Well it was nice while it lasted

The streak is over. 7 games.

Undoubtedly, the talk around the PHX will center on two things.
1) The zebras stole the game from us.
2) The Suns won 7 in a row by feasting on mediocre competition, and will wilt under the pressure of playing big-time teams.

It's almost laughable how predictable our fan base is. I recently commented that the Suns base is the most desperate and demanding of all NBA fan bases. This is a franchise and a fan base that is so title starved, they cook up half-baked conspiracy theories in which David Stern, Stu Jackson and Robert Horry meet in a smoke-filled room to figure out how to get the Suns out of contention before game 4. Ridiculous.

And when we're not crying conspiracy, we're blaming refs. I'm sorry, but today's game should never even have gone to overtime. A player (I believe it was Grant Hill), had the opportunity to shoot two free throws towards the end of regulation and missed them both. On the Pistons' last possession, they were permitted to get an offensive rebound and run the clock down to nothing. There was no shortage of opportunities in regulation. In overtime, however, things got a little hairy. No fewer than three sketchy calls went the Pistons way. The Suns weren't given a chance to compete in the overtime period, but it never should have gotten to that point. Ask Nash. Ask anyone. They'll probably say the same thing.

As for the mediocre competition during the streak, that's a pretty tough sell to me. Here's the schedule.
SA
Memphis
Golden State
Sacramento
@Portland
@ Seattle (back-to back)
Houston

4 games against tough teams (SA, GS, POR, HOU) and a back-to-back game against a young, ahtletic team. Hardly a schedule of cupcakes.

This game tonight wasn't a total loss. Although it's not a win in the standings, its proof that the Suns can hang with the elite. They got bullied by these same Pistons in the Purple Palace a few weeks ago, and wanted to make a statement. Short of a win, they did as much as they could.

A trip to beantown awaits along with the chance to sweep the Celtics, the team that leads the league in defense and front-runner fans. I'm so tired of seeing bandwagon drivers for Boston teams. The Red Sox win a couple World Series titles and now every game is a home game for them. Most of their "fans", to whom the names Pedro and Nomar mean little to nothing, have become as insufferable as Yankee fans.

The Celts get Garnett and Allen and now, a new generation of Celtics fans are born. And by born, I mean converted from the last bandwagon they were riding. The irony is that these jumpers in their KG jerseys embody everything that he is not. They don't deserve to wear their Clovered KG jerseys . This is a player who embraced a bad franchise, took it as far as he could and was loyal to a fault until the franchise had no choice but to move him. Now he has a new following of fickle fans, who will forget him as soon as Kobe wins another title (heaven forbid). He deserves better. Maybe time will prove me wrong, but I doubt it.

Wednesday night- Phoenix at Boston. Free-flowing vs lane clogging. Fan friendly vs Mind numbing. Stoudemire vs Garnett. Pick your side.