Why I want Phoenix Suns to beat the Lakers..
 

surprisingly, I am in favor of Phoenix over LA in this Western Conference finals. Its not because I am a laker hater, no no, I am just honest and call it as I see it.

Aside from the fact that the Suns have the most heart in basketball, have a certified veteran hero from my youth (Grant Hill), playing with serious injuries and winning! (Nash with a busted eye beating San Antonio, Stoudemiere getting his face busted in game 4 of the lakers and Nash getting his nose broken all still playing!)

BUT most importantly of all!

Phoenix as a team, as a franchise, the owners, the coaches have all spoken out adamently against the bullshit SB1070 law. They continually diss this fucked up law in press conferences, interviews and statements, and further openly support both "the latino community" and some speak out for amnesty.

What does Phil Jackson do? Gets his foot in his mouth over openly supporting SB1070, then refusing to speak on it again on several interviews, saying not to mix politics and basketball, but newsflash phil, you are the one who spoke up in the first place!

A coach from LA should have MUCH more sensitivity to this issue than Phil Jackson's bitch ass, and I'll be happy to see that egotistical blowhard (not just this incident, phil jackson is a notorious dick in the NBA) retire.

The Mayor and residents of Phoenix want to join LA and become a sanctuary city, all the more reason why I want the Suns to humble the Lakers and show them Kobe is not Jesus of basketball, and a little bit of heart and playing through injuries instead of crying about em wins games, even against the returning champions.

Go Los Suns!

Steve Nash Discusses SB 1070 After Suns' Game 2 Win

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5/06/2010 2:46 AM ET By Brett Pollakoff
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PHOENIX -- The Suns made a splash outside the world of sports on Tuesday when their team's owner Robert Sarver went on the record against Arizona's controversial new immigration law, SB 1070. The players agreed with the stance, and petitioned the league to wear their Los Suns uniforms as a sign of support for the Latino members of the Arizona community.

After Wednesday's Game 2 win over the Spurs, Steve Nash discussed the pride he felt in supporting the Latino community, and went on to discuss the importance of why he believes the law, in its current form, is something he's not willing to endorse.

"The whole Los Suns/Cinco de Mayo situation is a tricky one," Nash said. "I'll speak for myself -- I was proud to wear the jersey. We take pride in the Latino community, and we feel a sense of community with them. I think our Latino community is what makes this state great, because it gives us a diversity and a lifestyle I think that is great.

"I think it's important that we stand up sometimes for what we believe," Nash continued. "I don't want to alienate anybody; those people that disagree with me, that's fine. I think discourse is what democracy is made on, and I think it's not something that you should necessarily take personally.

"My team stood up for that part of our community because I think that's the one that is targeted by the side of this bill that could open a door to racial profiling and racism. And I'm talking primarily about American citizens who are Latino, who now, their quality of life and freedoms could change because of this bill. I think it also puts an undue pressure on police officers.

"Having said that, the bill is continually changing, and it seems that it will continue to change. So it's impossible to have a stance that is black and white and all or nothing, because it's going to continue to change.

"I'm proud of our owner for taking a stand, but we're not out there to alienate, we want this to be all about loving our community and people regardless of whether they agree with us or myself, or not. We have love for everybody, and we'd just like to get to a consensus that everyone can live with, and that isn't an infringement, or a possible infringement, on human rights."

