For the second time in two rounds, the Phoenix Suns were in a tight spot in the 1993 NBA Playoffs. By now, they had already edged the Los Angeles Lakers by the slimmest of margins in the first round, effectively ending their status as the favorites to win the NBA title. Now they were in a dogfight in the second round of the playoffs with the San Antonio Spurs, a team that gave them more challenges than the Lakers did.
1993 Playoffs Retrospective, Part VI: When The Admiral Met Sir Charles
In our next edition of this series, we look at a classic--but ugly--second-round game between the Spurs and Suns. The Spurs pushed hard, but Phoenix had just enough Charles Barkley to get the win.
What a weird season it had been for the Spurs. It began with famed UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian poised to make his mark in the pro game. Twenty games later, Tarkanian, angered that his club had let point guard Rod Strickland depart in free agency without much of a replacement, was fired after he wouldn't give up the fight with ownership. John Lucas took over, and as soon as he did, the Spurs ripped off 24 wins in 27 games, and they looked like one of the teams to beat in the conference. Instead, a rash of injuries struck, and the Spurs finished the year 16-19. All in all, they were a dangerous five seed, as they proved by upsetting defending Western Conference champion Portland in the first round.
That’s the bad news. The good news for Phoenix was that this dogfight was different. The Suns never faced elimination in the series. Essentially, it was an even series until Game 5, when Charles Barkley dominated late to give the Suns a 3-2 series lead. Given what had transpired all series, Game 6 would have been an easy game for the Suns to punt. It was likely to be the last game at the wild HemisFair Arena before the Spurs moved into the AlamoDome. The Suns had gotten their butts kicked in the two games there already in the series. Game 7 was at home, and the Suns weren’t losing Game 7 at home.
Instead, the Suns came through with one of those gritty games you always hear commentators harken back to when describing the cliche way a favorite has to win on the road in the playoffs. San Antonio fought hard too, so what resulted was a tight game with little flow. In the end, it was Phoenix’s best (Barkley) against San Antonio’s best (David Robinson). One-on-one, mano e mano, all those cliches.
We're figuratively live from Hemisfair Arena in San Antonio. In the real world, we're watching this game on an NBATV rebroadcast with local Spurs announcers, which means there will be less pithy announcer commentary. (Just kidding!). We also miss out on the lead-in to the broadcast, since we're picking up right at tip-off, and we're going to go without timestamps because they don't show up on the screen.
Phoenix stars their usual lineup of Kevin Johnson, Dan Majerle, Richard Dumas, Barkley and Mark West. San Antonio counters with Avery Johnson, Dale Ellis, Sean Elliot, J.R. Reid and Robinson. Reid is filling in for Antoine Carr, who suffered an injury in Game 4 of the series. It's a big loss, because Carr defended Barkley well and now Robinson is forced to guard him for long stretches.
First quarter
-On Phoenix’s first possession, Majerle gets all the way to the rim and West gets an easy putback on his miss. On San Antonio’s first possession, Robinson gets into the paint, then goes to a stepback fadeaway. Many announcers would make a big deal out of this. I won’t.
-Barkley misses his first two jumpers and has a third swatted by Reid, but it doesn’t stop him from kissing his fourth shot off the glass. Many announcers would make a big deal out of this. I won’t.
-Pretty awesome start for Majerle - he just got all the way to the rim again for a tough layup. Seven for him early. The Spurs, meanwhile, aren’t looking pretty in their half-court sets, but the shots are going down.
-Barkley’s barely been in the paint, yet he has nine points after hitting a pull-up three. He almost looks like he’s not trying, as if he’s an 18-year old playing with a bunch of 13-year olds.
-The Suns get a four on two break and it ends up in a three for Majerle. In 2011, everyone does this. In 1993, only the Suns do this. It doesn’t work and the Spurs get a dunk on the other end.
-There's no denying that Barkley was a phenomenal talent, but this play is why I have trouble putting him ahead of guys like Karl Malone and Tim Duncan in the pantheon of all-time great power forwards. His defense just leaves so much to be desired, especially off the ball. Watch as he lets Avery Johnson just cut right behind him for an easy layup.
Heck, he didn’t even see J.R. Reid give away the play by pointing to Avery.
-Barkley cherrypicks for a dunks. He has 11, and it’s safe to say he’s probably having a bad game. “He’s playing a very lazy first quarter,” the Spurs commentator notes.
-A goggled Willie Anderson checks in for the Spurs. Normally, he doesn’t wear these, but in this game, they act like Samson’s hair.
-Another three for Barkley on the break. This is the worst 14-point quarter I’ve ever seen.
-Two points. Two points. Two points. Two points. Two points. This is fun.
