Phoenix Gets Even, 119-107, Still Has Rough Road Ahead

We are told that the Phoenix Suns, not the home court, beat the Portland Trail Blazers Sunday. Inanimate objects such as arenas are not supposed to decide playoff games, especially not in the Western Conference final series.

Yet, the contrast of games in this series, tied at 2-2 after the Suns’ 119-107 victory Sunday, is as stark as the climatic differences of the cities. In the Northwest, Portland reigned. In the desert, the Suns have totally eclipsed the Trail Blazers.

Coming off close, come-from-behind victories in the first two games, Portland continues to be incapable of winning on the road.

They have lost five consecutive road playoff games, all in double-figures. The team’s nickname must be a misnomer, because the only trail they blazed was heading right back to Portland for Game 5 on Tuesday night.

Unless one team can break through with a road victory, this series seems destined to go seven games. And Portland has the home court.

That may be heartening news for the Trail Blazers, because they proved in Games 3 and 4 that they cannot come close to beating the Suns in Phoenix. Although they played much better than in Friday night’s 34-point flogging, the Trial Blazers succumbed again under Phoenix’s constant pressure.

“We played better today than we have recently on the road,” Portland Coach Rick Adelman said dourly. “I don’t think a lot of teams are winning many road games. We haven’t lost at home yet. It’s a two-way street.”

Hopefully for the Trail Blazers, they won’t find it a dead end as they did Sunday.

Though they trailed by six points at halftime, the Trail Blazers’ real undoing came in the third quarter in which they made only seven of 14 free throw attempts. Clyde Drexler and Jerome Kersey had to sit because of foul trouble. Their unresponsive defense allowed the Suns to shoot 60%, many shots off the fast break. As a result, the Suns’ 16-6 spurt in the final six minutes of the quarter gave them an 89-76 lead.

Phoenix expanded the margin to 19 early in the fourth quarter before fighting off several minor Portland comeback attempts. For the second consecutive game--at home, of course--the Suns hardly resembled the tentative team that blew leads in the first two games. In fact, they were once again the aggressors. They outrebounded the Trail Blazers, 48-36, which enabled their fast break to flow unabated.

Kevin Johnson took full advantage, accumulating 28 points and 17 assists. Often, the recipient of Johnson’s passes was forward Tom Chambers, who made 10 of 17 shots for 27 points. A spark off the bench was provided by swingman Dan Majerle, who had 18 points, 10 rebounds and played good defense against Terry Porter.

If the Suns play like this in Game 5 Tuesday--considered by both teams the most important--they might be able to post a home-court service break and take control of the series.

Johnson believes the Suns, confident after winning two road playoff games against both Utah and the Lakers, can do it.

“We feel we should win at home, as Portland does,” Johnson said. “So, they might be thinking that the worst-case scenario is that they’re sent to the championship (after a seventh-game victory). But we know that winning at home is not enough. We’ve won on the road. That’s made us hungrier. That’s going to help us.”

The Trail Blazers seem confident returning home for Game 5. But they are assuming neither that they will automatically win that game nor that they will automatically lose Game 6 in Phoenix.

“They probably think they have the momentum going for them,” said Kersey, who led Portland with 29 points. “But we have to be very positive about Game 5 at home. It’ll be like a championship game.”

Actually, Portland approached Game 4 in the same manner.

Showing few emotional scars from the Game 3 debacle, the Trail Blazers stayed within one point of Phoenix until the final 30 seconds of the half. Then, Kevin Johnson made a jump shot with 28 seconds left and, after Porter was called for an offensive foul, Jeff Hornacek sank a three-point shot at the buzzer. So, instead of 51-50, the Suns had a 56-50 lead.

That may have been a harbinger for Portland’s third-quarter collapse. The Trail Blazers pulled to within 73-70 with six minutes left after consecutive baskets by Kersey. But then they went 3:34 seconds without a basket--and Porter, Buck Williams, Kevin Duckworth and Cliff Robinson missed free throws--to give the Suns numerous fast-break chances.

“You can’t afford to miss your free throws in a situation like that,” Kersey said. “It would have made a big difference.”

Majerle was a big difference in the quarter. Replacing foul-prone Kurt Rambis three minutes into the quarter, Majerle scored eight points and had three rebounds in the third.

“The key to beating Portland is to outrebound them, get our running game going and get some easy buckets,” Majerle said. “We have to keep the intensity going up in Portland that we had here.”

Cotton Fitzsimmons, the Suns’ coach, scoffed at the notion that neither team can win on the road. After all, if that holds true in this series, the Trail Blazers will win in seven games. “We’re always confident because we’re a good road team,” Fitzsimmons said. “We’re not the Globetrotters yet, but . . . “

But, so far in this series, the road team has had about as much chance of winning as the Washington Generals.

Western Conference Notes

Trail Blazer guard Drazen Petrovic did not play in the second half Sunday because of a sprained right hand and a bruised right thumb. Petrovic already had the thumb injury, but it was aggravated when he was stepped on in the first half of Game 4. He is questionable for Game 5. . . . Sun Coach Cotton Fitzsimmons on sixth man Dan Majerle: “He is a playoff performer, even though he’s a young player. He’s a slasher, a cutter, and he works hard on people. He goes to the boards hard. I never look at his stats. Maybe I take him for granted a lot. The guy’s just a worker. Even his name--Majerle. That’s a working name.”

Clyde Drexler, in foul trouble most of the second half, had only 15 points for Portland. Drexler is averaging only 18.7 points in the series, but Trail Blazer Coach Rick Adelman said Drexler is not to blame. “They were taking things away from (Drexler),” Adelman said. “It’s always more difficult to do things in the playoffs than you were in the regular season. When we don’t do things offensively, like moving the ball, it’s hard for (Drexler). When you shoot 40% in the playoffs, it’s hard to win. It’s a mark of this team that we can still be tied shooting like that.”