Upon The West Being Won

I am going to have to pay careful attention to critical match-ups down the stretch, but I believe that last night I watched the Western Conference Champions play. The Phoenix Suns defeated the San Antonio Spurs, and moved into a tie with those same Spurs for the best record in the NBA. This Suns team got a 40+ point night from Amare, who came up huge in the decisive minutes despite playing with 5 personal fouls. Steve Nash turned in one of his seemingly routine double-digit assist games, and caused havoc while getting all of his teammates involved. Shawn Marion offered up one of those inexplicable 16 rebound games, as he continues to display a Rodman-esque knack for crashing the boards. When you combine these key players with the sharp shooting of Quentin Richardson and Joe Johnson, who are both especially deadly from behind the 3-point arc, you have a starting 5 as dangerous as any in the league. The Suns may have a short bench, but they present a nightmare matchup for any team in the playoffs if they get rolling. However, taking into account all of the foregoing, I believe the Spurs and not the Suns will be the eventual winners in the West.

In light of how glowingly I just spoke about the Suns, it may seem a bit surprising that I would go with the Spurs as my pick. Upon closer examination, I believe the Spurs showed as much in this narrow road defeat as they have in their many victories this year. To begin with, the Spurs played without Tim Duncan or Manu Ginobili! The team was missing one of the 3 best players in the NBA, whom their entire franchise turns on. No Tim Duncan = a .500 Spurs team at best. They also were without Manu, who is their second most reliable scorer. A healthy team with the best record in the NBA, playing at home against a team without 2 of their best players, should cruise to victory. The Spurs had Tony Massenberg playing major minutes, and they were in the game until the final 1:30. I don’t see how you can overlook a team like this come playoff time. Tony Parker won’t always give you 30, but he has that in his game. Nazr Mohammed from the Knicks was a fantastic, if overlooked, addition. Combine all this with the fact that the Spurs DO NOT LOSE AT HOME, and you have a squad that must be favored. They defend the hell out of the ball, they make you play their tempo, and they are well coached. The probability of a Spurs-Pistons matchup in the Finals is quite high, and I am not sure how I feel about this. It good be great basketball, or it could be a boring college-looking affair that sets the NBA back a pace or two.