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Valley vibes: Recapping the worst collapses in ASU, Cardinals, Coyotes, D-backs and Suns history
Major League’s Baseball’s Monday doubleheader was the perfect illustration of what plagues Valley sports.
It wasn’t enough that the Diamondbacks were facing postseason elimination on the final day of the regular season. They had to face it without ever taking the field. Both the Mets and Braves knew that a simple split would put them both in the postseason, and once the Mets rallied in the ninth inning to win Game 1 and clinch a National League wild card spot, they had absolutely no incentive to play their best brand of ball in Game 2.
New York managed three hits in a 3-0 loss that pushed the Braves into the playoffs while the Diamondbacks cleaned out their lockers. It’s an awful format that the league should change. Just like it had to change the NHL Draft lottery system after the Edmonton Oilers leapfrogged the Coyotes and Sabres to select Connor McDavid.
But that’s Valley sports in a nutshell, right? Rotten luck. Rotten history and epic collapses.
This weekend was just another example with the Cardinals going from trendy playoff picks to top-10 draft probables, while the D-backs lost 17 of their final 31 games and blew a seven-game wild card lead to miss the postseason by one game — one season after an improbable run to the World Series.
Valley sports are an endless buzzkill.
With the latest pain still fresh in our minds, PHNX Sports’ Greg Esposito, Craig Morgan and Jesse Friedman compiled a top-three list of the worst collapses in history for each of the following: ASU, the Cardinals, the Coyotes, the Diamondbacks and the Suns.
To be clear, our definition of collapse was broad. It could mean a regular season collapse. It could mean a postseason collapse. It could mean a single game. Or it could mean an existential collapse — whatever it took to inflict maximum pain on this community whose faith in its teams has been mostly unrequited.
Don’t agree with our choices? Voice your opinion in our team-specific polls, in our Valley-wide poll, or in the comments section below.
Like our choices? Tells us which ones warrants the top spots.
(imperfect photo via Getty Images)
ASU
1981 NCAA Tournament, second round
Kansas 88, Arizona State 71
The 1980-81 Sun Devils were a force. They boasted three NBA first-round picks in Fat Level, Byron Scott and Alton Lister, plus two second-round picks in Sam and Paul Williams. They finished 24-4 overall, 16-2 in the Pac-10 and they earned a No. 2 seed for the NCAA Tournament and a first-round bye. They only played one game. Kansas buried them in the second round, ending the hopes of what was arguably legendary coach Ned Wulk’s best team.
83rd Rose Bowl
Ohio State 20, Arizona State 17
The 1996 season was magical for ASU. Jake Plummer was a Heisman finalist and Pat Tillman led a staunch, physical defense that shut out two-time defending national champion Nebraska, ending the Cornhuskers’ 26-game winning streak. The Sun Devils had some miraculous wins including a 42–34 win against UCLA at the Rose Bowl, and a double overtime win against USC.
With just over a minute remaining in Pasadena, Plummer scrambled for 11 yards and a touchdown on third-and-goal to give ASU a 17-14 lead over Ohio State. But Mesa Mountain View product Joe Germaine led the Buckeyes on a last-minute TD drive, aided by two pass interference penalties. The drive culminated with a 5-yard TD pass to future Cardinal David Boston — on a blown coverage by redshirt freshman cornerback Courtney Jackson — with 19 seconds remaining to end ASU’s best hope for a national championship.
2011 football season
The end of the Dennis Erickson era
The 2011 Sun Devils were riding high. Quarterback Brock Osweiler was setting school records and calling constant attention to his 6-8 frame. Linebacker Vontaze Burfict put on a prime-time performance in a win over Matt Barkley and USC, and the Devils raced to 5-1 and 6-2 starts.
Then came the game at the Rose Bowl against UCLA. With ASU leading 28-23 in the fourth quarter, the Bruins somehow converted a third-and-29 play and eventually scored the go-ahead touchdown. Osweiler drove the Devils within range for a 46-yard field goal to win the game, but Alex Garoutte launched one of the most sickly kicks you’ll ever see. It fell short and wide right — his third miss of the game.
ASU lost five straight games, including a blowout loss in the Las Vegas Bowl in which players were seen out on the town the night before the game. Erickson was fired after the season. One more memory: After a practice following the UCLA game, Erickson walked up to the prayer circle of players, winked at the media gathered on the sideline and said, “Say one for the kicking game.”
Cardinals
Super Bowl XLIII
Pittsburgh Steelers 27, Arizona Cardinals 23
The Cardinals earned no respect for their 2008 NFC West title. Some analysts looked at their 9-7 record — built mostly on a 6-0 division record — and their plus-1 point differential and labeled them the worst playoff team in NFL history. But a win over Atlanta, a blowout of the Panthers in Carolina, and a win over the surprising Eagles in the NFC Championship earned former Pittsburgh assistant Ken Whisenhunt a date with his old team in Tampa.
