I went to US Airways Center to watch the Suns take on the Memphis Grizzlies. I decided to go to this game because I believe it might tell me more about where the Suns are, and where they’re headed, than the game against San Antonio.

It was easy for the Suns to rise to the occasion when San Antonio came to town. The Spurs represent everything the Suns want to be and their reputation, talent and accomplishment bring the best out of players.

This bothers many people. They don’t want to hear how a guy making millions of dollars must rise to any occasion when merely playing a game. Although I completely respect and understand fans disdain for such comments, their opinion is pure folly.

The game is played by human beings. An elementary, superficial study into human nature is all that is required to understand why a player’s intensity level flows in volatile streams.

To wit:

I draw a circle on the ground that measures 20’ in diameter. Then, I put you and another person in that circle. I announce to both would-be circle kings that the person that pushes the other one out of the circle is going to receive $50.

Where’s your intensity level?

Now, I tell you, the winner is going to receive $5,000 if he pushes the other person from the circle.

Is your heart pounding? Would you be more focused if the stakes got bigger?

Now, my friends, I announce that the loser of the next “circle-sumo” will be dragged from the sphere and decapitated immediately…

How would you fight in that circle? What kind of intensity, focus and determination would you generate in order to win?

Why is your heart racing? Why do you know your intensity level would be sky-high? Why didn’t you feel that way when $50 was at stake? Why didn’t you feel that way when $500 was at stake?

Human nature.

It’s not that you weren’t intense when $50 or $5,000 was at stake; it’s that you didn’t know how intense you could become when faced with a desperate situation.

This is why the Grizzlies game fascinates. It was easy for the Suns to get up for the Spurs. The stakes were BIG and it brought natural, human ferocity from the bowels of the Suns competitive well.

But how will the waters flow against Memphis?

Great teams and great players know how to summon their competitive muse, no matter whom they square up. Michael Jordan did it, the “Showtime” Lakers did it, Lawrence Taylor did it and the San Antonio Spurs have done it when it mattered most. It’s the sign of maturity, a signal that a team has become mentally tough, and the lead indicator that a human being has entered rare company.

The Grizzlies may represent the fulcrum of the Suns up-and-down season. If the Suns go out and play with great intensity and energy against an inferior team, they may have learned something about themselves from the San Antonio game. They may have found that intensity level and how to turn it on at will. They may have discovered what the New York Giants did when they played against the New England Patriots in week 17:

There is intensity and there is desperation and there are levels in between.

Got Jordan?