Suns Flex Their Muscles, Beat Trail Blazers in Overtime

After Phoenix rallied in the final minute to beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 132-128, in overtime in an extremely physical game, Tom Chambers of the Suns had reason to believe his team has toughened up.

“We really wanted to assert ourselves,” Chambers said after scoring 36 points before fouling out with 2:09 to play in the game at Phoenix. “We came out prepared, and they came out prepared.”

Portland Coach Rick Adelman agreed that the contest was physical, but thought his team’s 32 fouls to 27 for Phoenix were out of whack. The Suns scored 40 points on 52 free throws, compared to Portland’s 23 of 34.

“Kevin Johnson and Tom Chambers shot 32 free throws (combined). That’s almost as much as we did,” he said.

In the extra period, Dan Majerle and Hornacek made consecutive three-pointers early, and Hornacek scored the last four points of the game, helping the Suns win their seventh game in a row.

Portland’s Clyde Drexler had 39 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, but cost his team a final chance to win when he was called for traveling with 2.5 seconds to play. Drexler, with Dan Majerle guarding him tightly, appeared to stub his toe on the play, giving the Suns the ball with a 130-128 lead.

“I definitely thought there was contact, but there was no call, so there no foul,” Drexler said with a hint of sarcasm.

Majerle inbounded the ball to Jeff Hornacek, who was fouled by Terry Porter and made both free throws for an insurmountable lead.

Porter, who had 27 points, missed a shot from about 23 feet as the buzzer sounded.