A Rambler's Rambling: The Best Game Ever (and some Videos!)

Tonight was, in a word, fantabulous.

Yes, I'm aware that is not an actual word. However, I could very easily create a Wikipedia page saying that it was a word and I bet that I would find that site in many bibliographies in high school papers across the country. But I won't.

The Phoenix Suns (my BELOVED Phoenix Suns!!!) had a shot at knocking the silly, overrated Dallas Mavericks off of the top of the ladder known as the Western Conference. They are (or, should I say, were!) 3 1/2 games ahead of us before tonight's game. But after a completely undulated game (both teams held a lead of at least 15 at one time), we came out on top, 129-127 in double overtime! What a game!

The first quarter was everything I could have asked for. We jumped out to a quick lead and finished the first twelve minutes with a 32-18 advantage. The only problem was that our stud center, Amare Stoudemire, had only played four minutes because of two quick fouls. However, we were up by 14 so it didn't look like it mattered.

The Mavs fought back (like a good team should) and ended the first half with not only a seven point deficit, but all sorts of momentum, thanks to a last-second alley-oop from Jason Terry to Jerry Stackhouse (whom I hate!). We took a 60-53 lead into the locker room and I was still quite confident going into the second half.

But then the third quarter happened. You see, as a Suns fan, I've grown to expect these lapses in scoring. Quite often, we will go thru droughts. Well the third quarter was one giant drought! They outscored us 38-16 in the third and looked completely dominating. We were down 91-76 going into the fourth and final quarter, and I was not happy. I was still hopeful, but I was not comfortable.

I never lost faith in my team. I never have (even when we were down three games to one to the Lakers in last year's playoffs). Even when we were down 108-101 with fifty some seconds left (we shot the lights out in the fourth quarter and slowly chipped away at their lead), I still felt like we could win. Then the two-time MVP took over. Steve Nash (in whom we trust) scored ten points in the final minute, including a tying three-pointer with three seconds left (thanks to an incredible offensive rebound by the man, Shawn Marion) to put the game into overtime tied at 111.

In overtime, Amare took over. The brute strength of the young man was evident as time after time, the pick and roll worked (thanks to the brilliance of Nash and the athleticism of Amare). We were rolling until the final seconds when Jason Terry tied the game up with a three-pointer of his own. Double overtime began and we owned that extra period too. The Mavs saw a healthy dose of Amare and Nash with the timely Marion bucket thrown in to boot. When Dirk's last second shot went long (Rebounded, naturally, by Nash) and we were claimed victorious, I was yelling at the top of my lungs! I have not been this happy since, well, probably when we won Honorable Mention at the Newspaper Convention. But this was definitely the biggest moment of the season for us and I can't wait to see where this leads us!

(Box Score)

Also, on a non-sports note, the AV Press published an article (though brief) about the Examiner's award at the aforementioned conference. Here's the link to that.

And finally, here are some videos that I found either on Youtube or on TV (and then found them on Youtube!). I hope you enjoy them all!!!

A QVC SALESMAN IS MISTAKEN (very funny)