by Cathryn Whitehead

Created on: April 20, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

My sister and I have been hoping for an NBA final starring the Phoenix Suns and the Detroit Pistons since she moved to Phoenix years ago. The Pistons were on their way down while the Suns were on their way up and vice versa for several years. This year our dream final looks like a real possibility if both teams can overcome their most serious contenders.

For Phoenix, the finals story will probably be told in the first round. After beginning the season with one of the hardest to beat teams in the NBA, the most talked about trade of the year took place. The Suns winning team was displaced when two of the NBA's shining stars became members of the starting line-up. Shaquille O'Neal and Grant Hill are among the best players in the league, but it is teams that have chemistry and know each other well who win championships, and this trade has the potential to destroy Phoenix's 2008 championship chances. That being said, Shaq is hitting free throws better than he ever has, and Grant Hill seems to be a really good fit for the team. This along with the excellence of Amare Stoudemire and Steve Nash may prove to be the deciding factor in whether or not Phoenix makes it to the NBA finals.

Ending the regular season in sixth place, the Suns have to face their most serious contenders in the first round. The Spurs have skill and experience, and are famous for winning NBA championships. Sometimes they command huge leads and sometimes they come from behind, but they usually win. Phoenix hearts were broken when it looked like the Suns had stolen Game 1 in overtime with a 3 point lead and seconds left when Tim Duncan sent the game into double overtime with his first three pointer this year. The final blow came when Manu Ginobili broke the tied score in the second overtime with 1.8 seconds left, giving Game 1 to the Spurs with a score of 117-115. If all games between these two teams are as good as this one, the series will be better than the finals, but the Suns have to recover from this blow and draw together their skill and talent while improving on their weakness. They have to have fewer turnovers and take advantage of Shaq's size and their Nash-Stoudemire one two punch. If they defeat the Spurs, I believe they'll take the West.

The Pistons have four talented, experienced starters used to playing together in Richard Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace, Chauncey Billups, and Tayshaun Prince. They also have the component that makes great teams winners-a good bench. The starters rested a lot at the end of the season while the bench players learned to win games without them. The experience and the time of rest could combine to pull Detroit past the skill of their most serious contenders, the best Boston Celtic team in years.

If the Pistons' shots hit the first time or if they rebound well enough and force enough turnovers to make second chance opportunities that pan out, the Pistons should make it to the NBA finals. Even with some players out with injuries at different times during the season, Detroit won 59 regular season games, and the ones they lost were mostly to teams they should have blown out. But part of the excitement the Pistons generate is due to their ability to do exactly the opposite of what's expected, and that leads to record breaking sell-outs during the regular season.

During playoffs, though, all experienced teams step up and exceed expectations, and the Pistons will do that in 2008, going on to the finals to face the Phoenix Suns or the San Antonio Spurs-hopefully the Phoenix Suns.

If it doesn't happen this year, it will next year. My sister and I have been waiting a long time for our dream finals match up between the Pistons and the Suns.

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