I Must be in the Front Row!

I actually played golf both days this weekend, but I don't have enough time to blog about golf today. Hopefully, I will get to it later this week. I am working on a large financing transaction that is taking up all of my time. Given the lack of liquidity in the credit markets it is nice to have a deal at all! The pre-closing is scheduled for Thursday and the funding is scheduled for Friday morning so I should be back on the links this weekend.

As a gift for my work on the transaction, the client gave me two tickets to the Suns playoff game against the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night. The series was tied 2 games each and the 5th game of a seven game series is oftentimes the pivotal game in the series. I am a HUGE Suns fans! When SO and I got to the will-call window the person behind the glass could not find the tickets so she called over the manager and they ultimately found our tickets. The tickets were in row 1 at center court! Row 1 is right behind the three rows of floor seats but the seats are raised so you get a better view. I think that Suge Knight and one of his posse were sitting right beside us (or else it was someone that looked just like him). Lute Olson and his wife were sitting in the floor seats right in front of us.

The game started off miserably. The Trail Blazers came flying out of the gate and made their first 8 shots and 10 of their first 11 shots. The score was 9 -0 and 18 - 4. After 6 minutes in the first quarter, I think the score was about 23 - 9. SO tried to cheer me up, but I may have been a bit testy with her. The rest of the game was a romp for the Suns. The crowd was crazy and the Suns ran the Trail Blazers off of the court. By the end of the first quarter the Suns cut the Portland lead to one point. By halftime, the Suns were leading by 10 and by the end of the third quarter the Suns were winning by 20. At one point in the fourth quarter the Suns had built up a 27 point lead. The final score was 107 - 88. The Suns reserves played really well. Channing Frye had 20 points, including a 4 point play, and Jared Dudley had 19 points. For the first time in a long time, the Suns have a bench that can keep the team in the game when the starters are resting and oftentimes increase the lead or cut the deficit. Steve Nash is 36 and Grant Hill is 37 so being able to rest those players and reduce their minutes during the season and into the playoffs is a huge advantage. Also, this team can actually rebound and play some defense, which have not been trade marks of recent Suns teams. Coming into the playoffs, the Suns were the hottest team in the NBA. If Robin Lopez is able to return for the second round of the playoffs, the Suns may be able to compete for an NBA championship.

The 6th game of the series is this Thursday at the Rose Garden in Portland. It would be nice if the Suns continue to play like they did on Monday and end the series without having to worry about a game 7 back at home. In the other western division series, Oklahoma City's young guns won the last two games against the top-seeded Lakers to tie the series at 2 games each; the Suns' nemesis, San Antonio, is finally healthy and is beating Dallas 3 games to 1 and Utah is leading Denver 3 games to 1. If Los Angeles, Dallas and Denver all lose and the Suns win, the Suns would be the highest remaining seed in the west and would have home court advantage in the next two series. The stars may be aligning perfectly for the Suns (except for those pesky Spurs)!