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From here.

The "It" Factor

I've been watching the clusterfuck that the Suns-Spurs series has become (unless, of course, you're a San Antonio fan) and it's driving me crazy. I turned off Game 2 when the Spurs (or, as a local sports talk radio host calls them, the "Sterns") went ahead 67-63, and I was glad I did, as the deficit got worse before it got a tiny bit better. As I watched the first two games and remembered last year's clusterfuck, I wondered why the Suns, who are very talented, can't beat the frickin' Spurs. I absolutely hate the Spurs, because they cheat and get away with it, they whine to the refs after every call against them and it works, and they are dull. I used to like watching the NBA, until Detroit turned the game into a heavyweight fight in the late 1980s and then everyone started playing like thugs. A few teams have tried to get back to good basketball, and Phoenix is just the latest of those. Yet they can't beat the Spurs.

I don't know why. There's no rational explanation for it. Amaré Stoudemire, who could be the best power forward in the game, cannot be guarded. Seriously. The Spurs certainly can't guard him. If you ever get a chance to see Stoudemire, check it out, because he's amazing to watch. There's almost nothing he can't do offensively - he can even shoot from the outside and make free throws at an 80% clip. But he doesn't make any effort defensively. He could easily be half as good defensively as he is offensively, and that would be amazing. But he isn't. He doesn't make the effort. That's coaching. But it's not just that. When the Spurs need a big shot, Tim Duncan makes a three-pointer to tie Game 1. A freakin' three-pointer! When the Spurs need a defensive stop, they get it. When the Spurs go on a run, Mike D'Antoni, who is a very good offensive coach, doesn't send in one of his scrubs to foul Tony Parker hard. I'm not saying he should be dirty, but Tony Parker is getting lay-up after lay-up, and nobody wants to step in and stop him. And D'Antoni doesn't seem to want to send in somebody from his bench to simply knock Parker down a few times. Because D'Antoni doesn't use his bench. It's simply astonishing that, after last year when Stoudemire and Boris Diaw were suspended for a game against San Antonio and the Suns almost won the game before running out of gas because, yes, they have no depth, D'Antoni didn't think that this year it might be smart to give his bench some work. But he didn't, and now the Suns are down 0-2.

This isn't really about the Suns, however. Well, it sort of is, but it's more about what makes a team a champion. It's something completely intangible. It's not exactly luck, although that's a part of it. It's not exactly hard work, either, although that's a big part of it. It's a weird combination of those two things and other things, and some very good teams in the past simply haven't had it. Unfortunately, many of the teams I have liked don't have it. Mainly because they play in Philadelphia.

The last team I have rooted for that had the combination of extraordinary talent and whatever extra you need to win a championship was ... the 1983 Philadelphia 76ers. Yeah, that's pretty sad. They're the last professional team from Philly to win a major championship (Villanova won the NCAA Tournament in 1985, and the Philadelphia Stars, the USFL team, won in 1984), and they had it. The Sixers of the late 1970s were very talented, but they kept losing in the Finals. In 1977 they won the first two games before losing four in a row to Portland. In 1980 a freakin' rookie point guard, some dude named Earvin Johnson, played center in the deciding game and lit them up as the Lakers beat them. But the talent was there. But they didn't have it. Then they got Moses Malone. Malone gave them what they were lacking: someone who wouldn't take shit from other teams. In the 1983 playoffs, the went 12-1, sweeping the Lakers in the Finals. What a glorious playoff run.

Toughness isn't it, though, or at least not all of it. For the Sixers, it was. For the Suns, it might be, and that's why they added Shaquille O'Neal. But he's not as tough as he used to be, and even when he's playing tough, they're still lacking something. Anyway, since then, I have fallen for teams that simply didn't have an intangible to get that ring. The Eagles of the late 1980s/early 1990s were ferocious on defense and had the amazing Randall Cunningham at quarterback. Yet they couldn't get over the hump. In 1991 Cunningham got injured in the first game of the season. The defense was one of the few that finished first against the run and against the pass, but without Cunningham, they didn't make the playoffs (despite finishing 10-6). Two years later Cunningham got hurt again and they missed the playoffs. Recently, of course, the Eagles have been very good, but they haven't won the Super Bowl. They were clearly the better team in 2002 and 2003, but they lost the NFC Championship Game at home. In 2004, they finally made it to the Super Bowl, but they lost to a team that clearly has it, the New England Cheaters ("it" in this case being high-tech espionage). Now, the window for Donovan McNabb appears to have closed. I hope not.

