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http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/writers/john_hollinger/10/31/nba.curse/index.html
The Curse lives on
While Red Sox broke through, one NBA team is still fighting demons
John Paxson
History shows that Paxson wasn't cursed. As for his opponents on June 20, 1993 ... well, that's a different story.
Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images
You don't have to play baseball to be cursed. While the long, dark era of "The Curse" is over for Boston, basketball also has its share of lamentable losers. Now that the Red Sox erased themselves from the list of the damned, it's a perfect time to consider what basketball team, if any, is most deserving of the "cursed" mantel.
Candidates are a bit harder to come by in pro basketball, which has a half-century deficit in the history department compared to major league baseball. But as we'll see, at least one team is certainly worthy of the honor.
First, let's define what we mean by a 'Curse.' Here are my criteria:
• A team that hasn't won a championship, or won so long ago that only grainy, black-and-white film exists of it.
• A team that has contended many times but always found a way to fall short, even when they had superior talent.
• A team that has lost out on its best opportunities in the most heartbreaking of fashions.
With those parameters, we can begin with the NBA's 30 teams and eliminate them one by one. The easiest ones to weed out are the ones who have won championships since 1960: the Celtics, Lakers, 76ers, Bulls, Spurs, Rockets, Wizards, Sonics, Warriors, Trail Blazers, Knicks, Bucks and Pistons. The Nets and Pacers, who won ABA titles, also lose out on a claim to Cursedom.
Next, we can eliminate the teams that haven't been around long enough to establish a history of tormenting their fans. The Bobcats, Grizzlies, Raptors, Hornets, Magic, T'wolves and Heat can be dismissed on this criteria.
Finally, we have to eliminate the teams that never got close enough to the promised land to produce a legitimate heartbreak. The Clippers, Nuggets, Mavs, and Cavs have never even been to the Finals, so it's hard to take their claims seriously. The Hawks last visited the promised land in '61 when they played in St. Louis, so we can eliminate them as well. Same goes for the Kings, whose only Finals visit came two moves and over half a century ago, when they were known as the Royals and played in the hamlet of Rochester.
That leaves us with just two teams. The first is easy to eliminate. The Utah Jazz lost twice in the Finals in the mid-'90s and lost three other times in the conference finals, but there wasn't a "Buckner moment" in any of those defeats, and the other three decades of their history have lacked any angst-inducing drama.
That knocks out 29 teams, but there's one left, and its logo should be a black cat:
• They've lost in the Finals twice, both times in heartbreaking ways.
• In a league where teams almost never lose a clinching playoff game at home, they've done it five times, and it cost them as many as three championships.
• They are one of only two teams to win the first two games of a best-of-seven playoff series on the road and still lose.
• They've had heartbreaking defeats in the '70s, '80s and '90s. That's a consistent record no team wants.
If you haven't guessed yet, I'm talking about the Phoenix Suns.
Despite the Suns' relative youth -- they were formed in '68-69 -- there is no question that this is the NBA's most cursed team. They might be more cursed than the other 29 teams put together.
This is a franchise that, in only its second season, took a 3-1 lead against Wilt Chamberlain's Lakers in its first-ever playoff series ... only to lose in seven games. That loss was a fitting introduction for basketball fans in the desert, setting the stage for the 35 years of disappointment that would follow.
They made their first visit to the NBA Finals in '75-76 and were involved in one of the greatest games in league history, a triple-OT thriller against the Celtics in Game 5 that included Gar Heard's desperation shot at the second-overtime buzzer. Of course, they lost that game, and the series in six.
In '78-79 they were one win away from a trip to the Finals when they hosted Seattle in Game 6 of the Western Conference finals. The Suns led in the fourth quarter but succumbed down the stretch, 106-105, and ultimately dropped Game 7.
Five years later they suffered perhaps the biggest upset in playoff history when they had an open freeway to the NBA Finals. The Suns had the best record in the West in '80-81 at 57-25, and were helped further when Houston knocked out the defending champion Lakers in the first round. All the Suns had to do was beat the hapless Kansas City Kings (40-42) and ...
Help! ... Collar tightening ... cannot breathe ... must ... loosen ...
MAILBAG
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The Suns inexplicably lost to the lowly Kings, dropping Game 7 on their home court. This would have been bad enough if the Kings had been healthy, but they were a MASH unit. In fact all of the Kings' guards were injured, including two of their top three scorers. In the clincher, the Kings' starting shooting guard was a 6-foot-10 forward named J.D. Lambert who had a 3.0 points-per-game average and was out of the league within two years.
Fast forward to 1989-90, and more disappointment. The Suns knocked out the defending champion Lakers in five games, a cathartic pounding of a hated rival. But unlike the Red Sox, they didn't finish the job. In the next round, against Portland, the Suns blew a 22-point lead in Game 1 and ended up falling in six games. Phoenix outscored the Blazers by 34 points over the six games, but lost four times by 1, 2, 3 and 6 points. Ouch.