-Nice of all the Spurs coaches to show solidarity and wear their team colors ... hey, what are you doing, John Lucas?
-The Spurs keep double-teaming the post and the Suns keep making them pay with open jumpers. On the one hand, this is why the Suns are so dangerous. On the other hand, the Spurs have yet to be burned by single-covering a post player, so why double?
-Danny Ainge’s runner misses, and the Suns, despite looking really uneven, lead by six. Barkley has 14. Robinson is doing pretty much nothing. There’s the difference.
Second quarter
-The Spurs bring in Vinny Del Negro, unleashing their no-point guard offense. This is long overdue.
-Mr. Goggles, FOR THREE
-Mr. Goggles, TO THE RIM.
-Mr. Goggles, FOR THREE. The bro in the purple-striped shirt approves.
-Backup power forward Larry Smith hurts his knee and won’t return, meaning the Spurs are without their starter and one of their backups at the position. Luckily for the Spurs, they still have Reid and Terry Cummings in reserve. Looking back, that’s insane power forward depth.
-Mr. Goggles WITH THE STEAL.
-The Spurs announcer just used the word “lazy” to describe the Suns again.
-Yup, that’s a banjo you’re hearing on the jumbotron as the game goes into a TV timeout. Eighteen years later, the new Spurs jumbotron will play Top 40 songs in the middle of a Spurs possession. Times have changed.
-Cummings drops in a long jumper over Tom Chambers to give the Spurs the lead. The announcers immediately discuss how Chambers and Cummings were former teammates that had their issues because “there was only one ball.” Yes, that is correct: you only play the game with one ball. Taken out of context, this quote is dopey as hell.
-Cummings commits the kind of turnover you commit when you only play eight regular-season games due to injury, and Chambers finishes with a reverse dunk. Few in NBA history were as sneaky-athletic as Chambers, even in his advanced age.
-We’re about 18 years off from an NBA world where analytics rules and we know that an open 18-foot jumper from Cummings is a much lower percentage shot than a corner three from Ellis. It should be no surprise that Majerle takes a step toward Cummings, allowing Ellis to drift to the corner for the trey.
-Awww, cute. The Spurs love Mr. Goggles.
-Mr. Goggles forces a turnover and takes a charge on Johnson on consecutive possession. He deserves that hug.
-Ellis cannot guard Majerle.
-You could shoot Kevin Johnson out of a cannon on pick and rolls, and he still wouldn’t accelerate as fast as he did on that drive. Suns down just two, even though they’ve had a terrible quarter. The announcers suggest that Reid “faked the charge” on that play, which is otherwise known as a flop. It sounds so much better to say he “faked a charge.”
-U MAD, KJ?
-Even when Robinson scores, it looks awkward. He gets a three-point play on a fallaway jumper across the lane. Reid waits for three full seconds to get his high five.
-Ainge sits on Avery’s Euro-step move and draws the charge. Four fouls on Avery. This is probably a good thing for the Spurs.
-A Barkley/Johnson pick and roll with Majerle on the weakside spotting up for three would have been easily the most devastating play in the NBA in 2011.
-Kevin Johnson turns it over and that’ll do it for halftime. The crowd goes nuts because the Spurs have a two-point lead in a must-win game. Fans are great.
Third quarter
-As great as Robinson was, he was just horrible at reading double teams. On this play, he throws the ball in a crowd and Barkley steals it. Double-teams in 1993 aren’t all that complex either because of the illegal defense rules. It’s not like you have the Celtics’ strongside zone here -- it’s coming from one of two or three places. I don’t get why it’s so hard for superstars in 1993 to figure out how to beat them.
-West throws up a weak shot that Robinson rejects. Two possessions later, Avery zips by him Just an awful game for West, who aged five years from 1992 to 1993.
-Lesson for you young kids out there: don’t try to screen the defender of a guy posting up on the block.
-Barkley swats Elliot at the rim, then rips the rebound away from him. The Spurs’ crowd boos because Barkley should presumably let Elliot just dunk there.
-The Spurs announcers just described Robinson “heroically” going for a tip-in. I really need to stop mocking the low-hanging fruit that is local announcers.
-Barkley once again falls asleep on defense and gives Reid a layup. To reiterate: this is why he’s not the best power forward ever.
-Phoenix’s offense is sputtering. Barkley misses a jumper short, Majerle airballs a turnaround and Johnson keeps overdribbling. The Spurs aren’t much better, but they at least got a fast-break dunk from Robinson off the Johnson turnover. Barkley is now just 6-17 from the field, mostly because all he’s doing is shooting jumpers.
-We’re now being engaged by a discussion over whether officials like Barkley. Not as a basketball player. As a person.
