Suns Know Chances Slim, but They’re Not Ready to Give Up

As the battered and beaten Phoenix Suns trudged off the court after Thursday night’s game, they had only blank expressions on their faces. No one cringed, scowled or did a double-take at the scoreboard.

It was as if the Suns fully expected it to be this bad--or maybe worse--in Game 1 of their best-of-five playoff series against the Lakers. After all, the Suns had to meet the NBA’s hottest team without three starters and several other players hobbling, making the 142-114 result painfully predictable.

So were the Suns’ postgame comments. Even after a brutally lopsided game in which Phoenix trailed by as many as 39 points in the second half, every Sun who found enough strength to talk to the media said the team wasn’t giving up by any means.

“They can tell us that the odds are 5,000-1, but we’re still going to go out with the attitude that we’re going to win,” guard Kyle Macy said. “If you don’t have that attitude, you might as well not show up. We’ll try just as hard Saturday (in Game 2) as tonight. Hopefully, it’ll be better.”

It probably won’t. The Suns left the Forum with more then their spirits hurt. Forward Charles Jones, who played despite a sprained ankle Thursday, will not play Saturday. That leaves Phoenix with nine players.

Faced with all the adversity, the Suns would figure to be greatly demoralized. By now, though, they are accustomed to not having a set lineup. What they aren’t used to is people saying they have no chance of beating the Lakers.

“We’ve got the kind of team where talk like that just picks us up,” Alvin Scott said. “We know we’re the underdogs. But it makes us want to win even more.”

Without many weapons to use against the Lakers, Coach John MacLeod was counting on the element of surprise. Instead of slowing the tempo, as they did the last time the teams met, he had the Suns try to run with the Lakers in the early going. The Lakers were surprised, all right. Pleasantly surprised.

“I think it surprised them for the first half of the first quarter,” Macy said. “We were tied with them at 16 at that point, but after that, the ball didn’t go down, even though we had good shots.”

By the end of the first quarter, the Suns had commited 10 turnovers and shot just 40% and the Lakers had sprinted to a commanding 45-24 lead. When the Suns finally abandoned the running game--mostly because they were tired--the Lakers had built a 34-point second-quarter lead.

“When we got in the locker room at halftime, he (MacLeod) said, ‘It’s not as bad as it looks.’ He was right. We just missed too many open jump shots and layups. In the second half, we were just trying to play better.”

After coming as close as 18 points early in the third quarter, the Suns were put away for good by a 15-4 run late in the quarter.

“It doesn’t matter who we have out on the court,” guard Rod Foster said. “If we can’t stop their fastbreak, we can’t win. We’ve got to tell ourselves it’s just one game. It doesn’t matter if we lose by 30 or by one point. We’ve just got to come back Saturday.”

As much as the Suns might secretly want to check out of their hotel and go home early, they must play at least two more games against the Lakers.

Will they try to slow the tempo or continue to run right at the Lakers’ strength? They have failed using both approaches.

Alvan Adams, who started at center in place of injured James Edwards, said he was encouraged by the Suns’ fast-break attack. The only problem was that they couldn’t make a layup, jump shot or any other type of shot.

“We did a good job on the break and still lost the game,” Adams said. “When the Lakers are clicking, it’s hard to beat them even on the best nights. People are saying it’s impossible for us to win. I’m not going to stand here and say that. But obviously, it’s going to be very difficult.”

And Maurice Lucas said: “You never know. We might learn something from this.”

The only thing the Suns have learned so far is how to lose gracefully.