5 greatest NBA teams that never won a title

4. 2006-07 Phoenix Suns

Maybe the NBA’s favorite alternate history. What if Robert Horry doesn’t hip-check Steve Nash into the scorer’s table? What if Boris Diaw and Amar’e Stoudemire don’t leave the immediate vicinity of the bench? What if David Stern was willing to rule with something other than an iron fist? What if America didn’t have a long history of racism, leading Stern to institute draconian rules aimed at gaining white America’s respect and viewership? Alternate history indeed.

After tying the Western Conference Semifinals Series 2-2 on the San Antonio Spurs home floor, the Suns should have been headed home with all the momentum in the world. Instead, Diaw and Stoudemire were suspended for Game 5. The Spurs won the next two games and lost only one other game for the rest of the playoffs. We can’t say for certain that the Suns would have won the series had Diaw and Stoudemire not been suspended, but that’s the point. The series should have been settled on the court, without a shadow of a doubt.

The 2006-07 Suns finished the regular season first in offensive rating (113.9), 13th in defensive rating (106.4) and had the third-best Simple Rating System score (7.28). That SRS mark is the best in franchise history. The only two teams with better SRS numbers than them on the season were the Dallas Mavericks who shockingly lost their first-round matchup to the “We Believe Warriors” and the Spurs, whom they lost to. Had they made it to the Finals, the Suns likely would have been favored in a matchup against a relatively weak Cleveland Cavaliers team. Mike D’Antoni and the Phoenix Suns helped shape the way contemporary basketball is played. It would have been nice to see that spirit of innovation rewarded at the highest level.