An Asterisk Championship?

[sdscard4]

Nobody remembers Byron Scott or Magic injured in the 89 finals....You just know Detroit has the banner. Injuries happen. Paul with shoulder ...Covid...Book and the busted nose.
We still took care of business.

 

[AzCards777]

No asterick! Was it an easier path? Of course but the Suns showed just how good they really are by "steam rolling" through everyone! Lakers and Nuggets were completely dominated and eventhough the Clips put up a fight we dominated in their building to close it out. Suns did what they were suppose to do. Give us credit!

We cant control other teams injuries im sorry.

I'll even add that SUNS beat the lakers in game1 with a healthy AD and no CP3 for most of the game so.

 

[Phrazbit]

Total rubbish to even suggest.

Golden State won a title a few years back by rolling through injured teams and it was the WARRIORS injuring them with dirty play. No one questioned the legitimacy of their title.

There is a LOT of luck that goes into winning a title, for the first time ever we are the luckiest team to this point. It doesn't make it any less of an achievement.

 

[Hoop Head]

How could we have won one without an asterisks this year? We only played the games ahead of us, and won them. Not our fault that other teams suffered some bad luck.

I'm sure this talk wouldn't be as loud if the Clippers made it but its funny how they were called out for gaming the system to get a weak first round opponent and to avoid the Lakers when the postseason started but no one was saying they'd get an asterisk title if it worked in their favor.

 

[Carolinacacti]

Suns haven't won the damm thing yet. I remember when Magic was the only Laker healthy in the finales and played center.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Suns haven't won the damm thing yet. I remember when Magic was the only Laker healthy in the finales and played center.

Yeah and he outplayed Dawkins, pretty much ruined the guy for life. And we all know we've won nothing so far, were discussing the narrative being advanced in many places - that we will be branded with the scarlet asterisk should we win it all.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

Total rubbish to even suggest.

Golden State won a title a few years back by rolling through injured teams and it was the WARRIORS injuring them with dirty play. No one questioned the legitimacy of their title.

There is a LOT of luck that goes into winning a title, for the first time ever we are the luckiest team to this point. It doesn't make it any less of an achievement.

Also I believe Steph's response to the haters that year was a sarcastic apology for beating the teams in front of them. That is ultimately all you can do in the end. Sure some title runs are harder than others, but they all go down as a title at the end of the day.

 

[Hoop Head]

The media hates giving new champions their due. They discredited the Warriors first title win when it happened but now look back on it as Steph's ascension to superstardom and the true beginning of the 3 ball era. They discredited the Mavrericks title by trashing the idea of super teams but now they point to Dirks historic series. Also when the Pistons won back in 04 all the talk was about how Kobe and Shaq lost, the Lakers imploded, etc. Now they're viewed as one of the best TEAMS in NBA history, winning without a true superstar.

Its only the super teams that they want to at the top because those are the media darlings and are an easier sell because they annoint them as champs once they form so they can say I told you so. Its after a little while they accept those past winners, when the can form a new narrative to look at them.

 

[Mainstreet]

I bet fans of teams that win a championship don't debate whether there should be an asterisk by their title.

 

[Western Font]

Sports media is just having a conversation, and it doesn’t bother me. For fans though, don’t complain if your big-market super team gets hurt and a non-super team ends up winning. You already HAD an advantage.

The Suns didn’t injure anyone during these playoffs. AD is frequently injured on his own. Murray was injured before the playoffs and it was Jokic with the flagrant on Payne. Kawhi was injured before the Suns series and it was Beverley with the cheap shots.

I’m happy the Suns will be facing another typical also-ran who got it done in the finals.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Sports media is just having a conversation, and it doesn’t bother me. For fans though, don’t complain if your big-market super team gets hurt and a non-super team ends up winning. You already HAD an advantage.

The Suns didn’t injure anyone during these playoffs. AD is frequently injured on his own. Murray was injured before the playoffs and it was Jokic with the flagrant on Payne. Kawhi was injured before the Suns series and it was Beverley with the cheap shots.

This. All this.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I bet fans of teams that win a championship don't debate whether there should be an asterisk by their title.

Well, I don't think they take both sides of the issue but yeah, I think they do in a manner similar to what we're doing. I remember reading Spurs Talk when their championship was branded this way and there was a lot of discussion similar to ours.

But the idea itself is pretty phony, should we win we're supposed to pretend there's an invisible asterisk by our name to denote a fake title? As I said before, no way does the winner this season deserve an asterisk but if you buy the nonsense there isn't a team that could win this season that wouldn't deserve the same treatment and that includes teams that are already out such as the Clippers (where most of this noise is coming from).

Luck plays a part of every championship and occasionally it plays a huge part, if you're going to asterisk us or anyone this season than you have to go back and put an asterisk by probably half the winners.

 

[Mainstreet]

Well, I don't think they take both sides of the issue but yeah, I think they do in a manner similar to what we're doing. I remember reading Spurs Talk when their championship was branded this way and there was a lot of discussion similar to ours.

But the idea itself is pretty phony, should we win we're supposed to pretend there's an invisible asterisk by our name to denote a fake title? As I said before, no way does the winner this season deserve an asterisk but if you buy the nonsense there isn't a team that could win this season that wouldn't deserve the same treatment and that includes teams that are already out such as the Clippers (where most of this noise is coming from).

Luck plays a part of every championship and occasionally it plays a huge part, if you're going to asterisk us or anyone this season than you have to go back and put an asterisk by probably half the winners.

I agree there would be a lot of asterisks besides other championships as well if one is inclined to revisit the subject.

All a team can do is play the teams in front of them.

