Suns’ Supernova: Dying Stars in Phoenix
Forty-point games wasted; best NBA Finals blocks and the malleable legacies of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, Devin Booker and Chris Paul.
When a star become depleted of the hydrogen and helium gas there is a spectacular supernova space explosion. The larger the mass of the star
A fancy way to say that the star dies. And that is what has happened in Phoenix in Game 5 of the NBA Finals. The Suns—and their superstars—died.
The larger the mass of the star, the brighter they burn, which creates a stunningly short life expectancy albeit a beautiful and bright one before exploding in the emptiness of space.
The Suns burned bright this postseason. They were massive, giving us ample storylines: young NBA superstars seizing the league by storm; a hero’s championship arc for their journeyman All-Star point guard; and a fanbase that is either on acid or makes the viewer believe they are.
And despite delivering a Valley Oop ending that left everyone speechless in the Western Conference Finals, the Suns were on the wrong end of not one, but two alley-oop plays by Giannis that wasted Devin Booker’s back-to-back 40-point games, crowned Giannis as best in the league, and left Phoenix in a 2-3 series deficit heading north to Wisconsin.
We watched the Suns’ supernova—their death—play out in real time.
That may seem harsh. After all the Suns still have an opportunity to win Game 6 and force a Game 7 for the title; however, the Milwaukee Bucks seem to have found their groove and thrive in the Deer District. In 39.4 minutes per game, Giannis is averaging 32.5 points (on 61.2 percent from the field), 13 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.4 steals, and 1.2 blocks per game.
The Greek Freak has also been receiving some much needed help as Khris Middleton dropped 40 points in Game 4. On the road in Game 5, Middleton scored 29, Jrue Holiday had 27 and Pat Connaughton had 14 off the bench to compliment Giannis’ team high 32.
Still, it may not seem right to declare the Suns dead. Mainly because they have Devin Booker. Can he drop yet another 40-point game to stave off elimination? Who knows, but the Suns did not play terrible in Game 5. In fact, they were on fire.
All five starters scored in double figures (including Booker with 40); they shot 55 percent from the field; 68 percent from three; only missed one foul shot; only turned the ball over eight times; had five blocks and were near even on the glass. Chris Paul had 10 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter alone and was 4-of-4 shooting with two threes.
Although for everything that Phoenix did well, they allowed Milwaukee right back into the game. After leading by 16 points at the end of the first quarter, it took the Bucks only four minutes and 12 seconds of the second quarter to tie it back up. And even when Paul made cut the lead to 120-119 with 56 seconds remaining, Booker was stripped by Holiday and Paul flagrantly fouled Giannis on his Alley-oop finish.
Then the Suns could not ever get the rebound off the foul shot—Giannis was 4-of-11 from the line, but tapped the loose ball back out over Paul.
The disarray that the Suns have been in at the end of games has been cringeworthy at best. After losing Game 3 to the Bucks by 20, the Suns held a nine-point advantage seconds into the fourth quarter of Game 4. This was thanks to Booker’s 18 points on 7-of-7 shooting in the third quarter; he had 38 points on 15-of-23 shooting entering the fourth quarter after being benched in Game 3.
However, a mindless fifth foul early in the fourth quarter sent a red-hot Booker to the bench, which—as Kuzco would say—threw off Phoenix’s groove for the rest of the game. Giannis would then have one of the best blocks in NBA Finals history when he blocked Deandre Ayton’s alley-oop attempt off of Booker’s lob up two with just over a minute left.
People have immediately compared this block to LeBron James’ block on Andre Iguodala in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals in a tied game with just under two minutes left. The historic chasedown block that we forget to mention (partly because there is no video of it) is Bill Russell’s chasedown block on the St. Louis Hawks’ Jack Coleman in Game 7 of the 1957 NBA Finals. In the process, the rookie center Russell was moving at 21 mph to preserve the lead with about 40 seconds left. The Boston Celtics would win the first of their 11 titles with Russell in double overtime.
A few days later, and it is Giannis polishing off the offensive end of an alley-pop to put his Bucks in command to win their first NBA championship since 1971. He caused the Suns’ supernova across a four game stretch and accelerated it with back to back alley-oops in the final minute of Games 4 and 5.
It is possible that the Suns could come back and win this championship series. And Phoenix is loaded with young talent and should be primed for years to come, but the Sacramento paradox looms around the corner where future success—and championships— is not guaranteed.
Because when such massive stars run out of gas, die and suffer a supernova explosion they create a black hole. If the Suns cannot mount a comeback or win in the near future, then they too will have created a black hole for all their fans to contemplate what could have been.