All guts, no glory

May 17, 2007 by Mike Olbinski

What a game from the Phoenix Suns.

What an amazing first 45 minutes.

What a heartbreaking final three.

The Suns ground it out. Steve Nash showed why he should have been named MVP yet again. He willed his team to come out with energy and hold onto the lead as long as possible. He made great passes, great shots and just did all he could.

But it wasn’t enough. You could tell when he threw up a flip shot layup towards the end that had no chance of going in the basket. He never would have shot that with Amare on the floor. His team had run out of gas, run out of all the adrenaline from the first half and it was done.

The fans were great. The Spurs were shellshocked in the first half as a lot of people figured they would be. Super high energy versus a team that had the entire world against them. It took them awhile but they beat us like we all figured they should. Without Boris and Amare, how could we win that?

Yet we almost did. My hopes were raised when we were up 10 with 5 minutes left. My wife had tears in her eyes. The guys were playing so damn hard.

But it wasn’t to be.

Some people want to blame Mike D’Antoni for playing his starters too many minutes, or making bad decisions with Kurt Thomas and Barbosa at the end of the game.

The guy was coaching as best he could without two HUGE weapons at his disposal. He did his best. They all did.

You don’t give away playoffs games. You do everything you can to win them. That’s what the did Wednesday night. They gave EVERYTHING they had.

I thank the Suns for that effort. That game really defined the toughness and talent that they have. It gave me hope for Game 6.

This series is not over.

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