Boycott Phil Jackson: Why Lakers Fans Should Root for Los Suns


Read Dave Zirin's other articles on HuffingtonPost.com
The community of Los Angeles has made it crystal clear where they stand on Arizona's controversial Senate Bill 1070, which sanctifies racial profiling as state law. The LA city council voted 13-1 to "ban most city travel there and to forgo future business contracts with companies headquartered in the state." The Los Angeles Times Editorial Page called for the moving of the 2011 Major League Baseball All Star game from Phoenix writing, "A new law in Arizona seems almost certain to lead to racial profiling against Latinos, violating the American values so integral to baseball."
Yes, Los Angeles is standing as one against Arizona's spastic extremism. Everyone in Los Angeles, that is, except for iconic Los Angeles Lakers basketball coach Phil Jackson. In an interview with ESPN, Jackson spoke in support of SB 1070 saying, "Am I crazy, or am I the only one that heard [the legislature] say 'we just took the United States immigration law and adapted it to our state.'" When sports reporter J.A. Adande remarked that SB 1070 actually represented "the usurping of federal law," Jackson responded, "It's not usurping.... they gave it some teeth to be able to enforce it."
He then chided his upcoming playoff opponent, the Phoenix Suns, for coming out as a team - from owner to players - against the bill.
"I don't think teams should get involved in the political stuff," Jackson said. "If I heard it right the American people are really for stronger immigration laws, if I'm not mistaken. Where we stand as basketball teams, we should let that kind of play out and let the political end of that go where it's going to go."
Yes, Phil Jackson in the same breath, supported this draconian bill and then blasted the Suns for making a political statement about it. That's what my grandmother would have called "cheek."
Jackson's words have sparked a petition campaign by the group AltoArizona.com which reads,
"Coach Jackson, Stand with Los Angeles. The city just denounced Arizona's hateful law and so should you. Targeting people based on their skin color isn't 'giving [the law] teeth'. It's a backwards and terrible step on the wrong side of history. On or off the court, there's no room for haters. Los Lakers need to take a stand with the fans."
There is also a call to protest outside the Staples Center on May 17th before game one of the Lakers Western conference championship series against Los Suns. It states,
"What if during a basketball Game in Arizona, Lakers Fans get questioned about their immigration status? Protest outside Staples Center on Monday May17th, at 5pm to denounce Lakers Coach Phil Jackson for his support of Racist Arizona bill SB1070. We all know that a great deal of our community members support the Lakers. ....People want the LAKERS to take a stand or for Phil Jackson to clarify his position on the racist bill that criminalizes fans."
Phil Jackson has a reputation for being some sort of liberal. But he's really more of a cliché: the 1960s flower child who has made the lucrative journey from rebel to reactionary. It was Phil Jackson when the NBA passed dress code requirements for players, who lectured, "I don't mean to say [this] as a snide remark toward a certain population in our society, but they have a limitation of their attention span, a lot of it probably due to too much rap music going in their ears and coming out their being....The players have been dressing in prison garb the last five or six years. All the stuff that goes on, it's like gangster, thuggery stuff."
This is Phil Jackson: if you dress a certain way, you must be some sort of criminal thug. If you look a certain way, police have every right to demand your papers. He's a man of the 60s all right. The 1860s. Not only should people sign the petition. Not only should people come out to the Staples Center and protest on May 17th. People in LA, lifelong Lakers fans, should boo Phil Jackson and his team. They should root and cheer for Los Suns, devoting every last particle of karmic energy toward sending the Lakers home for the summer. As Alto Arizona says, "A coach that doesn't support the community doesn't have the community's support." Vivan Los Suns.

arizona would be a ghost town with 'teh messikins'.

what the fuck are they thinking??

clearly they're not.

go Suns.

and Nash should be MVP again, for the Spurs and Lakers finals alone!

I think messikins is dirty south. in arizona its more like muhk-si 'kins with the ' emphasized like in dickens era cockney..

Hey look the slaves are discussing corporate sports!!!!

Mexican women are the hotteest. so volatile. keep ya always on yr toes.

yeah I know, I was NBA hater of the year 2009 for this very reason, however, fuck it, all the kids at school have been mad into basketball this season, and so have most of my friends, so I have been into it for social reasons.

honestly, VEGAS always calls the score, it can be as bogus as WWE wrestling however, even wrestling can make good conversation in the write circumstances ;)

go suns. and magic is coming back, what happened to those brooms in Boston and LA?

That's pretty fucking cool of the Suns.

Isn't it? its what won me over to become a fun.

go Suns. fuck those brooms, LA watch out now..

I remember in 1995 when the Rockets swept the Orlando Magic for their second title.
That was awesome. what an asswhuppin.

I fucking love the NBA. Over here we don't get as nearly as much time to watch it as we should. Although it's on every few days now that we have a 24/7 sport channel on free to air. One of the reasons I wanted a HD tv.

ESPN3.com

thats where I been watching when I was not around a place with cable to watch.. actually I got most of the playoffs at the hospital where my gramps was at cuz I was there at all hours of the day and night, and the hospital waiting rooms had cable so most folks were watching the various games. I caught the Spurs/Suns series there, the entire LA/Jazz series, and the Boston/Cavs, the Magic/Hawks.. fuck the hospital was such a drag :/

RIP bobby boy.

go Suns.

i agree with this thread, but also i have hated the lakers since i was like ten, so fuck their cracka asses and their overpayed coach and the rapist that they can't win games without

im not a laker hater but im honest. when they play good, team basketball then i give the credit after all they can be one of (ie, not thee)the best teams in basketball past and present, but when kobe plays the kobe show, when Phil Jackson puts his bitch ass foot in his mouth with his cocky ass attitude, when Fisher be bustin heads on the court like a poor sport, when the media pretends these guys are even half as good as the Magic and Kareem showtime era or compare Kobe to jordan, then I laugh and say suuurrree..

Kobe aint no jordan, he is way to much a dick on the court and always has a fucked up screw face and doesn't know how to captain a team, he is a ball hog.

go Suns

oh i wouldn't deny that they're a very good team, it's hard to argue against that when they have so much success, i mean they are in the final!

He didn't openly support it. The single comment which has drawn all the attention was a statement he made that he believed Arizona's law was an extension of the pre-existing federal immigration law. It insinuates support but insinuation of support is not open support.

"Your tone, its all wrong, say it to me like that again and I'll stab you in the face with a soldering iron.."

Its not what he said, it is truly in the way in which he said it, the tone and emphasis, and then after when challenged and question in repeated interviews later he absolutely refused to comment on it (ie, it seems to me he decided to hide his opinions because they are contrary to the tone of LA being against the sb1070).

Listen to the interview man, its all in the tone..

