Playoffs 2000:Once-sizzling Suns go frigid

Once-sizzling Suns go frigid
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES -- The ins and outs added up to a whole lot of nothing for the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Despite getting plenty of open shots, the Suns never got going in a lopsided 87-65 loss Tuesday night, allowing the Lakers to clinch the best-of-seven series 4-1.

"The ball went in and came out. That's just part of the game," Jason Kidd said. "On any given night you can be hot or you can be cold. We were cold."

Downright freezing, to be exact. The Suns were 23-of-80 shooting for a measly 29 percent.

The Lakers advanced to the Western Conference finals against Portland beginning Saturday in Los Angeles. The Trail Blazers won their series 4-1 against Utah earlier Tuesday.

Phoenix hardly resembled the team that beat the Lakers 117-98 Sunday in Game 4 to stay alive. In that game, the Suns had playoff highs this season in total points, points in a half, points in a quarter, field-goal percentage, 3-point percentage and assists.

Even Lakers coach Phil Jackson was puzzled by Phoenix's performance.

"This game is a mystery to me. The Suns can get 71 points in Sunday's ballgame in a half and then score 70 in a game," he said. "It is just the difference in a day sometimes."

The Suns went so far in the opposite direction Tuesday that they set NBA playoff records for futility.

"The other night everything was going in for us and tonight we couldn't buy a basket," Kidd said. "It just wasn't our night to make any open shots. That's the game of basketball."

Especially damaging were the NBA playoff-low nine points the Suns scored in the second quarter, when the Lakers had 28 to take a 49-23 halftime lead. The Suns' 23 points set an NBA playoff record for fewest in a first half, while also tying a league record for futility in a half.

"We lost our composure in the second quarter," coach Scott Skiles said. "We were playing way too fast and trying to do too much. We felt like they had a lead and we had to get it back all at once. You hate to have your worst game of the season be your last game of the season."

No Phoenix starter was in double figures. Penny Hardaway, Kidd and Cliff Robinson each had eight points. Reserve Todd Day led with 10 points.

Phoenix was averaging 91.1 points in the playoffs, but its low scoring -- including managing between 20-29 points 16 times in a quarter -- hadn't been a serious problem until Game 5. "We had a lot of open shots, but they continued to get second and third shots. You can't let that happen and expect to win," Hardaway said. "The shots weren't falling. We couldn't do anything right in the second quarter. We were as aggressive as we wanted to be, we just didn't make shots."

Phoenix missed 16 consecutive shots to start the third quarter, going 10 minutes without a field goal until Shawn Marion dunked on a fast break. By then, the Suns trailed 54-30 on their way to trailing by 28 going into the final period.

Their troubles began much earlier, with starting guards Hardaway and Kidd combining for just six points in the first half. The duo was averaging a combined 32.1 points in the playoffs.

It's not as though the Lakers' defense was smothering, either. The Suns just couldn't hit a basket, going 8-for-37 in the first half.

"It wasn't anything they were doing any differently," Hardaway said. "We got our same looks. We just couldn't knock them down."

After trailing by three points late in the first quarter, the Suns never put together a run against a Lakers team that wasn't overly dominant.

Los Angeles was 29-of-80 from the field on a very human night for stars Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal. Bryant had 17 points and O'Neal 15.

"I feel bad for my guys," Skiles said. "They gave me everything they had all year since I took over the team and for it to end like this on a night when I don't think the Lakers were great ... it was just very tough."