Stoudemire/Diaw? Yes. George/Butler? No.

[RunDogGun]

Looking back, here's what I think about the controversial suspensions.

1. I agree Diaw should not have been suspended.

2. Amare deserved his suspension.

3. Horry should have been given a 3 game suspension instead of 2 games to guarantee he wouldn't play again in that series after that dirty foul he committed.

4. It cost the Suns the series and a title.

I don't think it cost us the series. D'Antoni's poor adjustments cost us that series. We had them in game five, and they played like they knew they got away with something.

Also because the Spurs were allowed to be overly physical, and Utah, the team we would have played if we had beaten the Spurs were just as physical, I just don't know if we could have handled back to back physical series.

[lilfishi22]

Sometimes we just weren't a better team but it's hard to overlook how little respect Nash got throughout his career. Like RDG mentioned, even after his 2nd MVP title, he still didn't get the kind of respect even a much younger Lebron got.

Completely different game style... And if you really wanna hop on the RDG bandwagon, how much can the NBA market a mid-30's, white point guard.. so why would they treat him like a 6'8 athlttic freak with a super-cool name like LeBRON James which has swag dripping out of it's ears.



Im not saying RDG is wrong, because there really isnt an obvious answer.

It's about calls that went Lebron's way because it's Lebron (or any superstar). Nash didn't get nearly as many of the 50/50 calls as other stars.

[Never Fear 33 Is Here]

This old chestnut.....lol

[Christine-In-AZ]

The networks loved us = the NBA loved us

Didn't the Suns lead the league in wins over a 6 year span from 04-05' thru 09-10' and hold a top 5 winning% all time? Doesn't sound like hate to me...

True.

There's a way too high percentage of Suns fans that are convinced they are out to get us. It's sad, kinda pathetic, but I guess it grows from never winning it all...being good, just not good enough for decades.

"Stern hates us!" "The refs gives us the shaft game after game!" ...blah, blah, blah.

Grow up. The Suns face the same general headwinds as any other team.

[Revived]

The networks loved us = the NBA loved us

Didn't the Suns lead the league in wins over a 6 year span from 04-05' thru 09-10' and hold a top 5 winning% all time? Doesn't sound like hate to me...

True.

There's a way too high percentage of Suns fans that are convinced they are out to get us. It's sad, kinda pathetic, but I guess it grows from never winning it all...being good, just not good enough for decades.

"Stern hates us!" "The refs gives us the shaft game after game!" ...blah, blah, blah.

Grow up. The Suns face the same general headwinds as any other team.

Agreed 100%. There's one particular Suns fan on this board who b**ched about the officiating in EVERY SINGLE game this past season. Every single one.

I don't wanna sound like a hypocrite, cause I complain about officiating too. But not nearly to the same level that this poster does.

I'll give you a hint, his username is 3 three letter words out together. If you were active at all in the GD theeads, you should know who I'm talking about.

[BobbieL]

Looking back, here's what I think about the controversial suspensions.

1. I agree Diaw should not have been suspended.

2. Amare deserved his suspension.

3. Horry should have been given a 3 game suspension instead of 2 games to guarantee he wouldn't play again in that series after that dirty foul he committed.

4. It cost the Suns the series and a title.

At the time, under the rules, Amare deserved it. Diaw never did. Diaw was just walking along the bench

What also got my goat was why wasn't Duncan suspended? He went on to the court. Why did he go on the court? To help a teammate.

Finally, stern is just full of palaver. He had not suspended ANYBODY during those playoffs and when he does, he suspends Horry two games because he knows it was premeditated. I am glad Silver used common sense with George and wish it had been used with Diaw

[jcsunsfan]

I really believe it was Steve Kerr on the tv broadcast that tied the leagues hands. When he first saw it he repeated over and over that it was a violation of the rule and an automatic suspension. If not for that I not sure who would have noticed. It was just such a stupid ruling.

[garrick]

I think the fact that the Suns were a relatively young team and achieved success relatively quickly after Nash came on a lot of the players just didn't get the benefit of a lot of calls compared to a veteran team like SA.
Even Nash was just a borderline allstar before he joined the Suns so he didn't get superstar calls like Wade or Bryant did.

Secondly Stern was anal about following the letter of the law after what happened in Detroit and wanted to make sure no one even thought about leaving the bench during an altercation.
I'm just really glad stern is no longer in charge...