I don't understand what happened there. Why put Nash in for one play? Either give in to the very distracting crowd, or don't. But the way it was handled, the Suns lost focus long enough for a D-League team to go on a 13-0 run.
No more Phoenix Suns basketball for five, almost six, months. In the meantime, we will likely be able to count actual news moments on one hand. Two, if we're lucky. That's no more than 10 days with actual bona-fide team-changing news out of about 180.
(In that same time-span, BSotS authors will likely post at least 400 stories, plus there should be at least 150 or so FanPosts. For 10 days of actual news. #lol)
But I digress. I hope you got a good look at the Suns roster tonight and made your peace with each. Cuz you're not likely to see more than half of them back next season. But unlike previous offseasons with 50% roster turnover, I'm sure THIS time everyone who loves the Suns wants it to happen. Even the Suns' head coach.
But again, I digress. My mind is wandering tonight. Sorry.
The Suns played the Spurs tonight, but for most of the game it was less interesting than preseason. At least in preseason, guys are looking to impress the coach for minutes in the immediate future.
Tonight? Not so for the Suns. Not one guy on the Suns team knows for sure if he will be back next season. They were just playing for the crowd, and for individual pride (and money this summer). If I had to guess ONE guy most likely to return, it would be Sebastian Telfair, who is under a partially-guaranteed minimum-salary contract for 2012-13 after winning the 2012 Majerle Hustle Award for his work this season. Yep, he's the safest bet.
Oh yeah. Suns won the game, and finish with a winning record for the 7th time in the last 8 seasons. Whoops, wrote that prior sentence mid-4th. Really thought I could use it. Oh well. I guess I don't give a crap any more than Alvin Gentry or any of the team outside Bassy.