The Spectrum

Issue date: 4/21/05 Section: Sports

Media Credit: AP Photo/ROY DABNER Steve Nash is putting up MVP numbers this year with 11.5 assists per game

Well, ever since I was 12 I have stopped watching the NBA. In my opinion it is the weakest of the four major sports. College basketball is much better and truer of a game, but for this week, I will proudly proclaim why the Phoenix Suns will win the NBA Championship.

Not only do they have the best record in the league, but they also play in the Western Conference, which is perennially the better of the two conferences. Their only true competition outside of the Western Conference is the Miami Heat.

Please don't get me wrong here though. The San Antonio Spurs and the Dallas Mavericks are two very talented teams, but when it comes down to it, the Suns possess the most weapons needed for championship caliber basketball.

I know that Shaquille O'Neal is by far the most individually dominant player in the game today and that Dwayne Wade is one of the league's brightest young talents.

Again, the Heat plays in the Eastern Conference. The Eastern Conference consists of such high quality basketball teams as the New York Knicks, Charlotte Bobcats, and the Atlanta Hawks.

The worst team in the Western Conference is the New Orleans Hornets. No other team in the West has less then 26 wins, as the East has two teams with less then 20.

The Suns possess two, possibly three players who have put up MVP quality numbers this season. Amare Stoudemire, Shawn Marion, and Steve Nash are three of the best players in the NBA this season.

Stoudemire has had more top 10 plays on SportsCenter then anyone else this season. Some of his dunks have electrified the crowds and many of them were simply posterizing players like Yao Ming and Dikembe Mutombo.

Shawn Marion is averaging a double-double per game with 19.6 points and 11.4 rebounds per game.

Of the three, the best possibility for MVP resides in the ball-handling abilities of Steve Nash. Nash, one of the flashiest players in the league, is averaging 15.5 points per game and 11.5 assists per game.

Beyond those three standouts, the Suns also have Joe Johnson, who puts in 17 points per game, Quentin Richardson who is averaging 14.9, and the well-traveled Jim Jackson, who scored 10.3 per game.

Combined, the Suns scored 110.5 points per game. The one negative to the Suns is that they also allow over 100 per game, with 102.9. That simple stat might be their only downfall.

All told, the Suns will have a harder time getting through the Western Conference then winning the league championship. Once they get past the Spurs and the Mavericks, the NBA is theirs.

It will be even easier if the Heat lose in the East. Should the Heat lose, the NBA is really theirs. I am personally sick of Shaq winning all the time and when he finally loses I will be very happy that I wont need to see him on SportsCenter rapping on the steps of City Hall in Miami.

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