10 best teams that fell short of winning NBA title
By Phil Watson
5. 2004-05 Phoenix Suns
The second Mike D’Antoni-coached team on this list, the Phoenix Suns came from literally nowhere after a 29-win campaign in 2003-04, buoyed by a pretty good free agent acquisition along with one of the all-time best free agent signngs.
Phoenix shot to a 62-20 record, the best in the NBA, as D’Antoni rolled to NBA Coach of the Year honors as the Seven Seconds or Less Suns were born with Steve Nash, signed away from the Dallas Mavericks over the summer, returned to the Valley of the Sun and became the NBA’s MVP (an honor he would repeat in 2005-06).
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Quentin Richardson also joined the Suns and shot 35.8 percent on an almost-unheard-of (at the time) 8.0 3-point attempts per game as Phoenix became just the third team in NBA history to top 2,000 3-point tries in a season (joining the 1995-96 Dallas Mavericks and the 2002-03 Boston Celtics).
The Suns swept the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round and managed to put away the Mavericks in six games despite losing shooting guard Joe Johnson to a fractured orbital bone in Phoenix’s Game 2 loss to Dallas when he crashed to the floor on a drive after being fouled by Jerry Stackhouse.
The San Antonio Spurs were the Suns’ opponent in the Western Conference Finals and came into America West Arena and won both Games 1 and 2 to put Phoenix on its heels. Johnson returned for Game 3 in San Antonio after Phoenix was forced to start 34-year-old Jim Jackson for the six games Johnson was out.
Johnson had 26 points in a Game 4 win at San Antonio, but the Spurs closed out the series back in Phoenix in Game 5 — going 3-0 on the road in the series. The outcome wasn’t a complete shocker — the eventual champion Spurs had taken two of three from the Suns during the regular season.