ESPN: Suns’ 1993 loss to Bulls in Game 6 ranks as 3rd-best NBA Finals game
Jun 15, 2016, 8:00 AM | Updated: 11:34 am
It pains the Phoenix Suns that their place in playoff history often brings back terrible memories. Names like Michael Jordan, Tim Duncan and even Ron Artest sting in the Valley.
The glass-half-full version is that, hey, at least the Suns have been in a position to lose important playoff bouts.
This is about one of those times.
ESPN’s Kevin Pelton put together his personal list of the best NBA Finals games since 1980, and Phoenix appears on the wrong end of what he labeled as the third-best of those games.
It’s none other than Game 6 of the 1993 finals between the Suns and Chicago Bulls.
Up two with 14.4 seconds left, it looked like Phoenix might get a home Game 7. The Bulls had other ideas.
After Scottie Pippen beat Charles Barkley at the top of the key, the Suns’ defense broke down. Despite instructions from coach Paul Westphal not to leave shooters open, Danny Ainge had to offer help covering Pippen and then Horace Grant, which left his man, John Paxson, open beyond the arc. Grant found Paxson for the go-ahead 3, which went through the net with 3.9 seconds left.
As Kevin Johnson went up to shoot at the buzzer, Grant knocked the ball away, preserving the win and Chicago’s three-peat …
What makes a good game in the finals?
Pelton’s criteria: “…importance of the game, the quality of play in the game, the significance of the individual performances, and additional factors, such as an exciting finish, a memorable play or a great shot.”
Paxson’s shot certainly earns quite a few points for having a direct influence on a game that was also pretty high on the importance scale.
As for the quality of the game, the teams combined for just 17 turnovers.
While the Suns crashed the offensive glass and got to the foul stripe to make up for a rough 39-percent shooting evening, the Bulls’ fourth quarter that looked to be nine whole points worth would be their black eye to Game 6’s aesthetics.
The aesthetics of Barkley getting out of position while defending Pippen well above the arc on the game-deciding play wasn’t great, either — at least for Suns fans. That led to Pippen driving, Phoenix teammates trying to prevent a layup after Barkley’s mistake and then Paxson finding himself wide open.
It led to those last three Bulls points, which unfortunately for the Suns ended their hopes of forcing a Game 7 at home.
