http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/ar ... 4suns.html

Me too. Bummer IRL. =( The last 2 weeks have fucking sucked.

Still no idea at all who is going to be the Suns coach. I still think Avery Johnson/Jackson is the best candidate... but Kerr and the Suns have consistently stated that he is not even under consideration.

I cannot envision a scenario where some assistant coach comes in and is going to tell Shaq, Amare, and Nash what to do. Unless they are already on the Suns' staff, then maybe there is enough rapport and respect there for that to happen. With those egos, I would imagine it has to be some "name" coach at minimum. Unfortunately, I don't know of many "name" coaches out there. Someone last night mentioned Doug Collins- he lives in Phoenix, and obviously has that "name" attached to him. But I don't think he would want to leave his easy gig as a sports analyst/analysist (sp) for the stress of working for an owner who would rather trade draft picks for money for his pockets.

I thought that the Suns window was ending this year. With Shaq, Amare, and Nash around for one more year, there was some small opening for next year. However, that window is fully shut and locked with no coach who can handle that trio. Heck- with Portland getting Oden, a lottery pick, and lots of improvement... with the Clippers getting Brand, Livingston, and another lottery pick... with Golden State possibly improving somewhat... could the Suns actually NOT make the playoffs next year?

Dallas, Phoenix, and Denver all are gonna look really old and poor next year with their current situations. Some drastic things are gonna happen for those three organizations, or else they all may not be there next year. Wow.

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I agree. We'll see what the coaching situation turns out to be. Even if D'Antoni sticks around, I don't think it'll be a happy locker room. In addition to that, they DO need to work on defense. So... who knows.

PS: I don't think Avery will land here, but who knows.

Avery is a good coach, if you like coaches that can't make adjustments during a game, are constantly in the grill of his players, and has a "you will do it my way or else" attitude regardless if he is wrong.

Avery took over a peaking Mavs team in 2005. That team went to the playoffs and lost to the Suns. The next year the team was geared to play his style of defense and he rode them all year to be one game behind the Spurs (and ended up with the #4 seed with the second best record). They made it to the playoffs, beat an overmatched Memphis team, was gifted the San Antonio series, and beat a Pheonix team that was dealing with injuries. They went up 2-0 against Miami when Pat Rilley noticed a flaw in the Mavs D and exploited it. The Mavs never changed nor did they recover. The following season, Avery was determined to get the prior year's loss out of the way so he drove even harder during the reg. season only to become the first #1 seed to lose a seven game series to Golden State -- where he was badly outcoached by Don Nelson.

This past year the team quit respoding to his constant pushing. They were uninspired and played "me first" basketball. The team was in revolt mode when the playoffs hit and they just wanted it to be over. Only Dirk rose above the strife and had another outstanding year (even if he did get bitchslapped and the team had zero responce to it)

So, go get Avery. He will turn that high scoring, run and gun offense into a muddled, rudderless, bumbling mess that will get you run out of the playoffs each year by better coaches.

I don't want Johnson here. He is a lot like D'Antoni but without all the good stuff D'Antoni does. Plus, we need a defensive minded guy.

Chipping in late but god damn I was impressed with my spurs first round. I've been a hardcore fan of the spurs since D-rob entered the league but PHX seems like such a better team on paper. But...team defense, hard nose and dedicated players that truly believe in team ball won out. I was at game 3 in PHX and dear lord that has to be a hard place to play in. It just gets nuts.

Anyways....fucking hornets are NOT this good...fucking spurs need to pull their head out of their asses, even game 3's win was semi depressing. Only the last 10 minutes did they play like they should. Oh well...I have faith their still the best team in the league, time will tell.

And fucking suns wtf, bringing in shaq was a horrible move almost any way you slice and dice it. Think of what a paul gasol would have done for the suns (I don't like paul but he would have fit in great and provided so much more then shaq). As far as the coach....I was never a roach fan (avery) when he was a player so I have mixed feelings on the coaching.

Thunder Dan needs to come out and lead the suns to glory! (last year I was abit drunk at his bar and tried being him a beer....he's like "bud...its my bar"

Closing note....Lebron has proven he is mortal. Talk about going from off the charts play to stinking it up. He missed 2 EASY layups (easy for normal players, 99% success for lebron) in the last few minutes that cost the game to celtics.

Spurs are hardcore/good.

Hornets are great but have weaknesses. Have the Spurs found them? Who knows. The "playoffs" don't start until the visiting team wins on your home court.

