Warriors’ Championship The Culmination Of Seven Seconds Or Less Suns
If the 2015 NBA Finals looked vaguely familiar to Phoenix Suns fans, there’s a pretty good reason behind that. If it felt painful and yet strangely fulfilling to watch the Golden State Warriors hoist the Larry O’Brien Tuesday night, there’s a pretty good explanation for that too.
Phoenix is still waiting on its first NBA championship, but witnessing the Warriors secure their first title in 40 years proved to be the culmination of Mike D’Antoni‘s life work with some of the greatest teams in Suns franchise history: the Seven Seconds Or Less era.
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It wasn’t just the bevy of familiar faces on the floor and on the sidelines for the Warriors. Though this Golden State team featured a former Suns general manager (Warriors head coach Steve Kerr), a former Suns head coach (assistant Alvin Gentry) and a former Suns fan favorite (reserve Leandro Barbosa), the real reason they seemed so familiar is that they had taken D’Antoni’s revolutionary offense and, if it were possible, perfected it.
Obviously, there are big differences between D’Antoni’s Suns and Kerr’s Warriors. One led the league in defensive efficiency; the other was a middle-of-the-pack defense whose identity rested solely in its break-neck offense. (The Suns gave up plenty of points per game, but they were actually on pace with the league average according to points per 100 possessions.)
One was praised for its unorthodox style and lineups that resulted in 67 regular season wins; the other was ultimately condemned as a non-winning formula when they couldn’t get the job done in the playoffs.
One is an NBA champion; the other remains one of the most memorable teams in NBA history to never win a title.
The differences don’t stop there, of course. The Warriors had terrific luck staying healthy this season, while the Suns caught a series of bad breaks, not the least of which was a broken face for Joe Johnson in the middle of a promising playoff run. But for all intents and purposes, the innovative offense engineered by D’Antoni was on full display with an NBA champion this season.
Victorious Gentry: "Tell Mike D'Antoni he's vindicated! We just kicked everyone's ass playing the way everybody complained about!"
— Ethan Strauss (@SherwoodStrauss) June 17, 2015
D’Antoni wasn’t the creator of small-ball lineups, but the way he avoided non-traditional bigs and spread the floor with three-point gunners to supplement the dynamic pick-and-roll combo of Steve Nash and Amar’e Stoudemire represented the early beginnings of the pace-and-space era.
As the general manager of the Suns, it’s (painfully) ironic that Steve Kerr chose to abandon the Seven Seconds Or Less era with the Shaquille O’Neal trade. Kerr didn’t seem convinced that playing style could win a title, yet he won a championship as a head coach just a few years later utilizing a similar strategy.
Go back and watch the last three games of the 2015 NBA Finals and it’s readily apparent how desperate the Cleveland Cavaliers were to stop the pick-and-roll with Stephen Curry — a pick-and-roll scheme that was different but just as deadly as the one Phoenix once abused defenses with.
Nash and STAT’s screen sets were generally geared toward attacking the rim via pocket pass, while Golden State’s usually aimed to draw in the help defense and free up and open three-pointer. But even though Draymond Green was no Amar’e Stoudemire when it came to posterizing helpless defenders at the rim, the way each star point guard worked to create disadvantages for the defense and free up high quality looks was eerily similar.
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Speaking of Nash, the former two-time MVP also bore a striking resemblance to Curry. Though Chef Curry morphed into a frightening Nash-Pete Maravich–Ray Allen hybrid this season, winning his first MVP award in the process, his flashy passing and elite shooting ability were pretty reminiscent of the floor general who masterfully orchestrated those great Suns offenses.
Perhaps even more importantly, Curry proved that it’s possible to win an NBA championship with a point guard being the team’s best player — something that hasn’t been done since Isiah Thomas‘ Detroit Pistons, a team whose success was predicated on smash-mouth basketball, not Thomas’ ball handling or shooting skills.
Nash was more of a classic, visionary floor general than a three-point terror like Curry is now, but both possess the kind of fundamental playmaking ability to capitalize on defenses’ weak spots with supplementary shooters on the wings and a capable roll man coming off screen sets.
As the man who took over D’Antoni’s Suns and served as a crucial assistant for these champion Dubs, Alvin Gentry knows a thing or two about the success behind the Seven Seconds Or Less era. He was the first to praise D’Antoni during Golden State’s joyous postgame champagne showers.
Hilarious. Alvin Gentry message to NOLA: "Hey AD, AD. We're going to be right back here (in the Finals) next year!" pic.twitter.com/iYo7ag4lNP
— Jim Eichenhofer (@Jim_Eichenhofer) June 17, 2015
To be fair, he was also telling Anthony Davis that he and the New Orleans Pelicans would be in the Finals next year, so perhaps his lucid championship moment was limited to his praise for D’Antoni.
But Kerr also credited D’Antoni for putting his fingerprints all over the Warriors’ championship season, noting the similarities between what Nash and Curry brought to the table.
“Slightly different, but similar mindset in terms of — and similar skillset of passing and the ball handling,” Kerr said at the podium after Game 6. “And the Suns were so close. Things didn’t go their way. But I imagined it. And I was there with Steve as general manager, and I thought it was going to happen for him. But he set the stage for Steph.”
Alvin Gentry tells me: "This is vindication for Mike D'Antoni." pic.twitter.com/Vqrhg9RB6w
— Howard Beck (@HowardBeck) June 17, 2015
That whole “jump shooting teams can’t win a championship” trope died when the Warriors did exactly that Tuesday night. But the Dubs weren’t strictly a jump shooting team (despite their prolific three-point shooting), and their victory represented vindication for the up-tempo playing style that originated with Mike D and gave birth to the pace-and-space era.
“I think Steve [Nash] kind of laid out a vision for a whole generation of young point guards,” Kerr said. “And with the game changing, Mike D’Antoni kind of initiating that style in Phoenix, the floor starting to spread, the whole league kind of playing shooting fours and fives and playing a little faster. I think Mike and Steve in many ways set the table for Steph Curry.”
Watching the Warriors win a title using non-traditional bigs and the most advanced pace-and-space principles probably does little to console Suns fans still awaiting their first title. It may even be a stinging reminder that Nash was continuously impervious to the kind of good luck it takes to win a championship.
But there’s some solace in the knowledge that the Seven Seconds Or Less Suns did have what it took to win a title; they just couldn’t catch the right break. Those teams weren’t just entertaining, they were legitimate contenders whose unconventional playing style changed the course of the NBA forever.
Their innovation never brought Phoenix its long-awaited first championship, but D’Antoni, Nash and the rest of the Seven Seconds Or Less Suns will be rightfully remembered as the pioneers who directly impacted an NBA champion…and the direction the league is heading in nearly a decade later.
Next: Cliff Alexander: Phoenix Suns 2015 Draft Profile