A lot of people are unaware of the history between the Phoenix Suns and the San Antonio Spurs in the playoffs this decade. I thought I might touch on that a bit, since they are playing yet another series right now. The Spurs were the formidable team of the 00’s earning the recognition of being a dynasty. On the back of Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker-Longoria, they have won 4 of the past 10 NBA titles, while being a perennial contender that always seems to peak at the right time. Kind of like the Canterbury Crusaders of the NBA. And perhaps there’s a bit of Man United in them as well.

On the way to winning their titles in ’03, ’05 and ’07, the Spurs beat the Suns in a playoff series, while the Spurs also had their number in the ’08 post-season. So the Spurs are pretty much the bogey team of the Suns. So much so that four of the last five times the Suns have been in the playoffs, they’ve been knocked out by San Antone. Pretty daunting stats, but then it’s not just the stats that tell the tale. It’s the manner of defeat and the little sub-plots that make this such a compelling series to watch.

In 2005, the run-and-gun Suns had home court advantage in the Western Conference Finals, but lost 4-1. Part of this can be attributed to guard Joe Johnson breaking a bone in his face which required him to miss a game and wear a protective mask over his face for the remainder of the series. Not ideal for the best half-court proponent of the Suns high tempo offence. Nevertheless, they were beaten by the better team.

2007 was worse. It was actually a lot worse. The Suns still had the home court advantage for the series – the Western Semi Finals – but were again beaten, this time 4-2. In game one of this series in Phoenix with only a few minutes to go, Steve Nash’s face clashed with Tony Parker’s head, making his nose bleed like a sieve. He had to sit out the last 45 seconds of a tight game. Which they eventually lost. At home. You can watch the bloodbath in all its glory, right here:

And as if that wasn’t enough, towards the end of game four, with Phoenix in control, Robert Horry gave Nash an Ice Hockey-style hip-check. Horry was ejected and the Suns won, but because a couple of the Suns players got off the bench and wandered over to make sure their boy was ok, slash attempt to confront Horry, they were suspended for the next game. Which, you can guess, the Spurs won. Check out the body shot here:

And while you’re there, check out as many Bruce Bowen vs. Suns clips as you can, like this cheeky trip on Steve Nash:

This is truly a hate-hate rivalry. Anyway, the Suns lost the series even though they were generally accepted as the better team.

 And if you thought things couldn’t get any more unlucky, with the Suns controlling most of game one of the 2008 West First Round series in San Antonio, Tim Duncan hits not only the biggest shot of his career, but the ONLY 3 pointer he hit all season to take the game to a second overtime. A game which the Spurs ended up winning. Not to mention the series, which ended up 4-1 to the Spurs. Here’s the shot with some thoughts from Timmy:

So forgive the Suns and their fans if they are a little edgy right now, even if they do have a two games-to-love lead over the Spurs. I guess if there’s one constant in a Spurs-Suns match-up, it’s the Spurs’ willingness to just not die. Which is why I picked this series to go the full seven games, only with Los Suns advancing.