Careful What You Wish For

I guess I should have wished for a billion dollars but instead I wished that the Suns would make a long playoff run this year. We have played so well this season after the all-star break, our team seems to have great chemistry and we are karmicly due. What I failed to realize in wishing for a long playoff run was that I would set myself up for more psychic damage from the Spurs (the dominatrix to the Suns submissive). Last night my Manu-Terrors began again as I kept having nightmares in which that balding lefty made gravity defying shots at key moments. I can not figure out how Jarron Collins and Channing Frye are going to do anything to stop Tim Duncan (and his bulging eyes). I know we are supposed to get Robin back but who knows what kinda game shape he is going to be in. The entire time Becky and I have known each other she has repeated one certainty about the NBA. If the Suns are playing the Spurs in the playoffs Ethan is going to be devastated every three days or so. She talks about the loss as if it is an inevitability not even giving the Suns a chance. I hope (notice I didn't say wish) that Nash and Stoudemire do not have the same mental block that I have for the Spurs. I hope that we have enough new guys that werent involved in those past series that don't carry the scars. I hope Tim Duncan and Manu both realize that they are old as Nash seemed to in Game 6 against the Trailblazers (he was playing terribly up until the final minutes and is reportedly suffering from a nerve impingement in his hip related to back issues). I hope we find a way to stop George Hill (there is a chance that he will be joining Manu as a co-star in my nightmares. I am thinking a buddy cop theme).

If we were to win I think we would become the favorites in the West. The psychological boost of getting the monkey (Manu) off our back could catapult us to the Title series.

Keys to the series according to me:

Beat them in bench production (our bench is currently our greatest weapon)

Amare continues to play defense (how about the charge he took last night...who was that guy?)

Hill/Dudley terrorize Manu and George Hill

Robin Lopez returns for solid crunch time minutes

P.S. Check out this video that Simmons included in his latest column. Joey Crawford is a terrible official http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaZIAXJJDKQ.