In order for an NBA team to play on Mother’s Day, they have to make the playoffs, and usually a deep run. This is a brief history of the Phoenix Suns on Mother’s Day.
Phoenix Suns fans are dying for their beloved team to make another run in the playoffs, hopefully all the way to a championship. This past eight seasons without having reached the postseason being the longest stretch of non-participation in franchise history, meaning that they haven’t had a chance to play on Mother’s Day for some time, a date that the franchise usually fares quite well on.
Fortunately in their history the Suns have reached the playoffs a number of times (29 times, in fact) and have had the opportunity to play on Mother’s Day nine times.
Phoenix Suns 133 – Golden State Warriors 129 (2OT)
(1-0)
The Phoenix Suns’ first ever Mother’s Day game dates back to their second ever playoff appearance, and first ever run to the NBA Finals. Down 1-2 in the Western Conference Finals series against the reining champion Golden State Warriors, it took a miraculous 25-foot shot (still a 2-pointer in those days) from Keith Erickson with two seconds left to force overtime then a missed shot at the buzzer of the first OT by Rick Berry to force a second. The Suns pulled out the hard-fought and exhausting victory at home, tying the series up. Golden State would win game five but would not win again, as the Suns won the final two games of the series to clinch the Conference championship, and their destiny with Boston.