The lasting moment for Valley fans should have been Larry Fitzgerald’s 64-yard touchdown reception from Kurt Warner to give the Cards their first lead of the game with 2:37 remaining — a play that Fitz watched evolve, live on the Jumbotron. But Whisenhunt knew he had left the Steelers too much time. Pittsburgh went 78 yards to score on wide receiver Santonio Holmes’ controversial 6-yard touchdown catch with 35 seconds left. The Cardinals haven’t sniffed a title since.
The 2014 season
Carson Palmer tears ACL
Bruce Arians had it rolling in his second season as the Cardinals coach. He helped rebuild Carson Palmer’s career and the Cards were off to an 8-1 start that had many projecting them as a Super Bowl team. But disaster struck in that eighth win on a seemingly innocuous play against the Rams on Nov. 9. Rams safety Mark Barron pressured Palmer into stepping up in the pocket. As Barron ran by him, Palmer said the turf at University of Phoenix Stadium gave way in what he termed a freak injury.
Palmer’s season was over and so was the Cardinals’. Drew Stanton actually pushed Arizona to 9-1 the following week, but by the time Arizona reached the NFC wild card round at 11-5, Ryan Lindley was behind center and the Panthers ended the Cardinals’ next best hope of their first Super Bowl title.
2021 season
The beginning of the end for Kliff Kingsbury
Speaking of hot starts. Arizona raced to records of 7-0 and 10-2 and Kyler Murray was being mentioned in the MVP conversation in 2021. But injuries derailed the offensive line, Arizona lost four of its final five regular season games, and the Rams dismantled the Cardinals, 34-11, in the first round of the playoffs on their way to a Super Bowl victory. One season later, the Cards went 4-13 and Kingsbury was fired.
(Getty Images)
Coyotes
1999 Western Conference Quarterfinals
St. Louis 4, Phoenix 3
The Coyotes had come so close to escaping the first round of the playoffs in their first season in the Valley, falling in overtime of a potential series-clinching Game 6 against the Anaheim Ducks and then losing Game 7. In 1999, they built a 3-1 series lead on the Blues despite playing without star center Jeremy Roenick, whose jaw was broken on a vicious and dirty hit from Dallas’ Derian Hatcher in the season finale.
But the Coyotes lost Game 5 in OT at home, then dropped Game 6 in St. Louis, forcing Roenick back into the lineup with his jaw wired shut. The teams went to OT scoreless, but Jamie Rivers swept Keith Tkachuk’s game-winning goal off the goal line and Pierre Turgeon scored at 17:59 of OT to eliminate the Coyotes. The next year during a preseason game against the Blues, the Coyotes mic’ed up Tkachuk. With the camera doing a close-up of him talking to teammate Dallas Drake on the bench, Rivers skated past. Tkachuk saw him, turned to Drake and said: “Jamie fucking Rivers.”
2019-20 season
The tailspin after the Taylor Hall trade
There was a logic to the trade when GM John Chayka acquired Hall and forward Blake Speers from the Devils for defenseman Kevin Bahl, forwards Nick Merkley and Nate Schnarr, a conditional 2020 first-round pick, and a conditional 2021 third-round pick. The Coyotes were in first place in the Pacific and on pace for 98 points. Hall arrived and promptly set up the game-winning goal against San Jose in his first game as a Coyote, hustling into the corner and getting a puck to Oliver Ekman-Larsson in the slot, thereby putting the Coyotes on a 100-point pace.
But Hall never fit the team’s style of play, the Coyotes went 13-17-4 the rest of the way, Covid arrived and by the time the Coyotes made their way in the playoff bubble for an expanded playoff format, they were a shadow of their former selves. They upset Nashville in the play-in round before Colorado buried them in the first round.
2023-24 season
Coyotes relocate to Salt Lake City
In May of 2023, the Coyotes and Tempe government and business officials were expressing optimism that a new arena would be built on the south bank of Rio Salado and the wayward Coyotes would finally have a permanent home in the right part of town to fuel their success. Instead, owner Alex Meruelo short-changed the campaign, Tempe 1st misinformed voters and the arena project went down in flames.
Meruelo tried to resuscitate hopes of building an arena on state trust land, but sensing political opposition to the project and fearing an extended timeline at 4,600-seat Mullett Arena, the league pulled the plug on the Coyotes, relocating the team to Salt Lake City. The relocation was the first for the league since Atlanta moved to Winnipeg in 2011, and just the second relocation of a team this millennium.
(Getty Images)
Diamondbacks
August/September 2008
Dodgers catch fire, eliminate D-backs
After the 2007 “anybody, anytime” Diamondbacks won 90 games in spite of a negative run differential, the 2008 club was a bit of a wild card. With a stellar starting rotation led by Brandon Webb, Dan Haren and an aging-but-effective Randy Johnson, the 2008 team started well and occupied first place in the NL West almost the entire season.
