Houston article about the Suns

[thegrahamcrackr]

Great Piece

Enlightened Suns breathe life into NBA
By JOHN P. LOPEZ
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle


The sweet sound of string music filled the air at the Toyota Center.

Swish, swish, swish.

Listening to the slow beat of the NBA's death march for so many years, like some kind of bad, melancholy Blue Man Group beat, it was easy to forget what basketball is supposed to sound like. And look like.

It was easy to forget that there can be such a thing as a suffocating offense.

The Suns have it. And this is where any semblance of objectivity gets thrown out the window.

They have become my favorite NBA team, for no reason than this could be the league's best chance yet to pull itself out of more than a decade of plain-vanilla styles and Milli Vanilli charades.

The NBA is the pre-eminent copycat league in sports. When one team starts winning ugly games with scores like 76-74, others follow.

Putting up stop signs
When coaches start coaching for other coaches, instead of fans, the product suffers. For years, league coaches have in essence told each other, "Gee, look at the cool way I slowed down the game with hard fouls and deliberate offensive sets."

Everyone has been playing the death-march game.

Where once the NBA's slogan was, "Faaaannnn-tastic," until the Suns and a few others came along, the truth is that the real slogan has become, "No blood, no foul."

There's Hack-a-Shaq. There were the Bad Boys. And of course, there was the 1994 NBA Finals, known for O.J. Simpson's low-speed Bronco pursuit and the Knicks-Rockets games, which moved along at an even slower pace.

Somewhere along the way, this beautiful game and its tremendous athletes got sucked into grinding tedium.

The 28-4 Suns, daring to be different and signing the premier point guard in basketball, Steve Nash, are sending notice to the league that their offense and skill will not be denied. They could well be saving the game.

We should hope they keep running. And keep winning. For the sake of basketball and fans who have become indifferent over so many years of plodding, we should hope they take this old American Basketball Association style all the way to the title.

A coach true to his roots
We should give Suns coach Mike D'Antoni the coach of the year trophy right now. An ABA and European league alumnus, D'Antoni once had a chance to sign with the Chicago Bulls in 1978. He declined in favor of continuing his career in Italy because, telling reporters at the time, "It's more fun over there."

D'Antoni gets it. We should hope his winning style, which, contrary to what coaches afraid for their jobs might say, does not sacrifice defense.

Something happened to this league over the course of time. Something choked the fun out of it.

Even for those of us who would rather watch a basketball game than just about anything else, that's what made it occasionally unbearable to watch.

The NBA's sore subject has been a personality that has deteriorated to the point of coaches, like the Rockets' Jeff Van Gundy, admitting that apathy is turning fans away. It's been a fast-spreading virus.

At one point during the dizzying 108-98 Suns win Wednesday, Rockets forward Juwan Howard made a quick spin move outside the lane, spun, put up a shot and swished a nice jumper.

He began jogging back toward the defensive end, no doubt readying himself for the usual dose of running-in-mud offense, elbows everywhere, screen after screen and the ever-present high pick-and-roll.

But the Suns yanked the ball out of the net, made two long passes upcourt and before Howard knew it, Van Gundy was yelling at him from the bench, "Quit gliding."

Swish. Another 3-pointer. The entire league should listen. And watch.

You copy?

"We would all like to copy Steve Nash and Shawn Marion and Amare Stoudemire," Van Gundy said. "If you can copy those three ... you're going to be very hard to guard."

He's right. Not every team can boast a lineup as athletic and creative individually as that of the Suns, led by the superb Nash. Least of all, the Rockets.

Not every team can rank first in the league in scoring at 109 points per game, or second in shooting (.478), third in 3-point shooting and sixth in rebounding (43.2).

But the template is the thing.

After taking over the Suns 20 games into last season, D'Antoni led the league's youngest team to a measly 29-53 record. This year, with Nash fitting in and Stoudemire and Marion stepping up, the Suns are showing the way.

They run fast breaks ABA-style. The ball hardly touches the floor. In half-court sets, they spread the floor with four players standing outside the 3-point line and the post player, such as it is, since there really are no true post men on the roster, stands at least four feet outside the low block.

"It took courage on (D'Antoni's part)," Van Gundy said. "Last year, they would come with Stoudemire at the five and Marion at the four in stretches. This year, they committed to it as their first wave of attack. When you talk about courage in coaching, to do what he did and to sell it, I think was huge."

Nash penetrates and dishes. The post players stretch the lane. Everyone either slashes through a lane to the basket or spots up for a jumper.

The shot clock might as well be a sun dial — it's optional. They swing the ball and, heavens to Larry Kenon, even shoot mid-range jumpers.

It was the Rockets who were sent to school on this night. Hopefully, school will be in session all year long. The NBA needs more of this. Real basketball.

 

[newfan101]

Great article!

 

[devilalum]

I just hope the league is getting the fact that this is the kind of basketball fans want to see.

If they start allowing handchecks and slack off on the new enforcement of the rules it won't help the Suns or the quality of the game.

 

[StopTheMadness]

That kind of article gives me goosebumps. This team is amazing! I seriously think we have what it takes to win the championship. This has been an unbelievable season so far. We've shown so much heart.

 

[George O'Brien]

Welcome aboard.

D'Antoni made a comment a few days ago worth considering. He said the Spurs are probably as good as they are going to get, but the Suns are going to keep getting better.

Purple Reigns.

 

[StopTheMadness]

Thx for the welcome George. This season has been really inspirational. Gets to the point where i become really dissappointed when it isn't a gameday. lol.

 

[scotsman13]

Thx for the welcome George. This season has been really inspirational. Gets to the point where i become really dissappointed when it isn't a gameday. lol.

you know i think that is what i have enjoyed most about this season is that the fun is back and i cant stand missing a game. everything else is moved around for game night, and wishing that every night was a game night.

 

[sundevilscott]

I love this line.

"The shot clock might as well be a sun dial — it's optional."

 

[jibikao]

We should forward this article to the refs. LOL


Let them know that people love to see fast-pace games. I remember Rox fans were really high last night because of the fast-pace games. Rox did stay with Suns until the end of 3rd quarter.

So it shows that people love to see fast-pace games. Which also means that maybe signing Yao isn't that smart a choice because he can't play fastpace games.

Jimmy

 

[sunsfn]

I love this line.

"The shot clock might as well be a sun dial — it's optional."

Yes, and also this one is great.........!
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The sweet sound of string music filled the air at the Toyota Center.

Swish, swish, swish.
--------------------------------

 

[Azlen]

This is an article, and there have been many like it, that David Stern needs to tack up on his wall and remember when it comes to instructing refs how they want playoff games to be called. Nobody wants to see tackle basketball, especially in the playoffs.

 

[justAndy]

maybe

the refs have been calling games that way because a big market team like the Knicks played that horrid style

 

[SweetD]

Good article

 

[WildBB]

Great Piece

The part about D'Antoni is cool. Us taking that Suns up-tempo style all the way to the crown - even cooler.