This Is Now a Four-Gone Conclusion

The race isn’t always to the team with the 7-foot, 330-pound MVP, over the one with the gimpy point guard, but that’s the way to bet.

It was a subdued Valley the Suns returned to, with local fans in a Kobe hangover, and the mood more like resignation than anticipation.

The Arizona Republic ran the story of the Diamondbacks’ victory over the Dodgers Wednesday as big as the Suns’ Game 2 loss to the Lakers. There were no “Beat L.A.” signs on downtown buildings. The TV news anchors weren’t telling their sports guys, “Gotta beat those Lakers.”

Nor did the rock deejays seem up for it, although on KOOL-FM, the local oldies station, Camelback Jack did ask his traffic guy in the helicopter, “The Suns aren’t going to lose in four, are they?” Nothing like Los Angeles, where a KROQ deejay recently did a fawning interview of Kobe Bryant and later noted on the air, “A lot of people called it [currying favor]. I call it support.”

Nor, in the wake of Friday’s 105-99 Laker victory, putting them up 3-0 in the series, does it look like enthusiasm is going to pick up around here soon.

Of course, no team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit, but Coach Scott Skiles still intends to try.

“It’s got to happen sometime,” Skiles said. “That’s the attitude I’m going to take.”

The Lakers took the Suns’ best punch, or the best punch Phoenix could manage without Tom Gugliotta, with a hobbled Jason Kidd missing eight of nine shots, with Cliff Robinson rolling his right ankle and leaving briefly and 6-foot-7 Rodney Rogers even taking a turn guarding the 7-1 Shaquille O’Neal.

It was business as usual for the Suns. Kidd, who didn’t practice the two off days between Games 1 and 2, didn’t practice on the one off day between Games 2 and 3.

However, Skiles said that Kidd was good to go.

“He doesn’t have any problems,” said Skiles, “so he’ll go out there and let it rip.”

The Suns were still trying to figure out a way to play O’Neal. Skiles normally has his center play in front of the opposing center to cut off entry passes but the massive O’Neal is great at sealing off his man and catching lob passes and Skiles knows it.

So Luc Longley, Robinson and Corie Blount were on their own again.

“How am I handling it?” asked Blount. “It’s tough, man. I want to step up to the challenge and do what I can for my team. I don’t know if I’m doing a good job. He’s averaging 40 on me, so I can’t say that I’m really doing a good job.”

Blount weighs 250, which makes him the 80-pound underdog in this matchup. He says he fights the behemoth the only way he can, he cheats.

NBA rules say Blount can only use one forearm to push on O’Neal’s back. Instead, Blount uses his hand, which he braces by jamming it into his hip.

“A friend of mine said ‘I saw you trying to push him with one hand.’ It wasn’t like that. Trust me.”

Then there was the problem of their Bryant hangover, the disappointment after the young Laker’s Game 2 game-winner.

“That’s pro sports,” said Skiles before the game. “We have enough veteran guys, They understand that, that they played a hell of a game and a great player made a great play. . . .

“This is a group that for the most part all year hasn’t needed to be told when it’s time to show up. They just keep answering the bell.”

So they did, and now they’re up against the ropes. O’Neal went for 37. Once, with the Lakers trailing, 91-90, Ron Harper missed two free throws, and from the second position on the lane, O’Neal tipped in the rebound of the second miss.

It was the series in a nutshell. Given better health, and the resurgent Penny Hardaway who emerged after Kidd broke a bone in his left ankle, the Suns might have been competitive, but after three games of this series, the best they could say is they came close twice.

Kidd, rehabbing on the fly, has 25 assists in three games but is shooting 29%. And, after seven games this season, they have yet to beat the Lakers.

They’re running out of chances. Better luck, next season, and it looks safe to book your tee times for Monday.