Suns Keep This Show on Road : Game 5: Bulls’ plans for celebration spoiled, 108-98, despite 41 points by Jordan. Final two games would be in Phoenix.

Take the champagne off ice and hope it travels well. Rev up the planes for a return trip to Arizona.

The Suns rained on Chicago’s anticipated victory parade Friday night. There was no third consecutive NBA title, no joy in Bullville, only a disappointing effort and a disappointing finish, a 108-98 victory by Phoenix to cut its deficit in the finals to 3-2.

Game 6 is Sunday evening at America West Arena, site of two consecutive Bull victories to open the series, followed by a Game 7 on Wednesday if necessary.

“I would by lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed,” said Michael Jordan, who broke the 40-point barrier for the fourth consecutive time, getting 41 to go with seven rebounds and seven assists. “We cannot accomplish the ultimate goal in Chicago, which is to win a third title in a row. The city expected us to. We expected us to.”

Instead, the Suns won for the third time in four tries at Chicago Stadium this season and got the two victories in three tries they wanted on this swing. Whether it is an advantage is another matter--Chicago is 3-0 at Phoenix.

But getting the series back to America West Arena is worth piece of mind to the Suns, considering the way almost everyone counted them out after they became the first team in finals history to open with two home losses. Phoenix players and coaches had grown weary of seeing preparations for overzealous celebrations, as if a victory in Game 5 was a foregone conclusion.

Once it was over--the game, not the series--the Suns rubbed it in worse than the 24 points by Charles Barkley or the 25 points and eight assists by Kevin Johnson or the 25 points on 12-of-14 shooting by Richard Dumas ever could have.

“It was our goal to save the city,” Coach Paul Westphal said. “We like Chicago. We had a really nice time this week and wanted to do something to thank them. We didn’t want to see the city burn tonight.”

The point that they were being looked upon as nothing more than a speed bump on the Bull Expressway could not be lost in the obvious sarcasm. The Suns were bothered by their role as nothing more than extras. Then they did something about it.

The Suns took control at the start for a change, needing only 6:55 to build a 10-point lead and then going up by as many as 16 in the first quarter. They shot 61.5% and had eight more attempts than Chicago and led, 33-21, after the first 12 minutes.

The Bulls opened the second quarter with seven unanswered points, capped by John Paxson’s three-pointer. The next Chicago basket was also a three by Paxson. And the next, with 7:18 remaining before halftime, cutting the deficit to 38-34.

When B.J. Armstrong hit a three, the Bulls were within a point, 42-41. They took their first lead of the game the next possession when Jordan broke inside from the left perimeter, slammed on the brakes to lose defender Johnson and pulled up for the jumper.

Jordan was just getting out of first gear. Two nights after scoring 55 points, he followed the go-ahead basket by connecting again from the left side. The next trip down, he posted up Johnson and hit a turn-around jumper.

By intermission, Jordan had 17 points, but the Suns had a 54-49 lead. That quickly became 67-55 as Dumas scored nine of Phoenix’s first 14 to open the second half. When Dumas sailed in for an uncontested dunk off a turnover, the cushion up to 14, 72-58.

The Bulls never fully recovered, getting within five later in the third quarter but no closer than seven the final quarter, when Jordan scored 12 points. It helped that Phoenix was counting by threes, using a long-range jumper by Ainge to turn an eight-point game into a 99-88 lead with 3:25 to go and then a driving layin and foul shot by Johnson for a 102-92 advantage with 1:41 remaining.

The Bulls were left to take stock of what went wrong, of Scottie Pippen making only eight of 20 shots and, worst of all, Horace Grant getting only seven rebounds and one point in 38 minutes while missing all four attempts from the field. Subtract Jordan’s 16 of 29 and the rest of the team went 42%.

The Suns, meanwhile, simply left for home, comforted by the thought the Bulls wouldn’t be far behind.

“Now we’re going to the Valley,” Barkley said, referring to the Phoenix region. “It could be hot. It could be real hot.”

He wasn’t talking about the temperature.