The Suns took the Lakers apart in Game 7 of the first round series. PHX is a shallow team but make us of about seven contributors. Los Angeles is a one player team. Bill Simmons wrote that all Kobe-Jordan comparisons should cease if Kobe didn’t destroy Raja Bell in the deciding game. Simmons is right: MJ would have dropped forty-eight points after the game 5 clothesline and post game comments. Michael Jordan always came through when the season was on the line
As for the rest of the Lakers, some played as if they were not aware of 2002-03’s rule change to extend first round series to seven games. Others simply played as if they were not very good. Luke Walton, Kwame Brown, Smush Parker, and Sasha Vujacic all received Golden Tickets when they signed their Laker deals. Los Angeles played well for a few games but in the end their mediocrity shone through. Walton fell into a chocolate lake, Brown swelled up like a giant blueberry, Parker fell in the garbage shut, and Kobe got shrunk to the height of about six inches tall. Or at least it seemed like he did when he was held to three shots in the second half of Game 7. But at least they all got to be Laker fan Terrell Owen’s friends during the season, something Donavan McNab never got to do.
Steve Nash’s ability to make his teammates better is over-rated. Granted, he accentuates their strengths by forcing the defence to help, distributing the ball, and controlling the tempo. Certainly, the rest of the team wouldn’t perform as consistently with another guard. Raja Bell made his name in Game 1 of the 2001 N.B.A. Finals when he shut down Kobe Bryant. Only Steve Nash helped him do it all (well, most of the) series in 2006.
More importantly, Mike D’Antoni and Jerry Colangelo have assembled the right personnel for the team they want to have. They out-scouted everyone regarding Diaw and Barbosa and although it was thought that they overpaid Nash at the time, they definitely got their money’s worth.
Isiah Thomas signed Tim Thomas to an eight figure contract then traded him to Chicago, who wanted to unload Eddy Curry because they were worried he’d die of a heart condition. The Bulls suspended him for most of the year for being a jerk then released him. Phoenix signed Thomas to play the 3 spot in the Steve Nash miracle offence, where he rejuvenated his career and saved the Suns’ season by making a game-tying three-pointed shot at the end of regulation in Game 6.
The Knicks missed the playoffs again and the Bulls lost a tough series to Miami. PHX is still playing because they used independent thinking to solve their problems (open perimeter spots and interior injuries). Denver fired Mike D’Antoni after a fifty game season (the players were awful and necessitated a G.M. change shortly afterward). Phoenix gave him a chance, acquired players that fit his system, and filled the holes with creativity and pluck.