Sonics Face Tall Order In Must-Win Situation Small Suns Hold Homecourt Advantage In Game 4
Phoenix coach Danny Ainge was told he couldn’t go small in the playoffs and win. Ainge didn’t listen.
After beating Seattle 110-103 with contributions from guards Kevin Johnson, Jason Kidd, Wesley Person and Rex Chapman, the Suns lead the SuperSonics 2-1 in the best-of-5 series and could finish Seattle off at home in Game 4 tonight.
But just when the four-guard offense was starting to look like a trend, a hidden weakness - physical play favors larger players - showed up when Johnson turned his left ankle in a collision with Shawn Kemp late in the game Tuesday.
He did not practice Wednesday, and Ainge said he was preparing a game plan minus Johnson.
“We’ve played three playoff games, and I’ve got one with a sprained ankle, one with a sore back and one dehydrated (swingman Cedric Ceballos), and I don’t know how long ‘Small Ball’ can hold up,” Ainge said.
Ainge said he’s never preferred a small lineup.
“We’re playing our best guys, and that’s the bottom line,” he said. “If you’re asking me if I’d like to have Hakeem Olajuwon and Shaq and Elden Campbell and Barkley and those kind of guys, absolutely. Everybody would rather have big, talented players, because it’s easier to score that way.”
Johnson had 22 points in the last game, but he made only 6 of 17 field-goal attempts in his best performance so far and is shooting 26 percent in the series.
Kidd said Person, who had 29 points to 34 for Seattle’s Gary Payton, or Chapman, who broke a 94-94 tie with a crucial 3-pointer with 4:50 left, may negate Johnson’s absence.
“Wesley draws a lot of attention, just like KJ,” Kidd said. “The way Seattle has been trapping, taking the ball out of KJ’s hands, and now with the spot-up shooters that we do have, that could be to our advantage still.”
The Sonics also will be minus a veteran in Nate McMillan, an important reserve who re-injured torn cartilage in his right knee.
McMillan is one of the players remaining from the years when the Sonics played a similar game to compensate for lack of a dominating center.
“They’ve taken a lot of concepts that we used to use and put it out there on the court,” Kemp said. “They use their ‘littles’ a lot and their shooters with some ‘bigs’ rebounding, so they mix it up pretty well. I take my hat off to them.
“But I think we just have to find some sense of direction that we’re going to stick with.”
Seattle is trying to avoid its third humbling first-round loss in the last four years.
Last season, when the Sonics got past the first round, they went all the way to the finals, and the defending Western Conference champions hope to draw on their experience to pull this series out.
“This is still the same team,” Payton said. “We’re still going to play basketball. We’re going to die together. We’ve been playing four or five years together, and I’m not giving up on anybody, and nobody else is giving up.”
xxxx TONIGHT ON TV Game 4 between the SuperSonics and Suns will be televised locally at 7:30 p.m. on TNT.