What are the first things that come to mind when you think of Grant Hill?
Sportsmanship
Detroit Pistons
Class
Blue Devils
#33
Ankle injury
Triple double threat
Tamia Hill
Point forward
Sprite
Never advanced past the first round
That last one is no longer accurate, and by golly it’s about damn time. After 15 years filled with more ups and downs than a State of the Union Address, Grant Hill deserves to be on a winning team. As a Piston fan as far back as I can remember (Bison Dele, Junkyard Dog, Don Reid, Allan Houston, Korleone Young), I always thought Grant Hill was supposed to be a Piston4lyfe. Unfortunately too often he was essentially THE Detroit Pistons. Before his Detroit fortune could improve, the awful left ankle injury happened and lingered for several years, and then the MRSA infection in 2003 — all history, Grant Hill and his fans would just assume forget.
The 2004/05 season is when you could see Grant had a little more left in the old hopper (19.7ppg, 51% fg, 67 games). The four previous seasons with the Magic he played in just 47 games total. 04/05 was his ‘I’m not dead just yet’ season. It was his third to last season in Orlando and he was voted to the All-Star team.
37 Years Young
Fast foward to this season, Hill’s third with the Suns. For a 37-year-old playing just over 30 minutes a game, Hill’s production and stability (81 regular season games) is frightening, but beyond this season there’s really no way of telling how much he has left in the tank. Grant is still holding up strong despite this unfamiliar territory of the playoffs in mid-May. Not many thought the Suns had the talent or grit to be where they are right now…
Western Conference Finals vs. the Lakers? Ya got me.
Grant Hill also got me with his ability to still be performing at a high level with all of the adversity he and his family (Tamia with MS) have been through. That’s part of the reason I’m still following his career and geeked about the Sun’s potential this season. The other reason: look, I don’t know Hill personally or anything, but I’m very confident he’s the anti-Tiger Woods when it comes to his family relationships, and I know for a fact, as everybody else does, that Grant Hill is a class act both on and off the court.
Suns 09/10
This version of the Suns might not be 7 Seconds Or Less exciting, but they are certainly better equipped to advance deeper into the playoffs. With the abundance of three point demons the Suns have, Hill’s knack for scoring inside the arc is a key component of the Sun’s attack. He also is still quite the all around do a little bit of everything type player that is so perfect in a starting lineup where Amar’e, J-Rich and Nash dominate the ball.
This very well could be Hill’s only chance at the NBA Finals, and unfortunately the formidable defending champs stand in the shadows waiting to pounce on that dream. But you’d be foolish to think that these Suns have little to no chance at beating LA. Both teams have played the same amount of playoff games, so fatigue will not be a big factor. The Suns also have depth up the wazoo, where they often go 10 deep and depend on the backups for a lot of their three point shooting production, and they usually get it. Especially if this Dragic character goes off like he did in Game 3 vs. San Antonio, a display in which Hill called “the best fourth-quarter performance I have ever seen in a playoff game.”
Don’t forget about Robin “Robbiieeee” Lopez. He’s due to return from his back injury for Game 1 on Monday (17th).
For the Suns to beat the Lakers they will have to be darn near error free, and probably get a couple of monster games out of the likes of Goran Dragic, Channing Frye and Jared Dudley (maybe a few timely, emphatic blocks that only Lou Amundson can do). At any rate the Suns have hunger in their favor, and being a Piston fan I can attest to the fact that hunger and good timing can take you to the promise land when few think it is possible.
My Take
Hopefully the Sun’s stream is stronger than LA’s.
Amar’e, Nash, Jason Richardson, Leandro Barbosa and Grant Hill will certainly need to provide the scoring punch and provide leadership when times get dicey– but when it comes down to it, most of the players on LA have a ring and those on Phoenix do not. In a lot of ways that’s huge for the Lakers just in terms of experience purposes. In this particular case, however, I don’t think the Lakers are that much more talented than the Suns, so the experience advantage might not mean much. The Suns know this is their last chance to make it to the Finals with this aging core intact and if they play with the same hunger and get a little lucky I’m thinking they can beat LA.
Sure, Phil Jackson >>> Alvin Gentry (former Pistons coach) by a mile and undoubtedly Kobe > anybody in the world pretty much.
But basketball is much more complicated than that, and you could make the case that outside of Kobe and Pau, Phoenix definitely has the more talented team 1-12.
But who really knows and what do I really know?
On twitter I said the Spurs would take the Suns to seven games.
Fail. Well, anyway, that’s why they play the games and I, for one, am glad that Grant Hill and the Suns are still going strong.
Los Suns!
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