 

[Western Font]

It’s only a “problem” if the Suns win the next series and then it’s a good problem to have.

But the pretext of the conversation is that the Suns (or Hawks or Bucks) will win this maligned title and then fade back into obscurity. Why should this be so? Winning multiple championships is difficult for anyone, but all these teams have top talent to build around. These aren’t lunchpail rosters that managed to grind it out (not that I don’t love a lunchpail team).

 

[Mainstreet]

It’s only a “problem” if the Suns win the next series and then it’s a good problem to have.

But the pretext of the conversation is that the Suns (or Hawks or Bucks) will win this maligned title and then fade back into obscurity. Why should this be so? Winning multiple championships is difficult for anyone, but all these teams have top talent to build around. These aren’t lunchpail rosters that managed to grind it out (not that I don’t love a lunchpail team).

The Suns have excellent talent in Booker, Paul and Ayton but what I most like about this team is they are a lunch pail team with their work ethic.

This is the type of team they are, the way they were built and the way they are coached. They have players that put in the work.

 

[mjb21aztd]

If suns get it than in my eyes there is no tainted championship no matter what anyone else says true suns fans bern waitin forever like cards fans!!

Go suns next will be interested

We are the valley!!

 

[Hoop Head]

Wasn't sure where I should put this but I think here is reasonable.

ESPN has a really good piece up about Paul redefining his own legacy. Its an insider piece but if you can read it, its solid. Its by Zack Lowe and I find him to be the least bias of all ESPN writers, he's just a big fan of basketball.

Lowe: Chris Paul finally has a chance to redefine his legacy

Perfectionist, irritant, Point God. Chris Paul has done just about everything that can be done in a Hall of Fame career. Now, 16 years in, he finally gets his shot at an NBA championship.

www.espn.com

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Personally I’d like to see this entire thread removed. No offense to the OP, but there’s no asterisk with whomever wins it all this season and if it’s us I hate even having a thread on here with this title.

 

[TucsonDevil]

OK, so if this and others have "Asterisks" to their Titles... Can you name a few that don't? Personally, I believe that type of hate comes from entitled fan bases that have seen their teams build "Super teams" by hook or crook and are just ****** because it didn't work out.

There is still work to be done - 4 more wins. If the Suns are able to raise that banner - I won't be preoccupied with any circumstances. I will be just thrilled and emotional.

 

[Superbone]

F that noise!

Every year these things happen. No teams are fully healthy. It is a war of attrition. Whoever comes out on top at the end is the winner. No ifs, ands, or buts. There is no such thing as asterisks on a championship. Only in losing team fans' minds. And they are long forgotten over the years.

 

[Muggz]

Anyway there will be no asterisk.

That's not how the Suns curse works.

Cp3s series winning shot will be in the air just as the asteroid hits Earth.

 

[Skratchy_Seal]

I don't really understand all this asterisk stuff, and this includes the 1999 Spurs and 2020 Lakers. It's not like some eligible playoff teams just up and boycotted the tournaments. Every team went in, with one thing in mind, and that was being the champs, and they played whatever team they had to beat to get there.

 

[WhyAlwaysMe]

There's no denying that we got our share of luck (so far) this season. Big deal. The people that are pushing this narrative are mostly fans of teams that honestly would be every bit as worthy of an asterisk if they advanced.

Fully healthy, the Lakers would beat us but the Clippers would still be going home in the conference finals. Unless Utah was fully healthy and then it's quite possible they'd have lost the round earlier.

The Nets and Lakers for that very short time when they were fully healthy were above everyone, beyond that any team that wins it all this year will do so (in part) due to good fortune. It happens often, there's just more whining about it this season than usual.

It is funny how the complaining parties are so transparently jealous that they can’t even make what is a facially reasonable argument without sputtering into BIG SAD and BIG MAD loser talk within seconds. Other than what has already been stated about the Suns clear injuries (most significantly Paul being basically hurt the entire Lakers series and putting up a 42% TS lol, and then being out or hurt [wrist ligaments] for 5 out of 6 games against the Clippers), it is very important to note that in the only series in which we had health, Denver, we didn’t just beat them, we didn’t just sweep them, we utterly embarrassed them to the tune of 18ppg point differential. That’s more than the PD between the best and worst regular season teams this year! And the absolute key to the Denver throttling was Paul—our best player by far at full health—being fully healthy. That makes our victories over the Lakers and Clippers with him being hurt for 90% of the games that much more impressive.

 

[AzStevenCal]

It is funny how the complaining parties are so transparently jealous that they can’t even make what is a facially reasonable argument without sputtering into BIG SAD and BIG MAD loser talk within seconds. Other than what has already been stated about the Suns clear injuries (most significantly Paul being basically hurt the entire Lakers series and putting up a 42% TS lol, and then being out or hurt [wrist ligaments] for 5 out of 6 games against the Clippers), it is very important to note that in the only series in which we had health, Denver, we didn’t just beat them, we didn’t just sweep them, we utterly embarrassed them to the tune of 18ppg point differential. That’s more than the PD between the best and worst regular season teams this year! And the absolute key to the Denver throttling was Paul—our best player by far at full health—being fully healthy. That makes our victories over the Lakers and Clippers with him being hurt for 90% of the games that much more impressive.

Indeed. It's like they've all forgotten or have chosen to ignore that we finished with the 2nd best record in the NBA, just a game out of first overall. And after starting 8-8 while our guards learned to play together we've compiled the best winning percentage in the league.

We've proven we belong here, we didn't steal anything and we weren't gifted anything. We outplayed our opponents, give the asterisk to the teams that think that doesn't matter.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Championships are as much about surviving as winning--all of them. Nothing different about it this year.