The Suns are on the rise...

I have this thing about the NBA or I guess I should narrow that down to my favorite pro basketball team, the Phoenix Suns. Every season seems a bit long. An 82-game regular season schedule...that's a lot of games and I get excited every time the Suns jump off to a good start.

I try to ignore the basketball standings in early December, but it's tough because I'm a nut for reading the box scores. Yep, and once again the Suns head into December with 14 wins and just three losses. I see them embedded in first place and I find myself calculating the what if scenarios. The Suns have never won an NBA title, but there's always hope. Back in 1993, the Phoenix Suns finished the regular season with 62 wins behind Charles Barkley and Company and they also hit that milestone again in 2005, under the direction of Steve Nash.

So, here I go again, I'm hooked. A win over the struggling Nicks in New York on Tuesday night would give the Suns 15 wins! That would be a franchise record for the most wins to start a season. Could the Suns be on their way to maybe a franchise record of 63 wins for an entire season? See what happens to me. With Nash directing traffic, it is certainly a pleasure to watch the Suns play, and now with the addition of a former Arizona Wildcat (Channing Frye) added to the mix, I guess you can say the team from up in the big city now has my attention.

Back in 1993, Charles Barkley averaged 25.6 points a game during the regular season and the Suns rolled into the playoffs. They beat the Lakers in five games, knocked off San Antonio in six and then won the Western Conference finals by besting Seattle in a seven-game series, winning the last game easily, 123-110. I'll never forget what happened in the sixth game of the NBA Championship Series against the Chicago Bulls in Phoenix. The Bulls' John Paxson ended the Suns' hope for the title in 1993 when he hit a three-pointer with 3.9 seconds left to give the Bulls a 99-98 victory and the championship. In 2005, the Suns shutdown Memphis in the first round of the playoffs, winning all four games, and took out the Dallas Mavericks in the second round, winning 4 games to 2. But San Antonio took the Suns out in the Western Conference Finals, winning four of five games. This year, we'll have to see how it all pans out. I'll try to focus on football again this week. There's a lot of that going on. I'll try to ignore the Suns for a few games...maybe when I check the basketball standings in a week or so, I'll be pleasantly surprised.

Suns' Update: Well, wouldn't you know it. The Phoenix Suns go into New York and can't find the basket. They lose to the lowly Knicks, 126-99. And now it is on to Cleveland to face the Cavs. Oh well, we'll get back to the Suns in a few weeks. It looks like I might have jinxed them last night.