As you probably heard by now, the San Antonio Spurs and Phoenix Suns officially despise one another. Late in game 4 of their playoff series, Spurs forward Robert Horry hip checked Suns point guard Steve Nash into the scorers table. This led to a bit of a scuffle, and then a few suspensions issued by the NBA.

Horry was suspended two games, and Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw of the Suns one game apiece for leaving the bench during the altercation. As you can imagine, these suspensions meant much more to the Suns than the Spurs. After all, Stoudemire may very well be one of the best players in the league, and Diaw is no slouch.

Game 5 was tight despite the fact that these players had to sit out. But in the end, the Spurs walked away with an 88-85 victory. With 36 seconds to play, Bruce Bowen buried a 3-point bucket to give the Spurs the lead for good.

Bowen said, “It felt great. After all the things I was hearing from the sidelines it was great. The people were calling me choice names I had never heard before.”

It is safe to say that this is the best playoff series of the season up to this point. Not only are both teams talented, but the added intensity from the players and fans have made this a “must see series.”

To force a game 7 the Suns have to go into San Antonio and steal a victory on Friday night. And winning on the Spurs home court is never easy to do.

Source: sports.yahoo.com (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)