After beating the second-place Dodgers on Aug. 29 to up their division lead to 4.5 games, the Diamondbacks proceeded to go 0-5 against the Dodgers in the next 10 days. Their division lead evaporated entirely by Sept. 5, and it was never recovered. They finished two games behind the Dodgers.
August/September 2018
Dodgers catch fire, eliminate D-backs Part II
After winning 93 games and making the postseason as a wild-card team in 2017, the Diamondbacks seemed well-positioned to compete again in 2018. They got off to a blazing 20-8 start in April. Their division lead was never higher than 1.5 games following the All-Star break, but they spent 125 days in first place in the NL West.
After reaching a high-water mark of 15 games over .500 (71-56) on Aug. 22, the Diamondbacks lost back-to-back series to the Mariners and Giants before dropping three of four to the Dodgers in Los Angeles. All three losses came by a final score of 3-2, and Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp had game-winning hits against D-backs reliever Archie Bradley in two of them.
By the end of that Dodgers series, the Diamondbacks had fallen from first place to third in the NL West. They lost 24 of their final 35 games, and finished the season just two games above .500.
August/September 2024
D-backs fumble seven-game lead in wild card race
Coming off a remarkable World Series run in 2023, the Diamondbacks spent big in the offseason and entered the year with a franchise record payroll in the $170 million range.
Injuries deterred them early, but they caught fire in June, going 50-24 from June 1 to Aug. 25. On Aug. 25, they were 75-56, held the top NL wild card spot and had a seven-game lead over the fourth-place New York Mets, their biggest threat in the wild-card race at the time. Fangraphs estimated their playoff odds to be 96.8 percent.
The Diamondbacks then went 14-17 to finish the season. They dropped five of their final seven games; in one of those losses, they had an 8-0 lead in the third inning. They wound up winning 89 games, coming one win short of a second consecutive trip to the postseason.
Suns
2021 NBA Finals
Suns blow 2-0 lead vs. Bucks
Some seasons there is just a team of destiny; one that has everything go its way and it accomplishes something no one thought was possible. That was the 2020-21 Phoenix Suns. A fairytale of a season. A team that hadn’t made the playoffs in more than a decade emerging from the pandemic to bring the Valley together and shock the world by making the NBA Finals.
After dominating the first two games in Phoenix, it felt as if the gates had opened and the basketball gods had ordained the Suns. Then a Greek god, Giannis Antetokounmpo, took charge. The Bucks won the next four and took the Larry O’Brien Trophy while Phoenix took another big L.
Game 7, 2022 Western Conference semifinals
Mavericks 123, Suns 90
The Phoenix Suns had won the most games in franchise history (64) and steamrolled the West. Then they met the Mavericks in the second round. The best and most fun regular season in Suns franchise history couldn’t end in despair, right? RIGHT?!
Phoenix had taken care of business in Round 1 against the New Orleans Pelicans, setting up a matchup with Luka Doncic and the Mavericks. The Mavs were a flawed team but had their young Slovenian superstar — the same one the Suns overlooked in the draft in favor of Deandre Ayton. Phoenix jumped out to a 2-0 lead and then a 3-2 lead. As you guessed, it went to a Game 7 and, as we all know, that went about as well as performing a colonoscopy with an iPhone. The Suns got blown out by the Mavs and the greatest regular season in franchise history ended with one of the most embarrassing playoff losses in NBA history.
1995 Conference Semifinals
Suns blow 3-1 series lead against Rockets
After losing in seven games the previous season — which came one season after losing in the NBA Finals to the Michael Jordan-led Bulls — the Suns took a 3-1 series lead on the defending champion Rockets with Jordan still in his first retirement.
This was year three of Charles Barkley’s tenure in the Valley; an era of basketball that was supposed to bring the first championship to Phoenix. Instead, it ended in crushing defeat like all those that came before it. After having the best record in the league for most of the year, star Danny Manning tore his ACL in practice. Things looked bleak but the team, thanks to Charles Barkley and Kevin Johnson, kept title hopes alive.
The Purple Gang had the defending champs on the ropes. After taking the first two games in Phoenix by double digits and splitting the next two in Houston, the Suns had a commanding 3-1 lead. Even when the Rockets forced a Game 7 in Phoenix, things still looked promising. No team had lost a seventh game at home in 13 years.
The Suns went up 10 at halftime but blew that lead and were trailing by five late in the fourth quarter. Phoenix battled back to tie it, only to watch Mario Elie hit a corner three with seconds left and promptly blow a kiss at the Suns bench. Barkley had 23 rebounds, KJ had 46 points but the Rockets had the win and the kiss of death.
Top photo of Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo via Getty Images
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