The Suns have won their fair share of regular season games against the Spurs over the past five years. It's not like they've never won against the Spurs. It just feels like it.
Jason Richardson
missed a wide-open (and I mean WIDE OPEN) breakaway dunk to tie, and Steve Nash randomly passed up on a tying three pointer with no time left and the Spurs once again topped the Suns in a late season game',
113-110.
Richardson, a two-time dunk champion, looked stunned even as he was coming down as his one-handed attempt rimmed out and fell to the waiting arms of the Spurs. The Suns needed a steal, got one by doubling and rotating effectively (not something they do terribly well), then got the outlet to Jason Richardson, who went up, and just... missed.
Now, he could have put two hands on the ball. Players miss dunks all the time. A perfect dunk doesn't even touch rim. But seriously. A two-time dunk champion, and one of the better players in the league misses a wide-open, break-away dunk to tie? How does that happen?
It's Suns-Spurs. Obviously.
This is the same rivalry that's featured Steve Nash being kept out of the final minutes of a playoff game because of a nosebleed caused by accidental contact that couldn't be stopped. The same perennial battle that's seen Tim Duncan hit his first three pointer of the 2008 season to win a playoff game.
No matter what happens, the result is always the same in the ones that seem to matter the most. You have to wonder if there's some sort of greater force at work. No matter how unlikely the event needed, they seem to occur , and they always seem to fall against the Suns.
Even this year's Spurs team, which is far from the dominant squad it was at the height of this rivalry, somehow finds a way to topple Amaré Stoudemires 41 and 12.
Nash's dish was just as inexplicable. After the pass, Nash seemed to be frustrated at something Channing Frye failed to do. Whether it was drifting closer to Nash to have time for the shot, or drifting to the perimeter for the range they needed to tie, Frye did neither, and the time expired.
Nash had a wide open shot, after nailing one to give them an opportunity to tie, and passed it up. How does that occur?
Meanwhile for the Spurs, a great overall game that maybe they can use as the better-late-than-never game to turn the tide on this season.