5/26/1993 NBA Playoffs Western Conference Finals Game 2, Seattle Supersonics vs. Phoenix Suns, America West Arena, Phoenix, AZ


 28 years ago today...

May 26, 1993 - Phoenix, AZ

In Game 2 of the NBA Western Conference Finals, the Seattle Supersonics defeated the host Phoenix Suns 103 - 99 to even the series at 1-1 at America West Arena.
Any Suns fan would recognize 1993 as the year the Suns faced off against Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Finals. Even though the Suns lost the game on this date, the team rebounded to win the WCF 4-3 over Seattle to advance to meet the Bulls.
Ricky Pierce led the Sonics with 34 points in the win. Sam Perkins, Shawn Kemp, Gary Payton and Derrick McKee rounded out the Seattle starting lineup. Eddie Johnson, current Suns broadcaster and former 6th Man of the Year with Phoenix, was a bench player for Seattle.
This was the year that Charles Barkley arrived in Phoenix and helped open the sparkling new America West Arena downtown in celebrating the team's 25th Anniversary as a franchise. The Chuckster had 24 points and 10 rebounds in this game. More importantly, Charles put Phoenix in the national spotlight and the series against MJ's Bulls sent the town into a frenzy of excitement and anticipation.
Dan Majerle had 29 points to pace the Suns. Kevin Johnson, Cedric Ceballos and Mark West filled out the starting lineup with Tom Chambers, Danny Ainge and Oliver Miller playing major minutes and providing the bench strength.
To this day, we still ask ourselves why Ainge left John Paxson all alone to hit an uncontested, wide open jump shot to win the NBA Championship in Game 6 on the Suns home floor. We haven't got over it yet.

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