Finally, in '92-93, the Suns made it back to the Finals, only to run into Michael Jordan's Bulls. Despite the might of their opponents, the Suns were leading near the end of Game 6 and looking forward to a Game 7 on their home court until John Paxson's 3-pointer knocked them out.
Jordan retired after that season, leaving the path to a title wide open, but Phoenix couldn't break through. In '93-94, the Suns met Houston in the second round and were thinking sweep after winning the first two games on the road. But Houston improbably won the next two games in Phoenix, and knocked the stunned Suns out in seven while the Rockets went on to win the title.
The previous years would be enough to fill a curse résumé, but the pièce de résistance for Phoenix came in '94-95. Again the Suns won the first two games against Houston, and were up 3-1 with Game 5 and Game 7 coming on their home court. There seemed no way the Suns could blow this one but, alas, they did. Tied at the end of Game 5, Suns coach Paul Westphal had his Grady Little moment when he inexplicably called the final shot for rookie guard Wesley Person (instead of, oh, say, Kevin Johnson, Dan Majerle or Charles Barkley). Person missed, of course, and the Rockets won in overtime.
That gaffe hardly seemed to matter when the Suns took a double-digit lead into the second half of Game 7. Nobody loses a Game 7 at home, after all, especially when they take such a huge early advantage. But this was the Suns, so we all know what happened next ...
Medic! ... Oxygen dwindling ... airway constricted ... throat ... getting ... tighter ...
The Rockets came back after the break, shooting 73 percent in the second half (that's not a typo). With the game tied in the final seconds, Houston put the Suns away when Mario Elie made a 3-pointer from the corner in the final seconds, blowing a smooch to the Suns' bench for good measure. Again, the Suns had to watch on TV as the Rockets won another championship. To add insult to injry, this loss closed the championship window of a hugely talented team that had Barkley, KJ, Majerle and Danny Manning, among others.
So there you have it -- 35 years of bad karma. From the first series against Wilt to the final kiss-off from Elie, there's never been a doubt about who the basketball gods are rooting against. There may not be a Bambino involved, but the Phoenix Suns are cursed. Let's hope they don't have to wait 86 years to see it reversed.
The Curse lives on
While Red Sox broke through, one NBA team is still fighting demons
John Paxson
History shows that Paxson wasn't cursed. As for his opponents on June 20, 1993 ... well, that's a different story.
Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images
You don't have to play baseball to be cursed. While the long, dark era of "The Curse" is over for Boston, basketball also has its share of lamentable losers. Now that the Red Sox erased themselves from the list of the damned, it's a perfect time to consider what basketball team, if any, is most deserving of the "cursed" mantel.
Candidates are a bit harder to come by in pro basketball, which has a half-century deficit in the history department compared to major league baseball. But as we'll see, at least one team is certainly worthy of the honor.
First, let's define what we mean by a 'Curse.' Here are my criteria:
• A team that hasn't won a championship, or won so long ago that only grainy, black-and-white film exists of it.
• A team that has contended many times but always found a way to fall short, even when they had superior talent.
• A team that has lost out on its best opportunities in the most heartbreaking of fashions.
With those parameters, we can begin with the NBA's 30 teams and eliminate them one by one. The easiest ones to weed out are the ones who have won championships since 1960: the Celtics, Lakers, 76ers, Bulls, Spurs, Rockets, Wizards, Sonics, Warriors, Trail Blazers, Knicks, Bucks and Pistons. The Nets and Pacers, who won ABA titles, also lose out on a claim to Cursedom.
Next, we can eliminate the teams that haven't been around long enough to establish a history of tormenting their fans. The Bobcats, Grizzlies, Raptors, Hornets, Magic, T'wolves and Heat can be dismissed on this criteria.
Finally, we have to eliminate the teams that never got close enough to the promised land to produce a legitimate heartbreak. The Clippers, Nuggets, Mavs, and Cavs have never even been to the Finals, so it's hard to take their claims seriously. The Hawks last visited the promised land in '61 when they played in St. Louis, so we can eliminate them as well. Same goes for the Kings, whose only Finals visit came two moves and over half a century ago, when they were known as the Royals and played in the hamlet of Rochester.
That leaves us with just two teams. The first is easy to eliminate. The Utah Jazz lost twice in the Finals in the mid-'90s and lost three other times in the conference finals, but there wasn't a "Buckner moment" in any of those defeats, and the other three decades of their history have lacked any angst-inducing drama.
That knocks out 29 teams, but there's one left, and its logo should be a black cat:
• They've lost in the Finals twice, both times in heartbreaking ways.
