What I’m going to do over the next… few weeks, or possibly months, I don’t really know… is take a look back at some of the teams I’ve enjoyed watching the most over the past decade (because around here, “ever” begins in 2004). Some of my selections will likely leave you wondering if you and I have been watching the same league, because not all of these teams were good (or even popular), at least one of them could be considered a disaster, and the combined number of championships among them will be zero. This is basically a list of teams that I’ve spent most of my nights watching since I became a basement-dwelling, NBA-watching hermit in late 2004. I’m going to get the ball rolling with one of the decade’s most popular teams, but future posts will have that typical NBA 24/7 365 weirdness about them. I promise.
Steve Nash/Amare Stoudemire/Mike D’Antoni Suns (2002-2010)
Like I said, a predictable start. Who didn’t love watching these guys? Steve Nash is probably the most fascinating basketball player I’ve ever witnessed. Amare Stoudemire is one of the sickest dunkers ever to throw down (note for n00bs: he’s responsible for the Starbury Scale). Shawn Marion, Stephon Marbury, Joe Johnson, LeAndro Barbosa, Quentin Richardson, Jason Richardson, and of course Tim Thomas all contributed to the team’s elite entertainment value over the years. As far as I’m concerned, this is NBA basketball at it’s finest:
If clutch triples by underachieving power forwards combined with G-Unit inspired celebrations don’t do it for you… then you’re reading the wrong f@cking blog, because according to me that’s pretty much what makes NBA basketball the greatest thing ever.
There should be a sequential image of this play next to the word “swagger” in the motherf@cking dictionary. Hey, you know what would be awesome? An NBA dictionary where each word is defined by an image of a player, play, team, or whatever. I should compile one of those. Maybe I will.
Tim Thomas and all of his epic tomfoolery aside, I’d have to say the greatest thing about the D’Antoni Suns is that they forced the fuddy-duddies to respect the run-and-gun style. Uptempo basketball is my favorite basketball, but it’s a style that’s normally adopted by bad teams or borderline playoff contenders. Although they were never able to get over the hump, the Suns were legitimate championship contenders from 04/05 through 06/07. By the way, Robert Horry, f@ck yourself. Oh, I almost forgot, my mainest of main mans Stromile Swift wrapped up his NBA career on this squad. His contributions included a double-double and this dunk. The only thing I never liked about this team? Boris Diaw. It’s all good though… Kwame Brown took care of him. I’ll wrap this up with a couple mixes…
^^^^That last one’s a KBlaze video, so you know it’s that good sh!t. If you’re unfamiliar with my man KBlaze, search him on Youtube… make sure you’ve got a few hours of free time on your hands.
man, I love watching college basketball more than the NBA