My favorite moment of this NBA season came in game four of the Western Conference Finals, Phoenix vs. LA. The Suns bench had played an excellent second quarter to give Phoenix a ten point lead, but the Lakers had come roaring back. The bench came in again, and rattled off an 18-3 run, capped by this amazing spinning lay-up by Goran Dragic with his right hand (Dragic is left-handed). My favorite part of this clip is the reaction on the bench -- the starters are all going nuts, Robin Lopez is about to have a heart attack, and the joy on Suns bench is overflowing.
Sports writing and the sports world are littered with clichés, and writing about the Phoenix Suns this year has been full of them, but I seriously can't remember an NBA team with such an infectious and joyful demeanor, where they actually look like they're enjoying playing the game. The NBA has gone through an intense phase of commercialization and professionalization in past couple of years that has virtually squeezed all the joy out of the game. I'm about as loyal a fan of NBA basketball as there is, and I'll defend it to the death, but I often feel turned off by the blasé attitude that most players and teams exhibit throughout the season. The Suns this season were the antithesis of that joylessness. I haven't been so invested in an NBA team for awhile. I was really hoping they would be able to win this series.
And now we have to suffer through another Celtics-Lakers finals. Ugh.
0 comments:
Post a Comment