Playoffs

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It's the first round of the 2008 NBA playoffs and it's been hard. Obviously, I'm a fan of the Phoenix Suns and I so want them to get to the finals, it hurts, but who were we pitted against for the first round? The Spurs. I loathe the Spurs. They (along with the help of crappy officiating and bad luck) defeated us last year - why, oh why did we have to face them of all teams for this first series? All the odds are against the Suns coming from being down 3-0, but yesterday we won a game and now it's 3-1. It's an up hill battle, but there is still a spark of hope that we can defy all the odds and win this series, I know it is unlikely, but it aint over 'till it's over.

There is talk that if the Suns lose after this first round that Coach Mike D'Antoni might be out - which I think would be so sad. So sad. I love D'Antoni. I think he is a decent, honorable, guy and a great coach - and he is a big reason why the Suns are a decent, honorable, hard-working group of guys. As a fan of the team I often get so emotionally invested. After a hard loss, I can be feeling crushed but when I hear Coach D'Antoni reflecting on a game, everything is put into perspective - things aren't so horrible, it was one game, it's not the end of the world, and they have a plan for the next game. Coach stays calm, he keeps his sense of humor and inspires hope for the future of the team. If he can do that for a fan of the team, I'm sure he instills this same positive attitude to the players.

A final thought on the finals up to this point: Jeff Van Gundy has joined the commentators for the finals and he's great. He is certainly entertaining. He is blunt, not afraid to say what he really thinks, he's funny and he shakes things up. It's just been a little more fun with him. For example, yesterday the commentators were talking about Boris Diaw's basketball camp and its rewards and Van Gundy compared it to Willy Wonka's golden ticket - he threw out a Violet Beauregard reference, I mean how many NBA commentators are going to do that? A few minutes after this, after an Extreme Home Makeover promo, he said something like, "is there anything better than when they say 'move that bus'?" I don't know, he just makes me laugh. So, good job, ABC.

There are my playoff thoughts for now. Game 5 is on Tuesday night. Please, please let the Suns defy the odds and make a little playoff history.