PHOENIX FINDS ANOTHER WAY TO LOSE TO SPURS. MAJOR QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED

Even though I wasn’t born when the first was first recorded and rose to prominence on the music charts, I do know the Song title, lyrics and music to a tune sung by the Motown group the Four Tops. It’s called “SAME OLD SONG” and I think of a better theme of how the Phoenix Suns lost to the San Antonio Spurs in the 2008 NBA playoffs. As I wrote before about how the Suns with Steve Nash at the helm will never beat the Spurs as long as Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Greg Popovich are still employed by the San Antonio Spurs the Phoenix Suns consisting of Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire, Raja Bell, Leandro Barbosa and Boris Diaw have no chance of advancing.

There are certain things in life that you can count on. In Las Vegas the summers will be hot, in Chicago the winters will be cold. Hallie Berry will always be gorgeous, Amy Whinehouse will always be addicted to a pipe. And in the NBA, the Phoenix Suns will always find a way to lose to the San Antonio Spurs. Tuesday night the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Phoenix Suns 92-87 to win the best of seven first round playoff series four games to one. With the exception of the third quarter in game two and the two games played in Phoenix, game three being a San Antonio rout with Phoenix returning the favor in game four, each game was hard fought and close at the end. The only difference between Phoenix closing out game five tonight and moving on to the next round and reality, were the sloppy, inexcusable mistakes that spelled the Suns dawning.

Steve Nash was uncharacteristically poor handling the basketball and making questionable decisions down the stretch that cost them the opportunity to win game five. While the defensive responsibilities guarding Tony Parker one on one were few and far between as the series wore on, it became evident that Parker was outplaying Nash and having a greater impact on the game.

O’Neal was rather average throughout this series and his lack of free throw shooting expertise not only allowed San Antonio to stay in the game, maintain a lead, or get back into the game, it took away several offensive possessions from the Suns, and allowed San Antonio multiple possessions and chances to close out halves with a run.  Shaq was brought in to be that guy who could slow down and contain Tim Duncan. And while he did a passable job guarding Duncan in isolation’s, his pick and roll defense was atrocious which allowed Parker and Manu Ginobili to drive to the basket at will.

So what do the Suns do now? Where do the Suns go from here to try and climb that mountain again and this time get to the top? Many people want to lay the blame right at the feet of head coach Mike D”Antoni. In my opinion that would be a huge mistake to make that an issue. D’Antonio has been the best coach the Suns have had, and has been the most successful Suns coach since Paul Westpaul rode the coattails of Charles Barkley, Kevin Johnson, Mark West, Cederic Caballos to the NBA finals. He has brought a style of play that is both entertaing and successful and is regarded highly among fellow NBA coaches and players.

If you are GM Steve Kerr and owner Robert Sarver and you decide to fire D’Antonio and bring in a coach who has a Jeff Van Gundy type of philoposhy of how to play (defense, defense, and after that…more defense!!) you should clean out the ENTIREroster, starting with your three weakest defenders who happen to be two of the most important players on your team-Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire and Shaquile O’Neal. The addition of O’Neal also added age and a HUGEcontract that will pay him 40 million dollars over the next two years. Shaq is already 36 years old and it’s clear that he no longer a player who can even be a strong complimentary player to a ever rising star like Amare Stoudemire. What will Phoenix do next year when O”Neal misses his normal 20-25 games because of injury and age, and takes another 15-20 games off because of age and injury? Like Jason Kidd in Dallas, Phoenix is trying to put a big square peg into a small round hole.

I wish Phoenix good luck this offseason and how they regroup from this latest defeat. All I know that as of right now, these Suns have set in the dessert.