Kori Ellis
05-30-2005, 12:27 AM
Buck Harvey: Belief gone? Why the Suns need their own miracle
Web Posted: 05/30/2005 12:00 AM CDT
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/columnists/bharvey/stories/MYSA053005.1S.COL.BKNharvey.2c2c1c414.html
San Antonio Express-News
You remember the Memorial Day Miracle because of Sean Elliott's toes-teetering shot.
Jimmy Jackson remembers it for a foul not called when he tried his own jumper seconds later.
And I remember it for what happened afterward. The Blazers, demoralized and down 0-2, went home to get swept.
You, Jackson, me.
Should any of us be surprised if the Suns are as demoralized on this Memorial Day?
Jackson played for Portland in 1999, and he doesn't mind talking about that Western Conference finals. Sunday he pointed to a spot on the SBC Center floor where he says he stood when Elliott took Mario Elie's inbounds pass.
Jackson knew that game was actually played in the Alamodome, but he needed the visual aid. "I looked up," said Jackson, smiling broadly. "And thought, (bleep), that thing is going in."
Forgotten is what followed. The Blazers still had nine seconds to overcome the one-point deficit, and Jackson managed to get off a 10-foot jumper. "Right there," said Jackson, pointing to another spot on the floor, "is where David Robinson fouled me."
At that moment, with over 40,000 euphoric over Elliott's miracle, did Jackson really expect to get the call?
"Maybe if I had been someone else," he said.
The Spurs had escaped, and the first game of that series had been tight, too. They flew to Portland more relieved than anything else.
The Blazers could have reacted in several ways. "We felt we had the better team," Jackson said, and a lot of others thought the same. That Portland team was so deep that a third-year player named Jermaine O'Neal averaged only 10 minutes a game.
Jackson says those Blazers weren't emotionally fragile, and that they didn't splinter after Elliott shocked them. But all signs suggest the opposite is true.
During a timeout at the end of that Memorial Day game, Isaiah Rider dribbled a basketball by himself outside the huddle. Damon Stoudamire questioned his minutes before Game 3. And Bonzi Wells and Rasheed Wallace likely didn't lead team cheers.
What followed is irrefutable. The Blazers didn't bring any energy to either game in Portland, losing both badly, and Jackson, to use his own word, "exploded."
According to the latest issue of ESPN The Magazine, Greg Anthony, a Portland teammate, said Jackson "lost control. It wasn't the smartest thing to do, but it was done out of frustration for coming up short."
And from Jackson: "I was mad because we didn't make an adjustment in our game plan."
So Jackson is down in the conference finals again, against the Spurs again. And the adjustments in the game plan are not only difficult to make now, but they also are being tried by the same kind of coach. Mike Dunleavy was the coach of the year that season, just as Mike D'Antoni was this season.
Those Blazers fell apart when they were down. Will the Suns?
"The danger," Jackson said, "is when you start second guessing everything."
There have been signs. The Suns went dead in the second quarter Saturday, scoring only 10 points, and Steve Nash afterward said he and his teammates "kind of put our heads down ... they make you feel like you have to play a perfect game."
And Amare Stoudemire — sounding as dispirited as the similarly-spelled Stoudamire — talked in the past tense Sunday. "It's been a good season," he said.
This 62-win team acts as if winning another game is impossible. When Jackson says he's "living the San Antonio situation all over again," is this what he means?
No, he says. Jackson says the Suns can still make something happen. If they somehow steal a win tonight, then they go home where they will feel more relaxed.
"Then, if the series goes to 3-2," Jackson says, "the pressure shifts."
Logical. Even believable, despite the history when a team leads a series 3-0.
But that's often the obligatory speech. Jackson gave another in 1999 when the Blazers returned home. "The tougher the games, the bigger the challenges," Jackson said then. "That means we really have to step up and play. We're not out of it by any means because we're going home."
The Blazers were out of it; Elliott's tightrope act had removed whatever chemistry they had before. And now come the Suns, exposed as a poor defensive team, feeling as if they've been figured out, not sure how they won before.
