After destroying the Nuggets last night, the Suns looked like they were teleported instantaneously from their home court and continued the carnage against the Jazz.
It's like David Stern ripped my nightmares right from my head and put them center stage tonight at the ESA. Just about everything that could go wrong did. Horrible offense. Nobody outside of Memo showed up. Poor officiating. More horrid offense. Turnovers. The Suns actually playing defense.
The thin bench was a bigger factor than I thought it would be. It was magnified by the fact that the starters didn't play well. The Suns bench came in in the second quarter and ran up the score and the Suns weren't really threatened again. The Jazz did have a couple of spots where they got it to 13 but a couple of calls go against them, and a three later, the Suns are back up almost 20.
So while I try not to be overly pessimistic, this loss gives me a sinking feeling in my stomach and not just because of this game. The fact that we now won't have home court advantage against the Nuggets gives me little hope at advancing. I know that Denver is playing poorly right now as well but they've had our number this year and I think they'll pick it up for the playoffs.
Then, even if do somehow get past the Nuggets, there's LA looming. Harpring actually stated on the broadcast tonight that he thinks the Jazz are the only team that can take out the Lakers. Sheesh.
So to me, though I'll be cheering on the Jazz as hard as I can in the playoffs, tonight's loss signifies the end of the season for me. Maybe it's just the mood from tonight's game getting to me but the reality from this loss starts to set in. The Jazz had to get this win tonight to have a chance at advancing deep.
The silver lining for me is that Andrei said he will be back for the playoffs. I would love to have seen how our fate would have been different if we had had him over the last month. I'm excited for his return more than anything.
So let's hope for an inspired run against Denver that starts Saturday Sunday.