League’s latest wounds are mostly self-inflicted

Now back to our regularly scheduled show, the conference finals, also known as “The Haunting.”

Steve Nash said the Phoenix Suns were haunted after the suspensions of Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw upset their apple cart, but they’re not the only ones.

Suggesting how vulnerable David Stern felt after rocking his own world, the league put on an unprecedented spin campaign about the suspensions in the Phoenix-San Antonio series, calling up commentators and columnists around the nation.

It was persuasive too ... at least with people working for partners such as ESPN, who were, in effect, on the payroll.

Of course, no one was more dramatic than Stephen A. Smith, who called the suspensions “stupid” in his Philadelphia Inquirer column, then came back to write that NBA players are as much at fault for creating this climate.

He was actually right both times but felt obliged to add, “In the interest of full disclosure and avoiding hypocrisy, these thoughts were not in my head earlier this week.” On the last two Suns-Spurs telecasts, the suspensions were like the elephant in the room no one wanted to talk about.

After that, the elephant vanished entirely. On ABC’s pregame show before the Spurs-Jazz Western finals, there was no mention of any suspensions.

Unfortunately, the league couldn’t call all the fans who weren’t as thrilled by Stern’s heroic defense of the arbitrary rule he now claims he’s “charged by the owners to enforce,” as opposed to having pushed for it himself. With TV ratings now at all-time lows, this isn’t one the league can just walk away from.

The NBA has seen a lot, from the ‘60s and Wilt Chamberlain’s Sports Illustrated story, “My Life in a Bush League,” to the drug scandals of the ‘80s, to Auburn Hills in 2004.

Nothing quite matches Stern’s burning the village to save it after the Suns’ dramatic fourth-quarter rally in San Antonio tied the series considered the real NBA Finals, 2-2.

You could feel the air go out of the balloon as the undermanned Suns wore down in Game 5 -- which ESPN’s Tim Legler said had nothing to do with the suspensions, noting, “You have to execute.”

Unfortunately, that’s what happened. The league executed its postseason. “I haven’t talked to a single person who thought it was a fair decision,” TNT’s Charles Barkley said last week, unmoved by the league’s arguments. “David Stern is the best commissioner in sports, but that was the wrong decision.”

There’s more going on than that. As the Sports Media Watch blog predicted, “Three years ago, in 2004, low-scoring, plodding games were expected.... After being tantalized with a Phoenix/Golden State conference final, casual and even many NBA fans will tune out -- almost in protest.”

So they did, whether deflated, bored or both.

The conventional wisdom about superstars is dead, as demonstrated by the terrible ratings for LeBron James in the agonizing Cleveland-Detroit Eastern finals.

Meanwhile, Utah and Golden State, who were supposed to die, drew bumper ratings.

It wasn’t Stern’s job to deliver the Suns to the Western finals, but it wasn’t a good idea to let events conspire against them either. Of course, this is a hard one to back down from.

Sorry, I just blew a hole in the heart of our postseason. My bad.

Now might be a good time for Stern to change his entire approach, consult the players, as opposed to ordering them around, and do something that’s actually constructive together.

The NBA is at a crossroads ... as it was in the ‘90s when Stern deftly changed the rules to keep Michael Jordan from being carried off by the Bad Boy Pistons and Pat Riley’s Knicks.

With all the moves that have backfired recently, something has gone right too.

Rule changes freeing perimeter players have already made the roadrunners the wave of the future. Old slow-down teams such as the Spurs, who averaged 100 points against the Suns, and the Jazz, which averaged 113 against the Warriors, are turning it up.

Good coaches such as Jeff Van Gundy, who won 52 games, the Rockets’ best record in 10 years, are being fired just for not playing fast enough.

With half the league (the Eastern half) still playing slow, more changes would help, such as tightening up charging -- a defender now has only to fall backward to get the call -- and stopping all that ridiculous flopping.

Stern hates seeding, but in just the latest calamity for the traditional playoff format, Greg Oden and Kevin Durant are coming west.

Of course, if they had reseeded after the first round, the Suns and Spurs couldn’t have met until the Finals -- and none of this might have ever come up! Enjoy the rest of the postseason, everybody.

Anybody?

Coast to coast

As if to confirm speculation that Stoudemire has worn out his welcome and will be shopped, he blew off the Suns’ breakup meeting. “Last year at the end everybody was crying,” said Coach Mike D’Antoni. “This year it was like, ‘daggone,’ but it wasn’t the same heartfelt stuff that a team should produce.” ... Then there was Nash after Stoudemire struggled in Game 3 against the Spurs: “I can’t really go to the playpen and tell everyone how they’re supposed to behave.” ... Portland is so ecstatic at the prospect of taking Oden, it will offer Zach Randolph and Jarrett Jack to Atlanta for the No. 3 pick to get Oden’s Ohio State teammate Mike Conley Jr. ... Because consensus No. 3 pick Brandan Wright is young, raw and from North Carolina -- like the Hawks’ disappointing 2005 pick, Marvin Williams -- it could happen. ... Boston’s Paul Pierce, who grudgingly accepted the notion of starting over with Oden or Durant, just got the really bad news -- the Celtics are starting over with Wright, Yi Jianlin or Al Horford. Now to see whether Pierce finally asks to be traded.... Who said there’s no hope for the East? With Sacramento determined to dump Ron Artest, Miami, which has nothing to lose and Shaquille O’Neal and Dwyane Wade to keep him in line, is interested. Artest is fine for one season and has an opt-out after that.

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mark.heisler@latimes.com