The miracle?
If the Suns believe tonight.
Web Posted: 05/30/2005 12:00 AM CDT
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/columnists/bharvey/stories/MYSA053005.1S.COL.BKNharvey.2c2c1c414.html
San Antonio Express-News
You remember the Memorial Day Miracle because of Sean Elliott's toes-teetering shot.
Jimmy Jackson remembers it for a foul not called when he tried his own jumper seconds later.
And I remember it for what happened afterward. The Blazers, demoralized and down 0-2, went home to get swept.
You, Jackson, me.
Should any of us be surprised if the Suns are as demoralized on this Memorial Day?
Jackson played for Portland in 1999, and he doesn't mind talking about that Western Conference finals. Sunday he pointed to a spot on the SBC Center floor where he says he stood when Elliott took Mario Elie's inbounds pass.
Jackson knew that game was actually played in the Alamodome, but he needed the visual aid. "I looked up," said Jackson, smiling broadly. "And thought, (bleep), that thing is going in."
Forgotten is what followed. The Blazers still had nine seconds to overcome the one-point deficit, and Jackson managed to get off a 10-foot jumper. "Right there," said Jackson, pointing to another spot on the floor, "is where David Robinson fouled me."
At that moment, with over 40,000 euphoric over Elliott's miracle, did Jackson really expect to get the call?
"Maybe if I had been someone else," he said.
The Spurs had escaped, and the first game of that series had been tight, too. They flew to Portland more relieved than anything else.
The Blazers could have reacted in several ways. "We felt we had the better team," Jackson said, and a lot of others thought the same. That Portland team was so deep that a third-year player named Jermaine O'Neal averaged only 10 minutes a game.
Jackson says those Blazers weren't emotionally fragile, and that they didn't splinter after Elliott shocked them. But all signs suggest the opposite is true.
During a timeout at the end of that Memorial Day game, Isaiah Rider dribbled a basketball by himself outside the huddle. Damon Stoudamire questioned his minutes before Game 3. And Bonzi Wells and Rasheed Wallace likely didn't lead team cheers.
What followed is irrefutable. The Blazers didn't bring any energy to either game in Portland, losing both badly, and Jackson, to use his own word, "exploded."
According to the latest issue of ESPN The Magazine, Greg Anthony, a Portland teammate, said Jackson "lost control. It wasn't the smartest thing to do, but it was done out of frustration for coming up short."
And from Jackson: "I was mad because we didn't make an adjustment in our game plan."
So Jackson is down in the conference finals again, against the Spurs again. And the adjustments in the game plan are not only difficult to make now, but they also are being tried by the same kind of coach. Mike Dunleavy was the coach of the year that season, just as Mike D'Antoni was this season.
Those Blazers fell apart when they were down. Will the Suns?
"The danger," Jackson said, "is when you start second guessing everything."
There have been signs. The Suns went dead in the second quarter Saturday, scoring only 10 points, and Steve Nash afterward said he and his teammates "kind of put our heads down ... they make you feel like you have to play a perfect game."
And Amare Stoudemire — sounding as dispirited as the similarly-spelled Stoudamire — talked in the past tense Sunday. "It's been a good season," he said.
This 62-win team acts as if winning another game is impossible. When Jackson says he's "living the San Antonio situation all over again," is this what he means?
No, he says. Jackson says the Suns can still make something happen. If they somehow steal a win tonight, then they go home where they will feel more relaxed.
"Then, if the series goes to 3-2," Jackson says, "the pressure shifts."
Logical. Even believable, despite the history when a team leads a series 3-0.
But that's often the obligatory speech. Jackson gave another in 1999 when the Blazers returned home. "The tougher the games, the bigger the challenges," Jackson said then. "That means we really have to step up and play. We're not out of it by any means because we're going home."
The Blazers were out of it; Elliott's tightrope act had removed whatever chemistry they had before. And now come the Suns, exposed as a poor defensive team, feeling as if they've been figured out, not sure how they won before.
The miracle?
If the Suns believe tonight.