Meanwhile, the Phillies haven't had it for years. Even in 1993, when they won the pennant, it was clear they were complete underdogs, and their loss in the World Series, while extremely painful (the 15-14 loss when the Phillies had a 14-9 lead late; the last Mitch Williams pitch), was not as horrifying as some of the Eagles' losses, because I didn't expect much. They had it in 1980, the year they won their only World Series. But that was a long time ago.

The 76ers had it in 2001, when Larry Brown coached 'em up and Allen Iverson won the MVP, but they were clearly not as talented as Los Angeles, and Iverson could only will them to a win in the first game of the Finals before they lost four straight. But then there are the other basketball teams I've enjoyed. When I lived in Portland, I followed the Trail Blazers. Portland in the late 1990s had a very good team. In 2000, they led the Lakers in Los Angeles by 15 points in the fourth quarter, but let it go. They just didn't have it. And now I'm in Phoenix, where they Suns obviously don't have it. Another Phoenix team, the Diamondbacks, definitely had it in 2001, when they ended the Yankees' dynasty. They had plenty of talent, but when Randy Johnson came out of the bullpen in Game 7 that year, you just knew they were going to win, even though they were losing and had to face Mariano Rivera. Johnson and Schilling were just that good that year.

It's really annoying, because I've never been a bandwagon jumper. I like the teams I grew up with. I liked the Trail Blazers because I lived in Portland, and I like the Suns because I live here, and I also love the style they play. So I can't just say "Well, I'm a Spurs fan," and then rejoice when they win. It just wouldn't work. I'm a Philadelphia fan until I die, which means I'll probably be stuck with teams that suck or are good enough to make the playoffs and possibly play for a championship, but never get over the hump. It's just like Philadelphia itself - it doesn't have it anymore, and that's just too bad.

So what do you do when you don't have it? Well, owners and general managers don't like to hear this, but you have to blow things up. My father is frustrated with Andy Reid because he just doesn't seem to be a championship coach. He's a very good coach, don't get me wrong, but he just doesn't seem to be able to make that crucial adjustment that allows his team to go further. I was hoping the Eagles would keep McNabb and get rid of Reid after last season, but it looks like they're keeping both. With regard to the Suns, I think Steve Kerr, the GM, needs to have a chat with Mike D'Antoni this summer. He needs to tell him that they'll have Shaq for the full season next year, but Steve Nash is getting old and their window is closing (if it hasn't already closed). He also needs to tell him that there's a reason they have 13 players on the roster, and D'Antoni needs to play them. D. J. Strawberry (Darryl's kid) is a rookie this year, and although he's very raw, especially on offense, he's very long and plays defense really hard. Why can't he get a few minutes in this playoff series to see if he could slow Manu Ginobili down? He doesn't need to score, after all. He just needs to play defense. But he rarely played during the season, so D'Antoni doesn't trust him. Kerr needs to step in, because D'Antoni is never going to change unless he's forced to. I don't know if it will work, but it couldn't hurt. It would keep Nash and O'Neal fresh, at least.

I don't think it will work, however. Most of time, when you realize the team just doesn't have it, they need to go through a rebuilding phase. The Lakers had it early in the century, but Kobe destroyed it. Ironically, Kobe has it, but the talent around him wasn't very good for a few years. Now they have talent, and they look like a championship team. The Eagles are still a decent team, but they need a shake-up, and I think it's only going to come if they get rid of Reid. The Suns might need to ditch D'Antoni. It's unfortunate, but that's the way it is.

The Suns can still win this series. They need some luck, some calls to go their way, and the Spurs to screw up just a little bit. They're close, but they don't have it. Unless the Spurs give it up, they're done. And the NBA will once again be a little more boring. Stupid Spurs!!!!!!

The grossest miscarriage of justice in American history!

Raja Bell was suspended today. Oh, the humanity!

Those of you not following the NBA playoffs, I apologize for delving into it here. Usually I don't give a tiny rat's ass about the NBA playoffs, but living in Phoenix the past few years has piqued my interest, because the Suns, although I don't really care whether they win or lose, are a fun team, and I'd like to see their up-tempo style of play take over the league, because back when I was growing up and enjoyed the NBA, teams played like that, and it was fun. Now, after 15 years of "defensive" basketball (meaning guys trying to score get mugged all the time and the games end up with scores like 82-76), I can barely stand it. Which is why I like the Suns. They score quickly and often, and they don't care about keeping the other team down. They just figure they can outscore you. It often doesn't work in the playoffs, where the refs let players get away with even more mugging than usual, and it didn't work last year for the Suns (although they got to the Western Conference Finals) and it probably won't work this year (they're facing elimination in the first round). But the suspension of Raja Bell pisses me off.

