When expansions take place in professional sports it takes time for new franchises to build up their program and truly compete against the established teams in the league. But somehow, in just their second season in the NBA, the Phoenix Suns found themselves up 3-1 against a juggernaut that was the Los Angeles Lakers team in the playoffs. How the young Suns were even able to reach this level so quickly was most impressive.
It all began following one of the most brutal infortunes in Suns history, the lost coin flip that granted the Milwaukee Bucks Lew Alcindor. A few months later the Suns made what Hall of Fame writer Joe Gilmartin called “the greatest comeback in coin-flipping history,” reportedly winning a secret coin flip with Seattle for Connie Hawkins.
In the team’s first offseason, General Manager Jerry Colangelo was making moves to speed up the timeline and put a competitive team on the court after only winning just 16 games in their inaugural year.
“We made a major trade by sending our first round pick, Gary Gregor from South Carolina, to Atlanta for Paul Silas,” Colangelo said. “With Hawkins and Silas and Goodrich and Van Arsdale and the rest of our cast, I had some real expectations.”
Those expectations seemed bold early in the year as the Suns started their second season 15-23 before Johnny Kerr resigned as coach just hours before a game against San Diego on January 2. With a poor record and no coach, Colangelo needed to act quickly and decided to get the job done himself.
“The season started, and we didn’t get off to a very good start,” Colangelo said. “We sputtered and I took over myself.”
From General Manager to Interim Head Coach, Colangelo had faith in his team and was not about to let this season fall apart. His impact was felt immediately.
“You felt like the team was better than it was showing at the time,” Jim Fox said. “Jerry took over the helm. Jerry was writing the checks, so I think the team responded quite well with that.”
The response came quickly, especially from Connie Hawkins. The night that Colangelo took over against the San Diego Rockets, Hawkins made a 16-footer from the baseline with four seconds remaining to give the Suns a 121-120 win.
This was just the beginning for a young Hawkins as he began to develop into something that Phoenix hadn’t had before, a superstar.
“I think that Hawk probably did more than any single individual to bring the NBA to Phoenix,” Al McCoy said. “Connie Hawkins was just such a part of the community and of the game and was the closest the Suns had had in those early years to a superstar. He was terrific.”
Hawkins averaged 24.6 points, 10.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists that season. In the 50 years since, the only other Suns player to average that many points, rebounds and assists in a season has been Charles Barkley in his NBA MVP campaign of 1992-93. Hawkins went on to be named All-NBA First Team, the Suns’ first-ever All-NBA selection, and he finished fifth in voting for the 1969-70 NBA MVP.
“Connie could do everything,” Fox said. “Huge hands. Great court vision. He rebounded. He could score. Instead of losing [games] at the end of the fourth quarter like the previous year, Connie would win them for us the next year.”
Hawkins’ dominant play sparked a 24-20 record to close out the season with Colangelo at the helm. On March 20, the Suns again beat the Rockets 127-104 behind 29 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists from Hawkins, clinching the first playoff berth in franchise history.
The Suns and Bulls both finished 39-43, tied for third in the Western Division. Another coin flip (of course) would decide who would receive the No. 3 spot in the standings. The Bulls won the toss matching them up with the division-leading Atlanta Hawks and pairing the Suns against the Los Angeles Lakers.
At this point in time, the Lakers were the juggernaut of the Western division, having advanced to the NBA Finals in six of the previous eight seasons with three future Hall of Famers on the roster in Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West and Elgin Baylor.
It was David vs Goliath, but after overcoming the odds and clawing their way into the playoffs, the Suns weren’t about to back down to anyone.
GAME ONE
March 25 at the Forum, the Suns led 36-25 in the first half of the first playoff game in team history and had a chance to shock the world in what could have been a major upset in Los Angeles. But the Lakers pulled away in the second half for a 128-112 win with Baylor (32 points, 10 assists), Chamberlain (29 points, 19 rebounds) and West (27 points) combining for 88 points. The Suns fell to 0-1 in the series despite 24 points and 13 rebounds from Hawkins and a season-high 26 points and 18 rebounds for Silas.
GAME TWO
March 29 at the Forum, Hawkins truly put his name on the map in NBA as he had one of the finest performances of his career to lead the Suns to a 114-101 win.
The Lakers led by six points in the third quarter before a stretch where Jerry Chambers scored eight straight points against his former team to give the Suns an 81-79 lead going into the fourth. Hawkins then took over, scoring 15 points in the fourth including a run of nine straight points, which featured a baseline drive past Chamberlain for a reverse layup.
Hawkins’ performance, combined with another outstanding outing from Silas (25 points, 19 rebounds), allowed the Suns to even up the series at 1-1 and give the franchise its first-ever postseason victory.
Hawkins scored 34 points, grabbed 20 rebounds and had seven assists. While standing at 6’8”, Hawkins served as the primary defender against 7’1” Chamberlain and held the four-time MVP to 19 points.
“That was the greatest individual performance I’ve ever seen,” Colangelo said.
