Why didn't we see this coming
PHOENIX, PHAVORITES
Ascension to an NBA throne used to feel like a left-to-right video game you had to finish without use of warp zones. You took lumps from any number of Buck, Sixer, Celtic or Piston teams before the NBA let you lose your first Finals, let alone win one.
In that vein the Suns remind of the 1981 Celtics or 1989 Pistons or 2006 Heat, less spectacularly the 2007 Mavs or 2013 Thunder, squads maxing out the year after a disappointing playoff turn at the top. No chip but the one on its shoulder.
Katie Heindl asked me why we didn’t see the Suns coming and the answer is, we shoulda. Too many recent also-rans were mostly maxed-out at the time they were running: LeBron’s second-turn Cavaliers, AI’s Sixers, Jason Kidd’s Nets, Reggie Miller’s Pacers and the 90s Jazz were at full bore when they lost in the Finals, there wasn’t room to progress.
Whereas Phoenix.
The Suns have a top overall pick on a rookie contract and the team’s leading scorer is only 25. Monty Williams doesn’t take plays off, we should have known the Suns would push the NBA against the wall this year.
LAKERS FAIL TO FIND A BEAT