Open support is full declaration of support, nothing less.

not true. if in public statements, when asked directly and you refuse to comment, you are openly supporting. After all, if they are not against it, they are for it, just like Jesus said if they are not against us they are for us. This law is absolute bullshit, and honestly I am skeptical about ANYONE who doesn't openly and vocally criticize and speak out against it, fuck after all we are going backwards before the Civil Rights era (and not just in AZ, racism has been burning again and Marcus Garvey may well have been right in prophesying a cataclismic race war in america within a hundred years of 1920, when I was a kid on MLKjr day I wouldn't have believed it, but lately I don't know anymore, folks are insidiously racist all over again, and it is brimming on the surface)

go Suns. take it to game seven.

That is not open support. Refusing to comment is the exact opposite of open disclosure.

Jesus is wrong, but in any case refusing to comment is not open support.

No, you are not skeptical at all. You are convinced that anyone who doesn't openly criticize the law is openly supporting the law. There is no room for skepticism in that ignorant construction of the debate.

a) in this circumstance, you and me both know that refusing to comment is to conceal what was revealed in a slip of the tongue.

b) sorry, there is no debate about some things.

I just don't believe that such hyperbole is necessary to make a moral conflict out of everything, including things as trivial as basketball. I'm sure sometime soon you will complain about media distractions like this one.

shit this game is a fucking nail biter, did you catch the last three shots for phoenix? they put three in a row on rebounds to get the last one to tie.. fucking artest wins again, what a surprise!

truthfully I don't mind, it was a damn good game, I often don't care who wins a particular game as much as if it is truly a good and fun game to watch.. Phoenix played so ridiculously good, and the Lakers kept it coming consistently, so I am satisfied. I still say its going 7 games..

well.. it was still a good series.

now the too most crooked teams in the NBA are playing in the Finals. Its like watching the Crips vs the Bloods or 18street vs Compton T-Flats :eek:

Boston is the only team I hate more then the lakers.. they are cocky, dickheads who cheat left and right, have crooked ass refs, win by bad calls, do lame shit like run the clock down even when they are winning by 20 points, run their mouths at all the interviews, I hate hater as teams like that. I only liked teams like Phoenix and Oklahoma this year because they played honest and clean basketball..

fucking did anyone see bitch-ass Vujacic elbow Dragic? Just like bitch ass Fisher breaking Nash's nose with that head butt, I hate that shit. Hey Lakers, its fucking basketball not UFC. And Howard was equally a bitch for knocking out Davis on Boston.. fucking crooked ass basketball.. thats why I was NBA hater of the year 2009, its all rigged like wrestling.

So its Lakers and Celtics in the finals?

One thing I've noticed with B-ball these days is the milking of penalties. I don't remember this shit when I was younger. Soccer players do it to the death and its so lame, they look like fairies. When I see an NBA player doing it, it makes me a little sad.

You must not've watched their series with the Cavs or Magic. Boston was playing against the refs for several of those games. The refs hardly ever favor the Celtics. Even in the stats you can tell which team the refs like. Those guys rack up alot of fouls while the teams they play against get away with alot. This isn't to say Boston is infallible. They get bailed out sometimes too. But definitely not like some teams. Dwight Howard throws elbows like crazy. He gave Glen Davis a concussion with his elbow and didn't even get a foul on it. And in game 5 against Orlando, Kendrick Perkins got two technicals for two situations the were even debatable as just fouls. Refs don't like the Celtics.

And these guys are old (excluding Rondo). They can't just jam in there all the time. They just set up the shot and do their thing. As opposed to just passing it around the perimeter like say the Spurs.

And at least they play as a team. The Kobe show is boring, Cavaliers have to be the most boring team in the league, it's just the Lebron show. And the Magic are just a bunch of brawlers. Howard has no offense, all he can do is dunk.

No, there are teams FAR lamer than Boston.

Boston has this one in the bag.

Well well Boston vs LA again as a Celtics fan since the late 50's I couldn't be happier. Nothing better than taking LA's lunch money from them. They'll whine and cry and loose again. With the way Kobe's playing it could go seven. Nothing would please me more than winning a game 7 in LA. Boston's bench will be the difference as they at least have one.

As for Dwight Howard the 35K he payed in fines after the Charlotte series was the best money he ever spent as you couldn't touch him after that and he was free to swing those elbows where ever he felt like. Just ask the Hawks as well as the Celtics.

Just like the last three series the Celtics have the better team while the opposition has the best player. Wade, Lebron, Howard and now Kobe.

Yeah, Boston has a pretty solid bench. Well Tony Allen is a kind of hit or miss player. Some nights he's great, others he's just garbage. Rasheed is a pretty consistent defender and definitely a good replacement for when Perkins goes off court. And he has a decent offensive game too. Glen Davis has had some really great games and has been close to essential, hope he can keep it up. And Nate Robinson is just a damn wildcard, never know what to expect from them.

It'll be an interesting series. But as Boston proved three times before, good teams win series', not players.

I keep thinking this thread is about me..

well it is about greatness. :)

Go Boston!

<--------long time Garnett fan

Did anyone put any money on it?

yeah, the referees ;)