Suns Are Learning Some Lessons, but Diplomas Aren’t in Sight

It’s just about midterm evaluation time in Playoff Basketball 101, the learn-as-you-go crash course for the Phoenix Suns.

Give them high marks in effort and, for the most part, execution. But give them a C for their final grade, since they are down, 0-2, to the Lakers in the best-of-seven Western Conference finals. That C is, of course, average, since no team has been able to take so much as a game from the two-time defending champions in the 1989 playoffs.

The Suns, who split their six meetings with the Lakers during the regular season, led, 73-71, after the third quarter. From there, they flunked.

“We’re finding out what it’s all about,” Phoenix guard Kevin Johnson said of that intangible called playoff experience. “We got by Denver and Golden State, and now we’re playing the best team of the ‘80s. We really believe we can beat them, but we’re learning what it takes.”

Cheat sheet, anyone?

The Suns made only only three of their first 13 shots to open the decisive fourth quarter and soon fell behind by 10 points.

The Lakers did a good job of wearing down Johnson, the key to the Phoenix attack, by making him work so hard just to get the ball. He said he had heavy legs down the stretch, and his four points and four assists in the second half seem to substantiate that.

Phoenix got to within 99-95 with 15 seconds to play, but couldn’t catch up--in the game or the series. The Lakers won, 101-95, and it was the first time the Suns have been held below triple figures in their 10 playoff games.

“I just think they (the Lakers) are a great team,” said Dan Majerle, who contributed 16 points and seven rebounds off the bench for the Suns. “Experience is part of it. We’re learning.”

Added Tom Chambers, who made only eight of 23 shots, including three of 11 in the second half, en route to 21 points, second best on the team to Johnson’s 22: “They really sucked it up and put it together in the fourth quarter. They’ve done that all along. That’s why they’re the champs.”

And that’s why the Suns have been put in a position to become very dependent on the next two games being at home, Friday night and Sunday afternoon. It might not make the lesson any easier, but maybe the learning will come more quickly at Veterans Memorial Coliseum, where Phoenix taught the Lakers a thing or two in sweeping the three games against the Lakers in the regular season.

“There’s nothing like the home court,” Johnson said.

Apparently, there’s nothing like a little playoff experience, either. Phoenix, as a franchise, has plenty, dating back to the early 1970s, including a trip to the NBA finals in ’76. But the Suns, individually, are mere babes compared to their counterparts.

These playoffs have included the Suns’ first 3-0 series sweep in their history, in the first round against Denver, and a strong showing in a 4-1 dispatching of Golden State in the conference semifinals. They had even averaged an impressive 122.3 points, including 119 in losing Game 1 of this series.

Then this. Phoenix, 15th in playoff experience of the 16 teams who made it out of the regular season, shot just 42.4%, was outrebounded, 35-25, in the second half, and has lost two straight on the road after winning its previous nine.

There are better ways to make an impression. What makes it especially difficult is that the Suns were in both games late, but still go home in the 0-2 hole. A frustrating predicament.

“There’s no doubt,” guard Jeff Hornacek said. “Anytime you control a game for three quarters and don’t come away with a win, well, it’s disappointing.

“They (the Lakers) slowed it down and forced us to play more of a halfcourt game. That’s not the way we like to play. Our style is more running and fast breaking. We really don’t have that many set plays, so we’re not that effective when the game is slowed down.”