• In a league where teams almost never lose a clinching playoff game at home, they've done it five times, and it cost them as many as three championships.
• They are one of only two teams to win the first two games of a best-of-seven playoff series on the road and still lose.
• They've had heartbreaking defeats in the '70s, '80s and '90s. That's a consistent record no team wants.
If you haven't guessed yet, I'm talking about the Phoenix Suns.
Despite the Suns' relative youth -- they were formed in '68-69 -- there is no question that this is the NBA's most cursed team. They might be more cursed than the other 29 teams put together.
This is a franchise that, in only its second season, took a 3-1 lead against Wilt Chamberlain's Lakers in its first-ever playoff series ... only to lose in seven games. That loss was a fitting introduction for basketball fans in the desert, setting the stage for the 35 years of disappointment that would follow.
They made their first visit to the NBA Finals in '75-76 and were involved in one of the greatest games in league history, a triple-OT thriller against the Celtics in Game 5 that included Gar Heard's desperation shot at the second-overtime buzzer. Of course, they lost that game, and the series in six.
In '78-79 they were one win away from a trip to the Finals when they hosted Seattle in Game 6 of the Western Conference finals. The Suns led in the fourth quarter but succumbed down the stretch, 106-105, and ultimately dropped Game 7.
Five years later they suffered perhaps the biggest upset in playoff history when they had an open freeway to the NBA Finals. The Suns had the best record in the West in '80-81 at 57-25, and were helped further when Houston knocked out the defending champion Lakers in the first round. All the Suns had to do was beat the hapless Kansas City Kings (40-42) and ...
Help! ... Collar tightening ... cannot breathe ... must ... loosen ...
MAILBAG
Submit a comment or question for John.
Your name:
Your E-mail Address:
Your Hometown:
Enter Your Question:
The Suns inexplicably lost to the lowly Kings, dropping Game 7 on their home court. This would have been bad enough if the Kings had been healthy, but they were a MASH unit. In fact all of the Kings' guards were injured, including two of their top three scorers. In the clincher, the Kings' starting shooting guard was a 6-foot-10 forward named J.D. Lambert who had a 3.0 points-per-game average and was out of the league within two years.
Fast forward to 1989-90, and more disappointment. The Suns knocked out the defending champion Lakers in five games, a cathartic pounding of a hated rival. But unlike the Red Sox, they didn't finish the job. In the next round, against Portland, the Suns blew a 22-point lead in Game 1 and ended up falling in six games. Phoenix outscored the Blazers by 34 points over the six games, but lost four times by 1, 2, 3 and 6 points. Ouch.
Finally, in '92-93, the Suns made it back to the Finals, only to run into Michael Jordan's Bulls. Despite the might of their opponents, the Suns were leading near the end of Game 6 and looking forward to a Game 7 on their home court until John Paxson's 3-pointer knocked them out.
Jordan retired after that season, leaving the path to a title wide open, but Phoenix couldn't break through. In '93-94, the Suns met Houston in the second round and were thinking sweep after winning the first two games on the road. But Houston improbably won the next two games in Phoenix, and knocked the stunned Suns out in seven while the Rockets went on to win the title.
The previous years would be enough to fill a curse résumé, but the pièce de résistance for Phoenix came in '94-95. Again the Suns won the first two games against Houston, and were up 3-1 with Game 5 and Game 7 coming on their home court. There seemed no way the Suns could blow this one but, alas, they did. Tied at the end of Game 5, Suns coach Paul Westphal had his Grady Little moment when he inexplicably called the final shot for rookie guard Wesley Person (instead of, oh, say, Kevin Johnson, Dan Majerle or Charles Barkley). Person missed, of course, and the Rockets won in overtime.
That gaffe hardly seemed to matter when the Suns took a double-digit lead into the second half of Game 7. Nobody loses a Game 7 at home, after all, especially when they take such a huge early advantage. But this was the Suns, so we all know what happened next ...
Medic! ... Oxygen dwindling ... airway constricted ... throat ... getting ... tighter ...
The Rockets came back after the break, shooting 73 percent in the second half (that's not a typo). With the game tied in the final seconds, Houston put the Suns away when Mario Elie made a 3-pointer from the corner in the final seconds, blowing a smooch to the Suns' bench for good measure. Again, the Suns had to watch on TV as the Rockets won another championship. To add insult to injry, this loss closed the championship window of a hugely talented team that had Barkley, KJ, Majerle and Danny Manning, among others.
So there you have it -- 35 years of bad karma. From the first series against Wilt to the final kiss-off from Elie, there's never been a doubt about who the basketball gods are rooting against. There may not be a Bambino involved, but the Phoenix Suns are cursed. Let's hope they don't have to wait 86 years to see it reversed.
