Suns fans need to relax
Mike D'Antoni has a big problem.
The Suns coach really wanted to have fun this season, savoring each step and victory along the way. But his team has given him an early headache. And the suffocating climate on Planet Orange won't give him room to breathe.
To put it bluntly, most Suns fans just want their darned trophy, and they'd like it on layaway before Christmas.
"We can't play the Finals today, so we have to start working and get back to it," D'Antoni said.
Granted, not much about the Suns' 119-98 loss Friday night made anyone think about hoisting banners. The Suns played fat and lazy, lacking focus and tenacity. If you didn't know better, you would have thought the Lakers were title contenders and the hosts were the team in turmoil.
It was that bad.
"We got outplayed from the start of the game," the Suns' Grant Hill said. "I guess we're not going to win all 82."
You can write off this game as a wake-up call. It was tremendously embarrassing to the players. It featured some sniping between D'Antoni and Lakers coach Phil Jackson, during
and after the game. And it was probably just what the Suns needed to find their legs and their appetite.
But in the bigger picture, this is not a cute, little story anymore. Expectations are high. Premium parking spots around the arena are going for $30. It's a championship-or-bust mentality, which is fine, except for one problem:
It's barely November. It's too early to talk about long-awaited justice, long-awaited championships or parade routes. Yet near the end of the first half, with the visiting Lakers running a layup drill on offense, it felt like the sold-out crowd could barely suppress the urge to boo.
And by the team the beating was finished, you know just what the cynics were thinking:
How is this team going to stop Tim Duncan?
"It's completely out of control. Way out of control," D'Antoni said. "I just have to shut it down. I can't read or listen (to anything). It's just too much. Every shot, every little thing is, 'Yeah, but how will that translate into winning a championship?' "
With great controversy dogging the Lakers, a team dealing with a moody, disgruntled superstar, Suns fans clearly expected a party in their home opener. It made perfect sense. Even Jackson sounded like a man expecting a blowout, admitting that his team can't help but be distracted by Kobe Bryant's ongoing trade wishes.
Yet it's not as if Jackson will ever concede too much, and before Friday's game, he was sure to say that (a) the Suns' window of opportunity was closing; (b) that he, too, was interested in acquiring Hill, but Hill never returned his phone call; (c) and that these two teams were like "neighbors that haven't really built a fence, so you don't really like them that much."
Then again, not many people at US Airways Center liked the Suns team that took the court Friday night, either, and here's the problem:
For the fourth consecutive season, the Suns have a new starting lineup. As usual, it will take a while to build chemistry, to gain swagger, to define roles. We have seen this movie before, and we should all know by now that ragged performances in the first week of the season should not prompt a huge rush on antacid. Besides, the Lakers played a near-perfect game.
But something else is clear:
Basketball fans here have seen the 60-win seasons, and unlike the coach, they don't want to savor the journey. People here just want their revenge, their pound of flesh. They would like to press fast-forward and begin the Western Conference finals as soon as possible.
Problem is, while
you're ready, the basketball team isn't. It needs some time to grow. And for the rest of us, that means recognizing the process and backing away from the panic button.
http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/DanBickley/10019
