TOMASSON: Time ebbs on Suns' title quest

Friday, November 9, 2007

The Phoenix Suns still feel a gust. But how long before it is downgraded to a mere breeze?

Yes, the window is still open for the Suns to win the NBA title that always has passed them by. But it looks to be closing.

In the past three seasons, the Suns twice have had home-court advantage in the playoffs against San Antonio, and both times lost to the eventual champions. They had the NBA's best record in 2004-05, the season guard Steve Nash won his first of consecutive MVP awards.

But they have no title to show for their impressive three-year run - not even a Finals appearance, something that hasn't eluded any of the other five teams with the top six records in the NBA the past three seasons.

The Suns, off to a 3-2 start, appear to be running out of time. Nash turns 34 in February, though Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni believes he can play effectively until he's 38.

Suns forward Shawn Marion has barked about wanting to be traded. And there continue to be questions about the health of forward Amare Stoudemire, who has missed the past three games with knee soreness.

"Maybe the game of basketball will end after this season," Nash quipped regarding a question about whether the Suns have a sense of urgency because their window is closing. "The game may cease."

Knowing the Suns' luck, basketball might shut down if they ever won a third game in the Finals.

In 2004-05, when the Suns went an NBA-best 62-20, they didn't have guard Joe Johnson for the first two games of the Western Conference final because of a fractured orbital bone, and they fell to the Spurs. That's the same Johnson who, at the time, was working on a regular-season ironman streak that would reach 376 straight games.

The following season, the Suns lost Stoudemire for all but three games because of a knee injury. They weren't serious title contenders but did advance to the West final, where they were ousted by Dallas.

But the Mavericks were ousted in the first round last year, leaving the Suns with home-court advantage for as long as they lasted. Time for them to finally take that big step, right?

Not exactly.

With the Suns on their way to beating the Spurs in Game 4 of a West semifinal to tie the series 2-2, Stoudemire and Boris Diaw left the bench area after San Antonio's Robert Horry knocked Nash to the floor. The two were suspended for a game, and considering Phoenix's flagpole-thin bench, that was the series.

"If we had played well, we would have beat San Antonio last year," D'Antoni said. "If we would have stayed on the bench."

D'Antoni then reeled off other ways the Suns could have toppled the Spurs. But the one that remains embedded is what might have happened had neither Stoudemire nor Diaw left the bench area or had NBA commissioner David Stern not enforced the rule to the letter.

D'Antoni calls the incident a "scar" but claims the Suns aren't using it for motivation this season. But that assertion is not unanimous.

"Yeah, of course," said Nash, who said the loss gnawed at him throughout the summer. "Not winning always leaves you in a position that you got improvement to make. . . . But we have a great opportunity to (win the championship) this year, and we'll see."

For his part, Stoudemire claims he has put the suspension out of his mind. But he doesn't deny the Suns would "have had a great chance" to win the title had he and Diaw not been penalized.

The Suns, who ran out of gas after leading much of the way and lost Game 5, likely would at least have forced a Game 7 at home against the Spurs. Had they won that series, the West final against Utah and NBA Finals against Cleveland would have been a breeze.

Then again, this is a team that always seems to get Sunburned in the playoffs. Phoenix has won 53 or more games 15 times in the past 28 seasons, the same number of times San Antonio has done it during that span.

But the Spurs have won the ring four times. For the Suns, it has been nothing but sting.

Reluctant starter

To most, benched is a bad word. For Detroit forward Antonio McDyess, one wonders if there is a term "startered."

McDyess was told before training camp the Pistons needed him to start this season. He wasn't overjoyed.

After arriving in Detroit in 2004, the former Nuggets All-Star spent three seasons as a sixth man, an ideal role since he was coming off three knee surgeries and advancing in age. But with Chris Webber gone, Pistons executive Joe Dumars told

McDyess, 33, he would be getting introduced before games.

"I have to get adjusted to it," said McDyess, who hadn't been a regular starter since leaving Denver in 2002. "My mentality has always been to be sitting on the bench and being the sixth man. But when Joe came to me and said he needs me to start for the team, I said, 'Oh, well.' "

He wasn't exactly doing jumping jacks. But McDyess is a professional, and he is averaging 6.8 points and 7.3 rebounds.

Of course, there have been rumors Webber could return to the Pistons. McDyess wouldn't mind that.

"Maybe I can go back to the bench," McDyess said of that possibility.

I love the '80s

Barring another Kevin Willis comeback, every player from the 1980s has said goodbye to the NBA.

Cliff Robinson, who debuted in 1989, was the NBA's sole museum piece from that decade for much of last season before Willis, who debuted in 1984, had a final-month stint with Dallas at age 44.

But Robinson is gone from New Jersey. And don't count on the Mavericks - who brought Willis in for the playoffs and flamed out in the first round - to bring back Willis.

Super six

Teams with the best records during the previous three seasons:

Team Record Finals Titles

Dallas 185-61 1 0

San Antonio 180-66 2 2

Phoenix 177-69 0 0

Detroit 171-75 1 0

Miami 155-91 1 1

Cleveland 142-104 1 0

tomassonc@RockyMountainNews.com