From: f67700241@violet.ccit.arizona.edu (Greg Franklin)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.pro
Subject: Suns Report: Phoenix sears Supersonics, ends the 82-0 dream
Date: 17 Nov 92 07:13:49 GMT
Distribution: world,local
Organization: University of Arizona
Nntp-Posting-User: f67700241

11/16/92
Seattle Supersonics (4-0) at Phoenix Suns (3-1)
FINAL: Suns 117, Sonics 108

SETTING:

The Suns came back home to America West Arena to face the undefeated 
Seattle Supersonics.  This was a battle of bad uniforms, according to 
the net.  Hey, I happen to like the Sonics' uniforms!  I also think the 
Suns should have kept their classic unis.

STARTERS (correct me if I mess up):

Sea: McKey, Kemp, Benjamin, Payton, Pierce
Phx: Ceballos, Barkley, West, Knight, Majerle

KEY BENCH PLAYERS:

Sea: Barros, McMillan, E. Johnson, Cage
Phx: Chambers, Ainge, F. Johnson

QUARTER-BY-QUARTER

1st Quarter: 40-30 Suns.  Again (this time because of academics) I had 
to miss the first quarter.  I gather that the Suns starters overwhelmed 
the Sonics defense with good shooting and lots of fouls drawn (~16 FTs 
in the quarter).  So much for the Sonics' vaunted depth.  Majerle keyed 
the quarter for the Suns with two three-point goals.

2nd Quarter: 66-56 Suns.  The Suns pulled ahead to a 17-point lead, but 
again they let the Sonics go on a run to close to within 1 before they 
expanded the lead once again.  Most notable for the Suns was the 
performance of Frank Johnson, who played nearly the whole quarter at PG.  
Rambis gave Barkley a needed rest, but didn't score.  As for the Sonics, 
Gary Payton certainly seems like an NBA player....he had some nice 
drives and shots.  When I remember the Suns' experience with Tim Perry, 
I have to conclude that Payton is ahead of the game, if they'll just 
give him time.  (I also remember the time when he bombed my Cats during 
his OSU days....)  FOUL TROUBLE: Kemp, McMillan.

Halftime Impressions: The Suns were pretty much in control.  For some 
reason the Sonics were getting whistled a lot more than the Suns: 
could've been home cooking, could've been simple ineptness.  McKey led 
Seattle in scoring, and I think Barkley led for the Suns.

3rd Quarter: 93-83 Suns.  Eddie Johnson and Nate McMillan started in 
place of Benjamin and Pierce.  I later found out that Pierce had been 
suffering a foot injury; he was out for the rest of the game.  Coach 
Karl kept Kemp and McMillan in the game for extended periods despite 
each player's having 4 fouls.  Westphal jiggled his lineup often trying 
to match up with the Sonics and to rest his players.  FOUL TROUBLE; 
Kemp, McMillan, McKey.

4th Quarter: Final score was 117-108.  This was like the 3rd quarter: a 
lot of sparring, but no serious run by either team.  Kemp came alive 
somewhat this quarter; he got ~17 points in the second half, but it 
wasn't enough.  Alex Stivrins got his 1 minute, and Tim "Stoyko" Kempton 
saw his first minute of action with the Suns.  FOULED OUT: Chambers, 
McKey, McMillan.

AFTERMATH:

Barkley got 28 points, 12 boards, and held Seattle's future superstar 
Shawn Kemp in check; this was the key matchup of the game, and Sir 
Charles won it.  Thunder Dan Majerle got ~24 points with defense, 
shooting, steals, and all that good stuff,  Chambers even collected 16 
points, many of them from inside and from the line (where he still can 
score).  Frank Johnson deserved kudos for his quality guard play in 
crunch time.

The game had a sloppy feel to it.  Too many fouls, too many turnovers, 
and, for the Sonics in the 4th quarter at least, miserable shooting.  
Several illegal defense calls made the game even more interminable.  The 
Suns shot a little better at the line than Seattle did; in this kind of 
game, that's meaningful.  This was the sort of game where the "clutch 
performance" came at the beginning, not the end: after Quarter #1 the 
Sonics were always moving uphill, and the Suns were able to hold them 
off and maintain the lead wire to wire.

Westphal appears to be using the players he has very well: it also helps 
that he has his old boss Cotton Fitzsimmons looking over his shoulder 
(from the GM office and the broadcast booth).  It seems that the 
coaching transition from Cotton to Paul has succeeded so far; I'm 
interested in how the old Sun will handle a long losing streak.

As I said before, Portland is the only team I fear in the West.  The 
rest are mere pretenders--including Sacramento, the Suns' opponent on 
Wednesday.  I am anxious to see the new-look Kings anyway, and I 
fervently pray they will destroy the Pistons April 2 in Detroit the same 
way they destroyed the Lakers in LA.

OTHER STRANGE OCCURRENCES and FACTOIDS:

Marty Blake, the NBA's director of scouting, showed up for the halftime 
show on radio, but didn't have anything juicy to share with us peons.  
He did mention some sort of college ball tournament/clinic (?) scheduled 
for the AW Arena next year.

I once took a Latin class with Jerry Colangelo's daughter.

I had my picture taken with Walter Davis when he was young, a Sun, and 
on top of the world.  It was a YBA promotion with Wendy's where I got to 
shoot a square basketball into a round hoop (square burgers, get it???).  
I couldn't hit the shot, but Alvin Scott gave me a lift and the proper 
hang time for me to sink it.  I hope Walter's doing well in the Nuggets' 
front office.

I still burn with hatred at Seattle's ripping off the last two games of 
the Western Conference finals against Phoenix in 1979, and going on to 
beat the Bullets for the world championship.  Someday I will deal with 
it.  Knowing that Seattle hasn't won anything since 1979 helps me a bit.

QUESTIONS I WANT ANSWERS TO:

What was the attendance for tonight's game?  It's rare that an NBA game 
is scheduled head-to-head against a Monday Night Football game (that is, 
if you consider an inter-AFC match "football").  I suspect the arena was 
sold out anyway.

SUNS SCORECARD:

         Saturday, 11/ 7 LA Clippers  at PHOENIX      (6:30 pm)  W 111-105
          Tuesday, 11/10 PHOENIX      at Portland     (7:30 pm)  L  89-100
         Thursday, 11/12 PHOENIX      at Utah         (6:00 pm)  W 102- 91
         Saturday, 11/14 PHOENIX      at Minnesota    (5:00 pm)  W 108-101
           Monday, 11/16 Seattle      at PHOENIX      (6:30 pm)  W 108-117
        Wednesday, 11/18 Sacramento   at PHOENIX      (6:30 pm)
         Saturday, 11/21 PHOENIX      at LA Clippers  (7:30 pm)
           Sunday, 11/22 Chicago      at PHOENIX      (6:00 pm)
        Wednesday, 11/25 Portland     at PHOENIX      (6:30 pm)
           Friday, 11/27 Golden State at PHOENIX      (6:30 pm)
         Saturday, 11/28 PHOENIX      at Golden State (7:30 pm)

-- 
Greg "Mockingbird" Franklin      Interviewer: "Sir, how do you spell relief?"
f67700241@ccit.arizona.edu               Dan: "R-O-L-A-I-D-S-E."

"[George Bush is] the most ruthless white man in the history of the planet."
	-- Richard Ben Cramer, author of _What It Takes_
"The President scores much better than Bill Clinton."
	-- Dan, comparing Bush's record of marital infidelity to Clinton's
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