2. Are The Phoenix Suns Cursed?

Fact: the Suns have lost seven-teen straight games on TNT. Really, it's true. From our Suns blog, Bright Side of The Sun:

At this point breaking that curse has surpassed all possible objectives for the Suns season. Forget about the playoffs. Forget about being the Most Watchable Team. The Phoenix Suns simply must BREAK THE CURSE!!!

For those of you who don't believe in these kinds of things (as if 17 straight losses on TNT is some kind of coincidence) might point out the 13 point lead the Suns had going into the 4th quarter and call out the Suns inability to close out the game. The first of 13 games the Suns have lost this season after taking a lead into the final period.

That 13 point lead was cut to 5 within the first two and half minutes as the Suns missed two shots and turned the ball over while the Blazers hit two three's and a deuce. Just like that the curse reaches up and grabs your ankles and drags you down in the mud where it spikes your eyes and rips your heart from your chest.

Now, a cynical NBA fan might say, "Hey, at least you guys get to PLAY on TNT." But that sort of misses the point: this is a coincidence of cosmic proportions. Like, what the hell? On seventeen different occasions, the Suns have managed to falter in prime time. Call it the curse of the Chuckster:

Ever since the Phoenix Suns traded Charles Barkley, the haven't won on TNT--wait, that can't be right. Yeah, that's definitely not it. Ever since Charles Barkley got his DUI charge? Who knows what's happening here? The Phoenix Suns are a good team; since 2007, TNT has made them look like the Clippers. And last night's fourth quarter collapse typifies the Sisyphean nature of all this. No matter how close they come to breaking through, it's not happening. Maybe Zeus cursed them?

One things for certain: if Phoenix loses at Memphis on January 18th--on TNT--the universe is against them.