Wednesday, May 31, 2006

RAJA RAJA RAJA!!!!!!!


It's funny how one player can make a difference. Take away Steve Nash from the Suns, and you have a team like the Timberwolves. Talented players with no direction. Steve Nash makes the Suns go. He runs the offense, finds open shots for his teammates, and provides on the floor leadership.
I never thought Raja Bell would be as important to the Suns as Steve Nash. With Raja sidelined for games 2 & 3, the Suns looked overmatched. The defense just wasn't there. They couldn't stop guys like Josh Howard & Devin Harris. Their double teams didn't have the same effectiveness on Dirk Nowitzki, and they didn't have the fire to go after loose balls.
Raja surprised everyone by suiting up and playing in game 4. His presence gave the Suns the fire they needed to pull even in the series with a 20 point victory. A loss in game 4 would have been devastating, but the Suns followed Raja's lead and came out with fire and passion to put the Mavs away in the 3rd quarter.
Raja has really made his place in Suns history during these playoffs. Everyone knows about his clothesline to Kobe Bryant.
Had he done that and the Suns lost the series, nobody in Phoenix would want anything to do with him. However, that play alone inspired the Suns to win game 6 on the Lakers floor, and fueled the beat down the Suns put on the Lakers in game 7.
Fast forward to the Clippers series: Game 5, Suns down 3 in OT, and Raja hits what may just be the biggest shot in Suns history to put the game into OT #2 where the Suns took control...another game 7, another spanking put on a team from LA.
Now, Raja comes back from an injury he probably should not have been playing on, and inspires his team to win by 20 over a team that had outplayed them for the 2 previous games. That's the stuff legends are made of.
I only hope the Suns can continue to play with that kind of passion and fire throughout this series. If we can go into Dallas and win game 5 you may as well make your reservations for the Finals.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great win for you guys... but honestly I'm not worried, I still think we have the edge in this series, and ultimately will go to the finals. I was predicting a 6 game series, so this is in line with my prediction. Hopefully after this game we will have figured out the necessary adjustments, and come firing with all cylinders in game 5.
On a side note, you have House, we have Van Horn... that makes us even;)
I still love Steve Nash, and if they win this series I will be cheering for the Suns.