Lebron is amazing. But can he carry his team again? Against the Celtics??

ESPN.com is reporting that D'Antoni has accepted the Knicks offer- 4 years, 24 million. I guess money does rule everything for people...

What boggles my mind is, and I guess I am the only one who feels this way, but you reach a certain point where you could have too much money. The Bulls were probably going to offer a 4 year, 15 million dollar contract. So you lose 9 million... but you still have 15 million. Isn't that a lot of money? To me, that is. And the job situation is FAR better than in New York- a team with enough talent to make the playoffs, a solid GM, and hope for the future with payroll flexibility and trade pieces. The Knicks... are an absolute disaster. Is six million per year worth it to lose 50+ games every year for the next four years, and probably get fired after 2-3 seasons because the roster talent is awful, and there is nothing you can do in free agency because of all the contracts your team is trying to pay off?

Just boggles the mind. The Bulls job IMHO is far far better than the Knicks, but I guess he went with the money in the end. Good luck Mike, you are going to need a crapton of it...

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Utah fans are thanking the heavens that Kobe had a flashback of 3 years ago and decided it was a good idea to put up 31+ shots while hurt instead of passing the ball to Gasol, Odom, or fisher who all were having awesome games.

If lakers end up losing the series this was the pivotal swing. And Phil actually blamed his teamates for giving him the ball....phil phil phil.

Spurs....fucking A cotton. CHA woke up the sleeping giant. It might hit game 7 but I am still pretty confident the spurs are going to come away with this one. To bad Horry is such a fucking nonfactor this playoffs.

Hah.

Both WCS are 2-2. Crazy... I guess it proves true the saying "A series doesn't start til someone loses on their home court...."

Lakers v Spurs
Celtics v Pistons

Exactly what the NBA wanted; until it gets Spurs v Pistons in the final then you will hear the collective turning off of the finals all across the country.

Meh.

At this point I'd like to watch the Lakers vs. Celtics. Spurs vs. Pistons = boring as fuck and nobody would care or watch. Lakers and Celtics would be the best thing to happen to the NBA as far as Finals goes since the 90s.

I hate the Spurs.

As I haven't paid attention to the NBA since the departure of the Bird-Johnson-Jordan era .. what are your collective predictions for the four possible finals matchups?

Celts v Lakers
Celts v Spurs
Pistons v Lakers
Pistons v Spurs

I'd love to see Celts v Lakers as I'm sure the NBA and most of the country would, and can appreciate the snoozefest that a Pistons v Spurs matchup would create, but what of the other possibilites, and could Kobe et al derail the Celts?

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The Lakers are playing out of their minds right now. They're my pick to win it all this year at this junction. If Spurs make it to Finals, I'd take Celtics because I believe they do what the Spurs do, but better.

I just want the Pistons to be in the Finals. Because, obviously, I am a Pistons fan.

But if Boston wins, then I would prefer a Boston-Los Angeles matchup for the obvious historical perspective. And considering I grew up on the NBA during the Bird-Magic era, would be cool to see that rivalry renewed...

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Go go Lakers. I hate Spurs and I hate Lakers but I hate the Spurs more. Nice seeing them get fucked up by the Lakers. Ha.

I wonder if Celtics will beat Pistons tomorrow for the Lakers/Celtics wet dream (for the NBA at least) matchup?

Nice to see this finals series going more than a sweep. It'd be great to see a 7-game series. My buddy whose back in town from BU Med school is a bandwagon celt fan, but it's fun to watch games w/ him and fuck with him. he knows we hate LA more than Boston though. Har.

The Lakers got owned tonight. 39 point lead ouch. Gratz Boston

Yeah, for sure. I hate the Lakers, obviously -- but it was great to see a team who truly deserved to win -- win it all. The Celtics played their hearts out this year and dominated on the East and West. I didn't see them taking it all the way, but they really showed me what was what. I couldn't believe the dominance they showed tonight. They were absolutely amazing. Defense KILLED the Lakers.

It's nice to watch playoffs w/o having an emotional stake in it, so I really enjoyed the series. My buddy who goes to Boston Uni Med school (from AZ) is a bandwagon fan but it was nice watching the series w/ him regardless.

The Lakers and Celtics are both set to be dominating forces the next season or two. I'm wishing we had Rondo and House still. Too bad we gave them both away.

Lakers were dominated. It was nice to see them lose, the Spurs lose, and Boston to win it all. End of story I guess.