If you don't know the tale, last night the Lakers were trying to eliminate the Suns in Phoenix. Phoenix came out strong and held a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter. That's when Raja, who had been guarding adulterer and possible rapist Kobe Bryant all night, took the NBA's golden boy down with a clothesline to his throat. A flagrant foul, obviously, and Bell was tossed from the game. The Suns won to force a sixth game in Los Angeles, but they won't have Bell, who is a good defender on Bryant. They will probably lose.

Bell should have been tossed, of course. Usually, I wouldn't have a problem with a suspension, either. Other players have been suspended in this postseason for actions as bad as Bell. But others haven't been. And that's what pisses me off. Let's look at some of the crimes perpetrated in these playoffs that have led to suspensions:

Ron Artest of the Sacramento Kings gets suspended for a game for a flagrant foul on Manu Ginobili of the San Antonio Spurs. Ginobili came across the lane without the ball and Artest hit him in the side of the head with his forearm. Artest has a history of this sort of thing.

Udonis Haslem of the Miami Heat gets suspended for a game for throwing his mouthpiece at a referee.

James Posey of the Heat gets suspended for a game when he comes up behind Kirk Henrich of the Chicago Bulls while Henrich has the ball and basically hip checks him to the floor.

All of these suspensions are justified. So how is Bell's any different? Allow me to explain. Kobe had the ball and was driving the lane, unlike Ginobili. Bell was in front of him, not behind him like Posey. And when you throw things at the ref, that's a whole different level. Does that mean I think Bell was justified? Certainly not - it was a stupid foul (I told Krys if you're going to foul Bryant that hard, make sure you break his leg, because otherwise it's pointless) and might cost Phoenix the series. But it wasn't as egregious as the other fouls. Kobe had elbowed Bell in the chest once already and in the face another time. So there was some history there.

Meanwhile, a couple of other things have happened in these playoffs that are just as bad or worse than what Bell did and nobody got suspended. In this series, Luke Walton of the Lakers threw Tim Thomas of the Suns to the floor, much like Bell did to Kobe, except that Thomas was in the air, which is a lot more dangerous. No suspension for Walton. Kwame Brown of the Lakers fouled Boris Diaw of the Suns hard and then stood over him, showing him up. No suspension. For the record, I don't think either of those fouls deserved suspensions, but then again, neither did Bell's. And the Holy Grail of idiocy, a few days ago a member of the Denver Nuggets, Reggie Evans, came up behind Chris Kaman of the Los Angeles Clippers and grabbed him between the legs and pulled. It's very clear on the video (I highly recommend watching it if you can find it, because it's so bizarre) that he is grabbing, clutching, and pulling. Kaman took exception to this, as you might expect, and shoved Evans. No suspension for Evans. If you're not going to suspend a guy for grabbing another guy's family jewels deliberately, you can't suspend Raja Bell for knocking a guy down.

So why was Bell suspended? These playoffs have been poorly officiated, as usual, and both teams have been getting shafted and a bit chippy. My feeling is that Bell was suspended because the person he took down was Kobe Bryant. Despite his adultery, despite possibly raping someone, despite his arrogance, the NBA wants to push Kobe as the next Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player in history, but he also got away with pretty much anything he wanted. Now he's gone, and the NBA is looking for someone to bring in the crowds. Kobe in L.A. does that, especially if they go far in the playoffs. If the person driving the lane had been Smush Parker, I doubt if Bell would be sitting tomorrow. But that's just my opinion.

This is one of the reasons why I get vexed by teams sports. I love football, but the refs often have too much control. Basketball has long been this way. It's frustrating to watch, because you have no idea why some calls are made and some are not, and therefore it becomes arbitrary and far too easy to believe in conspiracies. I don't think the refs are deliberately calling the games in favor of the Lakers, but when it gets off the court and suspensions are being handed down, I begin to wonder. And I don't want to wonder. I want to enjoy the game, because despite my all-consuming loathing of the Lakers in general and Kobe Bryant specifically, this has been a pretty entertaining series. It's too bad it's somewhat tainted now.