Suns come up just short, again

[Warren2ThaG]

The story of the Steve Nash era in Phoenix can be rightfully summed up in just one word- almost. That was certainly the case in game 5 of this years Western Conference Finals, arguably the most important game in Suns history. Phoenix had battled back at home to tie the series at two games apiece, but still needed to find a way to win a game on the road against the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers in order to win the series. That is certainly a daunting task, as the Lakers haven’t lost a home game in the playoffs since the 2008 NBA Finals. The chance of breaking that would be better in a game five situation instead of a game seven for all the marbles.

 

When Jason Richardson banked in a deep three-point shot with about four seconds remaining in last night’s game, the Suns had come all the back from being down 18 points in the second half. The three-pointer was the third try the Suns had of the possesion but it was just in time to tie the game at 101. Everyone knew at that point what was going to happen. The Lakers were going to give the ball to the best closer of the game, Kobe Bryant, and hope that he bail out his team with a buzzer beater yet again.

 

The inevitable did happen, but Hill and Nash forced him into an airball, and the Suns coaching staff was practically out on the floor thinking there was going to be an overtime situation. Instead, Ron Artest of the Lakers grabbed the rebound and put up a shot off the backboard as the buzzer sounded. The ball, of course, went into the basket and the Lakers found themselves holding a 3-2 series lead. The shot is just the latest event for the Suns in the playoffs where they found themselves saying almost. An overtime situation likely would have favored the Suns, who held all the momentum after making such a remarkable comeback. Then they could have gone home and closed out the series.

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Now, it’s just a matter of when the Lakers will advance to the NBA Finals for a third straight year, rather than who will end up winning the series. Many times when a team is beaten in the fashion the Suns were in game five, it is unable to recover for the next game. Phoenix has shown to be resilient throughout this season and postseason, but this blow is likely to be a bit too much. The Lakers will have a good chance of going into game six in Phoenix and closing out the series and that’s what I would expect to happen. Even if they don’t, they have a safety net of a game seven at home with the best player in the game unlikely to ever lose in that kind of a situation. Nash did everything he could in game five, coming up with one of his best playoff performances ever, but in a few days he will find himself looking back at the 2010 playoffs and thinking ‘almost’.

 

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