-Ainge misses the rim on a wide open layup, leading to a Spurs fast break and an Avery Johnson three-point play. I’m really not sure how the Suns are down just five in this game.
-Barkley loses it out of bounds, then goes ballistic when the referees say it’s off him. “You can see the posturing Charles goes through when he knows the ball is off him,” the announcer says. Right, because nearly getting a technical foul is just posturing.
-And now they’re discussing why David Robinson doesn’t get superstar calls when Barkley does. Robinson shot 9.3 free throws a game that year. Barkley shot 7.7.
-Majerle throws the ball away, then doesn’t get back to stop Elliot from hitting a wide-open jumper. Elliot’s had a big quarter in general. Elliot kind of just hummed along for a bunch of years, never good enough to be a primary scorer, but always good enough to give you a lift. If Paul George has Elliot’s career, he should be very happy.
-Majerle misses a wild shot, and the Spurs lead by seven after three. Their defense has been suffocating and hasn’t received nearly enough credit, so we’ll give it some credit.
Fourth quarter
-Elliot is very happy after nailing that corner three. Spurs by 10.
-Barkley three-point play, Chambers jumper, Ainge transition three, Chambers runner, Chambers layup, and boom, the Suns lead. Lucas elected to give Robinson a rest and it burns him. The remaining Spurs on the court have no clue how to run an offense. Then again, this really says more about Phoenix’s incredible depth. When you can bring a guy like Chambers off the bench, you immediately become one of the best second- and early-fourth quarter teams in the league.
-If you are involved with Barkley in a pick and roll and you instead pull up for a three, you've got cojones of steel. As any Boston Celtics fan will tell you, Danny Ainge has cojones of steel.
-Stop yelling at yourself, Tom Chambers.
-Both teams are going through one of those droughts now. Majerle and Barkley miss consecutive open threes, and the Spurs’ offense still makes no sense. Robinson has been pretty quiet, which is bad because everyone else is shrinking from the moment too.
-This dude should start a fanclub, or something.
-Ellis, a forgotten man, gives the Spurs a one-point lead. Barkley just missed two free throws because he was rattled by the official Barkley hater. Or, because he was tired. Your choice.
-I know he’s not the kind of guy you use like Barkley, but it reflects pretty badly on Robinson when he’s being used as a screener and not a primary scorer with three minutes to go in a tie game with the season on the line.
-Oliver Miller has a point-blank layup with only Avery Johnson behind him. He misses.
-Barkley gets swatted at the rim by Robinson. Say what you want about Robinson’s offensive disappearing act, but he’s still one of the best and smartest defensive players in the league. There are two sides to the game.
-Meanwhile, Cummings shoots an air ball after the Spurs decide not to wait for Robinson to get down the floor. Their on-court leadership is just horrendous. We’re still tied, since there have been no baskets in a while.
-You could build a skyscraper with all the bricks on free throws in this quarter. Miller misses two, then Robinson hits one of two. Suns by one with a minute left.
-Miller misses a dunk, but it goes right to Johnson, who leaps in mid-air and scores in one motion from six feet away. That was one heck of a 21 shot.
-Robinson pump-fakes twice on Miller and misses a layup. Why one of the best players in the NBA is pump-faking twice like that is beyond me. I know Miller is a great shot-blocker, but c’mon David. Throw it down! The Spurs’ announcer says “that might do it,” even though it’s a three-point game with 40 seconds left. The Spurs foul Johnson, even though it’s a three-point game with 30 seconds left, and he hits one of two.
-Ainge swallows up Elliot’s three attempt, but Robinson rebounds and kicks out to Ellis, who doesn’t miss. It’s a one-point game. Lucas celebrates by sitting like this.
-Ainge misses and Barkley fouls Robinson on the rebound. Ohhhhhhh MY, says Dick Enberg in a faraway land. Pretty horrendous decision by Barkley to go after that offensive rebound so vigorously. Robinson hits both, and we’re tied
-These are not duplicate screenshots.
So much for taking the ball out of the best player’s hands. Anyway, if you’re an NBA fan, you know what happened on this play.
-The Spurs run a well-designed play to get the ball to Robinson at the three-point line with 1.8 seconds left (that’s sarcasm, in case it wasn’t clear), but (surprise!) it doesn’t work. Phoenix wins the game and the series. Barkley finishes with 28 points and 21 rebounds, and it wasn’t like he played his best game either. The Suns win the kind of game they weren’t supposed to win against a team with the kind of defensive ability that should swallow them up. I wish I could say this was the kind of game that served them well later in the playoffs, but instead, they ran into an equally wacky Sonics team and staged a shootout Western Conference Finals for the ages.
Until next time.
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