Can the Suns Run To The Title? Why Not?

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Can Suns run to the Finals? Why not?

Phoenix one of several surprising teams heading to playoffs
Amare Stoudemire has blossomed into an All-Star at the age of 21.
COMMENTARY
By Mike Kahn
NBCSports.com contributor
Updated: 7:49 p.m. ET April 6, 2005

Amare Stoudemire had this incredulous look on his face.


Evidently, insults will do that to the 21-year-old Phoenix Suns big man, although being queried about the prospects of the Suns running their way to the NBA Finals wasn't exactly rude.

"Of course I believe we can do this in the playoffs," Stoudemire said. "Why wouldn't we?"

Ah, therein lies the more pertinent question. "Why wouldn't they?"

Well, Amare, historically speaking, no team has run its way to the Finals since the "Showtime Los Angeles Lakers" some 17 years ago, and even that is a little distorted considering a huge reason for the Lakers' success was running the halfcourt offense through the NBA's leading scorer of all time — super-center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Nonetheless, the way the Suns have raced their way to the top seed in Western Conference and are fighting it out with the Miami Heat for the overall best record, it is a legitimate argument — particularly when you consider they won only 29 games all of last season.



This season is a completely different deal for obvious reasons.

Free agent acquisition Steve Nash leads the league in assists and is a strong candidate for the most valuable award, as he has spread the wealth to the point that the Suns are the first team since the 1973-74 Buffalo Braves that boast five players averaging at least 15 points a game. Another free agent — Quentin Richardson — set a new club record for 3-pointers in a season, while Stoudemire became an All-Star with Shawn Marion, and young Joe Johnson may just be the best all-around talent of the group.

Indeed, the Suns are the best known and most successful of the turnaround teams, but they are not alone.

The Seattle SuperSonics — locked into the third seed in the West as the Northwest Division champs — the Chicago Bulls and the Washington Wizards have all been mired in the lottery and were expected to be there once again this season. Not only are they certain to be in the playoffs, but they are competing for homecourt position. Consequently, not only have they exceeded regular season expectations, obviously they will enter the postseason as exceedingly dangerous unknown quantities.

"We'll see how those teams do in the playoffs when the game slows down and becomes more physical," one NBA executive said. "They're teams that don't have many players with playoff experience, so this will be new to them. I'm not saying they can't do well in the playoffs — especially the Suns — but I do expect the game to change for them, and nobody knows how they'll react."

But the league rule changes that have eliminated hand-checking and forearms on the perimeter, along with minor changes to the clock in recent years, have produced a generally faster pace and scoring has increased substantially this season. And the virtual acceptance of zone defenses has kept the ball moving with much greater frequency.

"We knew we had to change the rules because the game had slowed down, aesthetically speaking, it wasn't the same game anymore," said Jerry Colangelo, the chairman of the NBA Board of Governors and chairman of the Suns.

"There was way too much isolation. Now you've got teams moving the ball again. Obviously I'm happy with what we're doing and the feedback from around the league from the fans has been great."

The Wizards haven't been in the playoffs since 1997, haven't won a playoff game since 1988 and haven't won a series since 1982. General manager Ernie Grunfeld has done a terrific job of blending the draft and acquisitions into a great young core built around Antawn Jamison, Larry Hughes and Gilbert Arenas — ironically three players who were suffering together at Golden State just three years ago.

 

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Now they're competing for homecourt in the first round with fast-break basketball at the heart of their success.


"This is just fun being asked about it," said Hughes, leading the league in steals. "We're all growing up together and learning how to win as a team. We're just starting to realize how good we can be."

It isn't just about speed, however, for every team.

The Bulls have done it on the strength of coach Scott Skiles harping on tenacious defense that leads the league in defensive field goal percentage, and super-rookie Ben Gordon's spectacular play. He is a top candidate for both rookie of the year and best sixth man considering he led the league with 22 double-figure fourth quarters entering this week. But it's more than just Gordon, as fellow rookies Luol Deng, Chris Duhon and Andres Nocioni have made a huge impact with second-year point guard Kirk Hinrich, and blossoming young twin towers Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler.

They entered this week with 41 wins, which is even more impressive considering they began the season losing their first nine games. Keep in mind that during the three seasons (1998-2001) immediately following their championship run of six titles in eight years, they managed just 45 wins combined.

"We have had a turnaround of 19 games in one season," Skiles said. "That is impressive for our guys to pull off."

But the playoffs are a different deal and they know it.

Same goes for the Sonics, who are an anomaly in their own right. They are a high-scoring team that doesn't like to play particularly fast. They've spent much of the season running defenses through walls of screens to set up the perimeter shooting of Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis and Vladimir Radmanovic. But a stress fracture in his leg has had Radmanovic out and Lewis has been sidelined with a deep bruise in his foot and the Sonics have been sliding.

"This is just temporary," said Sonics guard Antonio Daniels, who earned a championship ring in San Antonio and is the only player on the roster with that experience.

"We had way too much success this season for it to come down to this. We'll be ready for the playoffs. It comes down to defense and execution, and when we play the right way, we can beat anybody, anytime."

Easier said than done.

And in his first full season as head coach of the Suns, Mike D'Antoni knows better than to take anything for granted, despite their spectacular turnaround.

"Everybody knows the game slows down in the playoffs, but we have no intention of changing anything," D'Antoni said. "We're not going to change who we are. Remember, Steve (Nash) was running the team in Dallas when they gave San Antonio fits before (Dirk) Nowitzki got hurt two years ago.

"We intend to do the same thing."

Mike Kahn is a frequent contributor to NBCSports.com and a freelance writer based in the Seattle area.