(AP Photo/Darryl Webb) As the Ghost of Christmas Past, appearing in a silver and black no. 8 jersey, came back to remind our souls the dreadful feeling of a buzzer beater defeat, only the oblivion that comes from a bottle of good wine could provide some relief on Christmas Day.
As sad as it might be I can’t stand the raw awareness that when it matters the Spurs will find a way to beat the Suns. It could be a Parker’s layup, an Horry-fic flagrant foul, a Manu’s floater, a Duncan improbable 3-pointer. How, it’s not even relevant anymore.
What I hate the most is that feeling that, with 4.3 seconds left, I knew, we all knew I am afraid, it was going to happen, again. I was inevitably prepearing for the worst.
Suns are still dealing with their inability to make the key defensive stops that killed their chances of winning it all in the D’Antoni Era. “We just had a breakdown, I mean Grant did a good job on guarding the guy, the guy in the corner got suckered in to much and allowed Mason to get some space“, that’s it Coach Porter.
That replay of Richardson making that half step to his left trying to close the lane of Tony Parker’s drive that was going nowhere that left the third best 3-point shooter in the NBA with an open look at the basket will haunt for some times.
“I knew if I had it I was going to shoot it and hopefully it would go in and thank god it did.” Mason said after the shot. I don’t get why god should be a Spurs fan.
I know it was an instinctive move by J-Rich, but if Tony Parker had scored that impossible basket it would have sent the game to OT, with Duncan playing on 5 fouls, playing in the Valley and everything.
The game was a usual highly contested with the Suns leading most of the way (11-0 starting the contest) and the Spurs coming back eventually winning it 91-90.
Parker (27 points, 8 assists) and Duncan (25 points, 17 rebounds) led the Spurs while it was the Suns big men doing most of the damage with Shaq (23 points, 12 rebounds) and Stoudemire (25, 13) having a very good game.
In the end only wine and the immortal words of Poet Laureate “What Would Oakley Do?“ could ease the pain.
As Nash’s Suns, before Shaq, used to fly,
With quickness they ran, walking like Kenny through sky.
Going through the words of “Twas Two Years Before Knicksmas” was of great help getting ready for the Celtics and the Lakers.
Eventually, the game at the Staples Center provided some more misery. It was great, a playoff game in December and scary at the same time. The Suns are not going to beat those teams in the Spring.
Yours truly, Steve “burp” Fan
