AZ Rep: Suns on wrong end of history

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/columns/articles/0725bickley0725.html

Again, Suns on wrong end of history

Dan Bickley
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 25, 2007 12:00 AM

Welcome to our basketball nightmare, the one that never ends.

It's the lost coin flip that sent Lew Alcindor to Milwaukee, not Phoenix. It's Richie Powers not calling a technical foul when Paul Silas screamed for a timeout his Celtics didn't possess, an oversight that skewed the 1976 NBA Finals.

Legend has it that Powers admitted his wrongdoing years later, stating he didn't want to decide a game of such magnitude on such a formality.
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"Supposedly (the confession) happened at a private golf club in New York, after a few drinks," Suns Chairman Jerry Colangelo said. "But you're going to have to ask someone else."

And, supposedly, former Suns assistant coach Al Bianchi bought a championship ring for himself to protest those stolen Finals, inscribing it with a special sentiment directed toward the now-deceased referee.

"I'd like to help you, but I can't comment about anything," Bianchi said.

Too bad. We could use a good laugh right about now.

Except there's more. Like the rash of bizarre injuries that have soured the past three postseasons and the drug scandal in 1987, the same year the crash of Northwest Airlines Flight 255 killed 154 people on board, including Suns center Nick Vanos.

It's the gut-wrenching jump shot from John Paxson in 1993, the unfulfilled promise of Charles Barkley and the untimely lockout of 1998-99, one that ruined the Suns' planned assault of a fertile free-agent market.

It was the unfortunate signing of Penny Hardaway, and the ensuing prediction of multiple championships by Jason Kidd, whose time here also ended quite badly.

In sum, it's enough missed shots and misfortune to make one think the Suns are the cursed outfit in town, not the Wile E. Coyotes or the hard-luck Cardinals. And it's why the latest controversy engulfing the NBA - the case involving disgraced referee Tim Donaghy - feels extremely personal here in the Valley.

"This is a tough situation," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said. "And to be honest, I really can't talk to you about it."

Of course not. Right now, no one in the NBA will talk about anything remotely involving a whistle. This sordid tale of a rogue referee allegedly fixing games right under the league's nose has cut that deep, all the way to the bone.

"My reaction is, I can't believe it's happening to us," NBA Commissioner David Stern said at a Tuesday news conference in New York.

Stern called it the "worst situation" he's ever experienced, and no doubt, the desperate actions of Donaghy have humbled the NBA's fearless leader. Correctly labeled as the best commissioner in sports, Stern has grown surly over the years: berating the media, scolding the conspiracy theorists and generally acting as if we were all three steps lower on the evolutionary ladder.

This will burst that bubble. It could affect the league's tango with Las Vegas as a potential home for an NBA franchise. And it should serve as a stark reminder and a dangerous lesson for a nation that has become frighteningly blase about gambling.

If Donaghy turns out to be a lone wolf on the hook of some really bad people, a guy that messed with the over/under to pay off his own marker but never jobbed a team out of a really important game, Stern will get through this nearly unscathed. As Mavericks owner Mark Cuban suggested, the NBA might even benefit from the chance to overhaul its officiating system.

I propose an efficient system that gives coaches two challenges in each half, to be used only after stoppages in play or at the end of a game.

But Stern's image never will be the same among the skeptics, the ones that believe he fixes draft lotteries and failing franchises, that he favors superstars and television ratings. And no place will be more dangerous for Stern than here in Phoenix, the pound-for-pound champion of conspiracy theorists, a region that already carried great mistrust of the commissioner and his merry band of zebras.

Yeah, we got nightmares, alright. Someone should get Alice Cooper to write a song about it, if anyone can get him off the golf course. In the end, maybe we should all take a cue from Bianchi.

Maybe we should stage our own parade and be done with it.

 

[dodie53]

so unlucky..

 

[arthurracoon]

i was finally getting over it....and then this....

 

[nashman]

Was thinking all the same things man we have terrible luck!

 

[Arizona's Finest]

 

[Gaddabout]

Welcome to our basketball nightmare, the one that never ends.

Too bad. We could use a good laugh right about now.

And it's why the latest controversy engulfing the NBA - the case involving disgraced referee Tim Donaghy - feels extremely personal here in the Valley.

Yeah, we got nightmares, alright. Someone should get Alice Cooper to write a song about it, if anyone can get him off the golf course. In the end, maybe we should all take a cue from Bianchi.

Maybe we should stage our own parade and be done with it.

