R.I.P. Phoenix As Suns Blow Another One, Fall to LeBron, Cavaliers 119-111

Phoenix has the lead entering the fourth quarter, leading throughout most of the second half. Slowly the opposition whittles down the lead as Steve Nash & Co. turn the ball over, play after play. The opposition gets hot, and the Suns are unable to get a stop, suddenly finding themselves down 9 points with less than two minutes to play.

Feel free to stop me at anytime. You’ve heard this one before. You know how it ends.

It’s the story of Phoenix’s season. It’s what they do.

They have evolved into the NBA’s best team at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

The Suns displayed their uncanny ability once again Thursday night for the nation to view on TNT. They know drama. The only problem was, there was no drama. The ending was predictable, even expected. It’s what Phoenix and the rest of the league has become accustomed to.

After Steve Nash scored a driving layup to cut Cleveland’s lead to 7 points with three minutes to go in the game, TNT’s Reggie Miller laughed, “I know this sounds weird, but if the Suns could get some stops,” immediately adding, “it’s not high on their priority list.”

The Suns would stop Cleveland on the very next play, but failed to stop them again until there were 10 seconds left in the game, when LeBron James missed a meaningless jump shot.

As usual, Phoenix kept things close all game long, trailing by just three points after the first period. By halftime the Suns had trimmed the lead to 66-65. The Suns had Cleveland right where they wanted them, tying to play their up-tempo, run-n-gun game.

The only problem, Cleveland wasn’t missing their threes. Cleveland went 17-33 from downtown on the evening. Hell, even LeBron James, who had missed his ten previous three point attempts hit not one, not  two, but three in a row.

LeBron would go on to miss his next five, but Sasha Pavlovic wouldn’t. He added three straight himself over a two minute span in the beginning of the fourth quarter, during which Cleveland increase its lead from a single point to five. Throw in two Mo Williams triples, and you’ve got yourself another magical comeback vs. the Phoenix Suns.

Just a note, by contrast, Phoenix shot 4-18 from downtown, good enough for 22.2%. Cleveland shot 51.5 percent.

LeBron finished the evening with 34 points, 10 boards and 13 assists, his third triple double in a row. That’s some sort of feat, which hasn’t been done since Jason Kidd was with New Jersey.

Another point guard, in this case Mo Williams, again, destroyed Nash and the Suns. Williams had 19 by halftime, finishing the game with 30 points on 10-23 from the field and 6-10 from beyond the arch.

Matt Barnes led Phoenix with 21 points, but the Suns bench wasn’t able to contribute much at all in the second half. Leandro Barbosa scored 14 points but shot a putrid 4-12 from the field.

If there was a final breath of life remaining on Planet Orange, it is certainly gone now. The Suns have lost 6 straight and are now 6 games back of the Dallas Mavericks with just 17 games left to play.

Al McCoy said it best, “put this one in the ole’ deep freeze!”

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