No other Suns player would record at least 30 points and 20 rebounds in a playoff game until Barkley’s legendary 44-point, 24-rebound performance in Game 7 of the 1993 Western Conference Finals against Seattle to send the Suns to the NBA Finals.
Since Hawkins’ performance, only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (twice with Milwaukee), Barkley (once with Philadelphia) and Kevin Garnett (once with Minnesota) have had at least 34 points, 20 rebounds and seven assists in a playoff game.
GAME THREE
The Suns returned to Phoenix for Games 3 and 4 with the series tied 1-1 and feeling confident after going 3-0 against the Lakers at the Coliseum during the regular season.
On April 2nd, the Suns played their first home playoff game in team history in front of 12,324 fans. The team gave those fans something to cheer about as they dominated the second half 68-52 to win 112-98 and take a 2-1 series lead.
Hawkins nearly had a triple-double with 19 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists. Goodrich led the way with 29 points, Silas had 21 points and 16 rebounds and Fox added 17 points and 14 rebounds.
“Coming out of that first playoff game, it was sort of a shock to me to come out and hear the reaction of the crowd,” Fox said.
GAME FOUR
On April 4, in front of another new record crowd of 12,356 at Veterans Memorial Coliseum, the Suns jumped out to a 17-2 lead early, but the Lakers rallied to make it 56-53 at the half. Hawkins scored seven straight points early in the fourth quarter to push the Suns’ lead back to 91-77 as they held on for the 12-point win in front of the raucous crowd.
“We thought we had it,” Fox said. “We knew we were going to win one of the last three games.”
The Suns took a 3-1 lead in the series with a wire-to-wire 112-102 decision in Game 4. Goodrich led with 34 points, Van Arsdale scored 25 and Hawkins finished with 24 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists.
“We played the Lakers when they had three Hall of Famers, Baylor, West and Chamberlain,” Colangelo said. “We had them down three games to one. Our collection of players gave us a chance to compete."
GAME FIVE
The series returned to the Forum for Game 5 on April 5 and the Lakers won 138-121 as Chamberlain had his highest-scoring game of the series with 36 points. West added 36 points of his own with 18 assists, one shy of the NBA Playoffs record at the time. Hawkins led the Suns with 28 points, 19 rebounds and five assists, but it wasn’t enough as the Lakers began to close the gap in the series. To pour salt in the wound, the Suns not only lost the game, but they lost Fox as well.
“Foxy sprained his ankle and, when that happened in game five, we were in trouble,” Colangelo said.
GAME SIX
For Game 6 on April 7, the series returned to the Coliseum as the Suns again had a chance to advance to the Division Finals. The Phoenix fan base set an attendance record for the third straight contest at 12,386.
The crowd witnessed a back-and-forth battle that saw the Suns lead 26-22 after one, trail 46-43 at the half and knotted 73-73 going into the fourth quarter. The Suns found themselves down by just two in the final 2:30 before Lakers small forward and future member of the “Sunderella Suns” Keith Erickson recorded a steal that led to a deep Baylor jumper. This sparked a 9-0 Lakers run as they closed out the game 104-93.
Hawkins led the Suns with 24 points while Silas had 13 points and 21 rebounds and Van Arsdale scored 21. West led the Lakers with 35 points while Chamberlain had a triple-double with 12 points, 26 rebounds and 11 assists. In addition to his key steal, Erickson scored 15 crucial points.
GAME SEVEN
With the series all tied up, the two teams entered Game 7 at The Forum with everything on the line. However, the experienced Lakers continued to ride their momentum from the previous two games as they led 33-21 after the first quarter, 63-40 at halftime and never looked back on the way to a 129-94 win to advance to the next round.
Hawkins led the Suns with 25 points and 15 rebounds while Chamberlain had 30 points and 27 boards. Despite Hawkins averaging 25.4 points, 13.9 rebounds and 5.9 assists in the series, the Suns ultimately fell to the Lakers in 7 games.
“I have often said over the years, with any coaching at all, we might have won that series,” Colangelo said. “There’s probably more truth to that than just being funny.”
Despite the results, the fight the team showed as the underdog helped develop a fan base in Phoenix that has transformed the city over the last 50 years.
“Very quickly we established ourselves in just our second year,” Colangelo said.
“The crowd and the experience of that series really set the tone for the Suns,” Fox said. “The expectations were very real after that.”
The battle into the playoffs and the perseverance to keep up with one of the greatest teams in NBA history created a powerful culture in the Suns locker room and throughout all of Phoenix. Arizona’s original franchise was not only bringing professional sports to The Valley, but the thrill of winning as well.
In doing so, the young franchise began to form one of the most storied rivalries throughout the NBA between the Suns and Lakers. From Hawkins vs Chamberlain grew Walter Davis vs Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley vs James Worthy and Steve Nash vs Kobe Bryant. The rivalry continues today through the likes of Devin Booker and LeBron James as chants of “Beat LA” continue to echo throughout Talking Stick Resort Arena anytime the two teams tip-off.