Our nightmare? We? Personal to who?

I like Dan, but that was one of the more surreal columns I've read in the Republic in my 30 years here in the Valley. I kept waiting for him to quote Bill Clinton:

I fuheel yore puhain.

 

[WuRaider]

and the untimely lockout of 1998-99, one that ruined the Suns' planned assault of a fertile free-agent market.

I remember that year, so much cap room, they were about to go after Scottie Pippen, and then BOOM "not so fast phoenix, the curse will live on"

 

[F-Dog]

Phoenix, the pound-for-pound champion of conspiracy theorists...

Not sure I'd award them that honor. Not yet, anyway.


This is archetypal Bickley, though.

 

[BillsCarnage]

Am I the only one that thinks the Suns coughed up the Spurs series in Gm1, not some official???

 

[green machine]

Am I the only one that thinks the Suns coughed up the Spurs series in Gm1, not some official???

Just like the Spurs coughed up game 4.

At any rate, I don't think Donaghy cost them the series. That said, the Suns have seemingly had a lot of bad breaks in their history, and not just small breaks, but really big ones.

 

[BillsCarnage]

Just like the Spurs coughed up game 4.

At any rate, I don't think Donaghy cost them the series. That said, the Suns have seemingly had a lot of bad breaks in their history, and not just small breaks, but really big ones.

True, but we know how gm4 ended too.

Anyway, the Suns are always playing catch up w/ the Spurs. This year was no different.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Am I the only one that thinks the Suns coughed up the Spurs series in Gm1, not some official???

It helps people sleep at night believing there's some boogeyman or omnipotent entity like David Stern pulling strings that ensure the Suns lose. Facing the fact that the Spurs have always been a difficult matchup and that it's going to be extremely difficult if not impossible for the Suns as currently constructed to get over on them is a tough pill to swallow.

 

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

It helps people sleep at night believing there's some boogeyman or omnipotent entity like David Stern pulling strings that ensure the Suns lose. Facing the fact that the Spurs have always been a difficult matchup and that it's going to be extremely difficult if not impossible for the Suns as currently constructed to get over on them is a tough pill to swallow.

I think youre missing the point. Everyone here knows odds are ugly against the spurs. But our lineup was amazing this year, we were on a roll, and had tons of confidence. With all the fluke happenings in the series, it increases that frustration exponentially.

Its like this; we all knew it was going to be an uphill battle, but we didnt expect rocks and boulders to be thrown at us on the way up.


I also dont think anyone is refuting the suns choked in game 1

 

[Gee!]

He forgot to mention the McDyess fiasco..

 

[green machine]

He forgot to mention the McDyess fiasco..

I think this is a part of his mention of the lockout fiasco.

 

[Gee!]

I think this is a part of his mention of the lockout fiasco.

oh.. i just started skimming thru his article after about 2 paragraghs lookins for the word McDyess.. I refuse to read or listen to bickley on the radio.. i was just catching the jist of this article..

 

[Black Jesus]

lets also forget that if we had gotten the Atlanta pick this year around 4 or 5, KG would be a Sun right now... Thats the definition of depression.

 

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

Make the despair stop!

 

[nashman]

I don't think the Suns choked anything! When a team is permitted to foul as often as they like without paying any penalty for it...they will continue to do it! Thats why its a losing battle most of the time against the Spurs no matter what they just foul, foul, foul and put the onus on the Refs to do something about it. And of course Duncan, Bowen, Ginobli, or any of their players that play fouling defense NEVER foul out of a game...wow what a shock! We get hosed when we play them period, if we play D even close to what they do we get freakin wringed up with fouls left and right, but since they do it every night their a supposed great defensive team. What a crock, I always said it seems like these games are fixed and now it seems to be more true than ever!!!!

 

[azirish]

I don't think the Suns choked anything! When a team is permitted to foul as often as they like without paying any penalty for it...they will continue to do it! Thats why its a losing battle most of the time against the Spurs no matter what they just foul, foul, foul and put the onus on the Refs to do something about it. And of course Duncan, Bowen, Ginobli, or any of their players that play fouling defense NEVER foul out of a game...wow what a shock! We get hosed when we play them period, if we play D even close to what they do we get freakin wringed up with fouls left and right, but since they do it every night their a supposed great defensive team. What a crock, I always said it seems like these games are fixed and now it seems to be more true than ever!!!!

But you have to understand, it's the Suns' fault. It's always the Suns' fault because the Suns are able to score a lot if the other team is forced to play be the rules. Can't have that.