The Phoenix Suns missed the playoffs in 2009 for the first time since 2004, and while they were predicted to make the jump back in in 2010, nobody expected the ride that they would take their fans on as they would run all the way to the Western Conference Finals, finishing 96 minutes from the franchise’s first NBA Finals appearance in 18 years.
With both Shawn Marion and Shaquille O’Neal now gone and Alvin Gentry re-installing the Mike D’Antoni run-and-gun style with Steve Nash, Amar’e Stoudemire, Grant Hill, Jason Richardson as the heart of a still very exciting core, the team not only managed to win 54 games after only winning 46 the season before, but made what no one would have ever believed to be the franchise’s last playoff appearance in at least nine years.