He Overcomes Initial Futility

Well, I don’t think there’s any way Phoenix can blow this series now, is there?

Who in his right mind wouldn’t side with the Suns after what they did to the Lakers here Saturday?

I think these guys are a lock to win the NBA championship, and probably many more to come.

Having heard an earful from aggravated Arizonans--before, during and after the 117-103 Laker loss--I would have to agree with them that the 1989-90 Phoenix Suns are the most magnificent basketball team ever assembled, not only in the history of the NBA, but since the dawn of mankind.

They couldn’t possibly choke now.

Wow, what a ball team this is! I could hardly believe how good Phoenix looked, although my seat in Veterans Memorial Coliseum was up pretty high, and I had trouble seeing the game through all those championship banners hanging from the ceiling.

What I did see was impressive. These Suns can play, and I will take issue with any California airhead who says they cannot.

For starters, there is Tom Chambers, who lit up the Lakers for 34 points. Or “T.C.,” as the Suns’ radio guy calls him.

(He also calls Kevin Johnson “K.J.” and Eddie Johnson “E.J.,” which makes me wonder if he also calls the President of the United States “G.B.” and makes me happy that he doesn’t regularly broadcast the games of Vlade Divac or Byron Scott.)

Chambers turned the Lakers every which way but loose. He made left-handed lay-ups and running left hooks. He swished right-handed three-pointers and rattled home twisting back-door dunks. He faked out J.W. and M.T. and E. (M.) J. and A.C.G. and every other Laker he encountered.

“I was stronger inside today than I had been in a long time,” Chambers said.

Sure was. In Game 2, the Suns used underarm deodorants that were stronger and more effective than T.C. He got four baskets all night, and pulled down one more rebound than a dead man.

In Game 3, however, Chambers was one gun of a Sun who started out hot and got hotter. He also played the whole game with a smile on his face, even on the free-throw line. I guess if Michael Jordan can stick his tongue out, Tom Chambers can bare his teeth.

“We needed a win and I hadn’t been playing well,” Chambers said. “Kevin (Johnson) and I are All-Stars, and the last two games you couldn’t have picked us out of a crowd in a million years.”

Now, now, T.C. Don’t be too tough on yourself. People here don’t like it when anyone is critical of the Phoenix Suns, even a Phoenix Sun.

“Tom’s a great player,” Laker Coach Pat Riley said. “He was hitting his jumpers and he was making his drives.”

As opposed to Jeff Hornacek, who was making his jumpers and hitting his drives.

Hornacek scored 29 points. In Games 1 and 2, he scored a total of 30. He was so ordinary in those two contests, that the announcer wouldn’t even use his initials. I think the Lakers should try returning to a dependable old tactic against Hornacek in Game 4--like guarding him.

For a half, the Lakers were OK. “Very efficient,” to use Riley’s description.

They even pulled out the old Michael Cooper Catches Rebound, Falls Down and Shoots Horizontal trick, which never fails when you’re trying to snap out of a one-for-19 shooting slump.

By the end, however, it was Phoenix that was pulling tricks out of its bag. Kevin Johnson even did the old Harlem Globetrotter free-throw bit, pretending to shoot the ball, then hanging onto it while those gullible Lakers lunged into the lane.

Did it seem to everybody back in California watching television that the Suns scored every trip down the floor? Seemed that way here, too. If I had known that the Suns never missed their shots when they played at home, I’d have picked them to win the NBA even sooner.

Between them, Mark West, Kurt Rambis, Dan Majerle, Eddie Johnson and Kenny Battle missed a total of four shots. Three of those guys don’t even start. That’s how great this unbelievably fabulous, undeniably wonderful, probably unbeatable Phoenix Sun team is.

Know how many points Phoenix’s starters scored Saturday? 101.

The entire Laker squad scored 103. And that counted Cooper’s goofy hoop.

“We epitomized what team basketball is all about,” Kevin Johnson said.

That’s Phoenix for you. It epitomizes team basketball. When Americans think of team basketball, then by God, they think of the Phoenix Suns.

Aw, shucks, Coach Cotton Fitzsimmons said. “We haven’t accomplished anything yet. You have to brace for the Lakers every day, every hour and every minute. We haven’t done anything yet.”

No. Really? Go on. Be serious.