SEATTLE – Every NBA season has some surprises, of course, but no rational person could have predicted that tonight’s Seattle-Phoenix game would showcase the NBA’s top two teams.
That possibility was off the charts.
“A lot of people probably didn’t think these two teams would be playing under these circumstances,” admitted SuperSonics coach Nate McMillan, smiling with understatement. “And national television is coming in because they want to see it, too.”
Indeed, what had seemed an otherwise ordinary game last summer when NBA officials drew up the 2004-05 schedule is suddenly the showdown of the season. The Suns have the league’s best record at 19-3, including a remarkable 9-1 road mark, and have won 15 of their last 16 games.
Seattle is close behind at 18-4. The Sonics have a 10-1 record at KeyArena and an 11-2 mark against Western Conference foes, tops among those 15 teams.
Tonight’s 7:30 p.m. tussle, which will be beamed across the country by ESPN, “is a big test,” acknowledged Sonics guard Ray Allen. “We’ve all been talking about who’s got the best record in the NBA. For a week or so we had the best record, and then we lost one and now Phoenix has the best record. So what better test than to see the two teams that have the best records play against each other.”
The idea of a marquee game like this would have seemed absurd just last spring. The Sonics were finishing up a 37-45 season, their worst record in nearly two decades, and missing the playoffs for the second year in a row. The season was so disappointing, McMillan spent his first few weeks of vacation wondering whether he wanted to return for the final year of his coaching contract.
Phoenix, meanwhile, was even worse. Under first-year coach Mike D’Antoni, who replaced Frank Johnson in early December, the Suns hobbled to a final 29-53 mark, their worst in 16 seasons, and were saved from finishing with the poorest record in the Western Conference only by the hapless Los Angeles Clippers.
Looking ahead to 2004-05, and in a conference ruled by such powers as San Antonio, Sacramento, Dallas, Minnesota and the LA Lakers, no one would have dared to suggest that early supremacy could hang on the outcome of Seattle vs. Phoenix.
Seattle’s turnabout is perhaps the more surprising since the Sonics have largely the same roster as a year ago. Forward Danny Fortson was acquired in an offseason trade and forward Nick Collison is playing after a year-long injury absence, while guard Brent Barry left via free agency, but otherwise these are the same Sonics.
Phoenix embarked on a more aggressive summertime overhaul, having cleared enough space under the league’s salary cap to sign guard Steve Nash and forward Quentin Richardson, both free agents. Nash, in particular, has transformed the Suns. Now in his ninth pro season, he is arguably the league’s premier point guard. He leads the NBA in assists at 11.0 per game, and his deft passing and ball-handling is a principal reason Phoenix is first in scoring (109.4), points differential (12.3), field goal percentage (.478), and fewest turnovers (13.45).
“I think Nash is unbelievable, no question about it,” McMillan said. “His play just makes it easier for the guys on that team. He plays every possession, all out, and that forces anyone who plays with him to play the game hard.”
“He’s the key,” Allen agreed. The Suns, he went on “are running (the floor) and he’s hitting them. He’s unselfish and these guys are getting shots in places where they can score.”
One of the main beneficiaries of Nash’s passes is center Amare Stoudemire, the NBA’s fourth-leading scorer at 25.8 points a game. All five Suns starters, in fact, have double-figure scoring averages.
For the Sonics to win tonight, Allen said, “we kind of have to keep Nash from being the catalyst out there. … But we shouldn’t be discouraged at any point if they score because they’ve proven in their 22 games they can do that. It’s just important that we score the same and throw some defensive stops in there.”
In many ways, Phoenix and Seattle are mirror images of the other. Both play at a hurry-up pace, both can score in bunches, and both are particularly effective from the 3-point stripe, where the Sonics have a league-best percentage of .391 and the Suns are second at .381.
“This is an opportunity for us to see where we are against a team that’s very similar to us,” McMillan said. “They run, we run. And both teams are playing well. So it’s a good game for us, but is it a big game? Of course, it’s an important game. But I think the (bigger) games will come in March and April.”
“Every game is going to be important to us,” Allen said. “As long as we play the way we know we’re capable of playing, it doesn’t matter who we’re playing. You have to try to win each game and then you move on because there’s another game.”
Against the Suns, he added, “we expect to play our best. And if they play their best, it will make for a great show out there.”
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