The scores got more audacious in the second half. It got me thinking if this was the single most stunning game outcome I've ever seen. Certainly it is up there when you put the following things together:
= The Suns were the best team all season long, winning nine more games than anyone else going basically wire to wire with the best record; they were good offensively and defensively, were deep and balanced and seemingly had no real weakness
= They were at home in a Game 7, and while they looked bad at worst and disinterested at best in the games in Dallas in the series, as recently as Game 5 in Phoenix they looked dominant at home in all three games
= If any team seemed impervious to just disappearing in a game, Phoenix would be a good choice. There's many teams that would come to mind if you said "a team is down 57-27 at halftime of game 7" and Phoenix was nowhere on that list
Anyway, the longer it lasted, to a 45 points lead at one point, the less real it seemed truly. I tried even thinking of what were more shocking singular games, and it's not a long list given the particulars needed: a favorite at home (or neutral) just completely getting destroyed in a surprising, unbelievable way.
Hon. Mention 1: 2008 Final Four - Kansas over North Carolina
This fits a template that has happened a lot, whereby a team puts themself in the situation the Suns found themselves in, but is able to claw their way back to respectability. Here the Tar Heels were the #1 overall seed, had lost just two games all year (granted, Kansas had only lost three and by many metrics were the better team), and were seen as a truly great team. And they were down 40-12 about thirteen minutes in. The high watermark of embarrassment came with Kansas banging in a three to make it 38-10 and Billy Packer calling the game "over". It wasn't - as the Tar Heels closed to within four before losing steam. Annoyingly another game that fits this criteria is of course Super Bowl LI, which if the Falcons didn't blow like thirty different plays, would've fit this outline to a tee.
Hon. Mention 2: 2015 NFC Championship - Panthers 49 Cardinals 15
The huge issue with this as an option was the Panthers were at home, and were rightly favorites. But the Panthers were slight favorites, and this game was 17-0 after one quarter, 24-7 at halftime, at which point the Cardinals had turned it over four times, given up a 90-yard TD, had shown zero ability to stop Arizona and crumpled into a heap after being statistically hte best team in the NFL that aseason. Still, this was in Carolina, so it won't make the list, but seeing this game be a huge blowout was both surprising, and really sad as on paper this should have been a really great NFC Title Game.
5.) 2021 WS Game 6: Braves 7 @ Astros 0
So there's a few things that may bring this game down - firstly it was a Game 6 and not a Game 7, and the Braves were up in the series, but the Astros had outscored Atlanta to this point, had won the last game, was going home where they were great, and put up an absolute dud. Their ballyhooed lineup got embarrassingly shutout by Max Fried and others. They didn't even come close to putting up rallies. The Braves scored three runs in the third inning and it was more over than any 3-0 run had ever been in history. Again the biggest difference is this was not a clincher, but for the Astros to come home in front of a ridiculous crowd at Minute Maid to just do nothing was harrowing.
4.) 2004 ALCS Game 7: Red Sox 10 @ Yankees 3
There is one issue with this in that the Red Sox had infamously crawled back from an 0-3 series deficit, so they had hte momentum and whatnot. But still, it was a Game 7 in New York, where just a year earlier the Yankees ripped the hearts out of Boston. It was Yankees vs. Red Sox, a still accursed team at the time. And it was 6-0 after two innings after a Big Papi 2-run shot and then a Grand Slam by Johnny Damon. The whole game was played out in a surreal manner in a completely silent, funeral atmosphere in New York. If anything rivaled this in terms of soulless-ness, this was the closest game. Looking back, the Red Sox cleanly won the World Series and have added three more since, so it doesn't seem weird, but the Red Sox winning hte game easily and scoring the winning runs in the second inning just didn't seem like it was an option as an outcome heading into the game.
3.) 2008 NFC Divisional - Panthers 33 @ Cardinals 14
I'm sure there is a different, better, football example. Certainly there were more embarrassing losses, but other than my game at #1 of this list, nothing was this 'shocking.' The Cardinals were the first poor record, poor point differential team to make a real run, so the idea that this 9-7 team that outscored their opponents by one point would go on the road in a divisional round game and blow the pants off a team that went 8-0 at home. The Panthers weren't a great team, but they were significantly better than the Cardinals to that point, were heavy favorites and melted down. Delhomme infamously threw five interceptions. Their incredible running game had no chance. Their defense couldn't stop the one receiver the Cardinals had (Boldin missed the game with an injury, and still Fitzgerald dominated). The Cardinals came damn close to a Super Bowl, and this version of the Panthers team was going 2-14 just two years later, so in retrospect this didn't seem so weird, but at the time it was mesmerizingly shocking.
2.) 2009 NHL 2nd Round Game 7: Penguins 6 @ Capitals 2
I forgot about this one until a Twitter friend pointed it out as an example, and I think it is a great one as a counter example. Here's the lowdown - this series was wildly entertaining through 6 games. The Capitals led 2-0 in the series after winning their first two at home. The first six games were all 1-goal games, including three straight in OT, so that is quite different than what happened in the Suns series, but Game 7 set-up as a game the Capitals were rightly favored in, and then it all went to hell quickly. It's hockey, so the scoring is just a different magnitude than the NBA, but it was 2-0 Penguins after one period, and 5-0 halfway through the game. Ovechkin scored late in the 2nd but even then it led to nothing. It was over, it was desolate. The Capitals had yet to get a choker label - if anything this might have been the start of it. Here it is more the score and level of outright domination than the fact the Penguins beat the Capitals, but still it fits the bill in terms of "Is this really happening?"
1.) Super Bowl XLVIII: Seahawks 43 Broncos 8
It's annoying that two of these are specifically games that impacted my teams. Granted, it could also just be that I'm forgetting more obvious examples because this, or the Astros game, are just more present in my mind. Anyway, this takes the cake, and aside from it being a neutral site game vs. the Suns being at home, I think this is the best example. The Broncos were the favorite, and while it was a rather slight edge, I don't think anyone in their mind would've expected the Seahawks to keep Denver out of the end zone until the late 3rd quarter, when already up 29-0. The Seahawks got a safety on a botched snap on the first play and it got worse from there. It was stunning to see a record setting offense that had one of its best days in the AFC Championship just go away in flames of punts, fumbles, interceptions, missed catches, etc. It was a haunting game that I wanted to just switch off at halftime but couldn't as I was hosting friends, but I'm sure that is exactly how people in that stadium, or anyone hosting a watch party for the Suns was feeling as that lead ballooned to 30 before halftime. Even that peice was similar - as here despite how bad it started it was still just 8-0 into the second quarter. Then the TD, then the pick-6, and then the kickoff return TD to open the 2nd half it the embarrassment was complete.
