Phoenix Suns 2010-11 Media Guide - NBA Media Central

called “the greatest game ever played,” as Boston won 128-126 in a triple-overtime thriller. The
Celtics eventually captured the title, 4-2, but the “Sunderella” Suns demonstrated that they had
come a long way in just eight seasons.
Phoenix Rising...
On October 14, 1987, Colangelo led a group of Phoenix-area
investors that purchased the team for $44.5 million. He was
then named president and chief executive officer.
Cotton Fitzsimmons began his second stint with the Suns
head coach prior to the 1988-89 season and engineered one of
the biggest turnarounds in NBA history. On February 25, 1988,
the Suns traded All-Star Larry Nance to Cleveland with Mike
Sanders and a first-round pick for Kevin Johnson, Mark West,
Tyrone Corbin and first- and second-round picks. On July 5,
1988, the Suns made NBA history by signing the league’s first
unrestricted free agent, Tom Chambers.
A revamped 1988-89 Suns squad had just one holdover
player, Jeff Hornacek, remaining from two seasons before. The
Suns finished 55-27 and were the NBA’s top scoring team. For
the first time in NBA history, a team won four postseason
awards: Coach of the Year (Fitzsimmons), Most Improved Player
(KJ), Sixth Man (Eddie Johnson) and Executive of the Year
(Colangelo).
During 1988-89, Colangelo moved ahead with plans for a new downtown arena that the Suns could
call home. In a unique partnership with the city of Phoenix, the $89 million America West Arena (later
renamed US Airways Center) was born. Construction of the arena began during the summer of 1990.
The arena then underwent a $70 million expansion and improvement project that was completed in
2004 and remains a state-of-the-art facility.
A New Era Of Basketball...
Celebrating their 25th year in the NBA, the Suns rocked the basketball world with a blockbuster
trade. On June 17, 1992, the team acquired Charles Barkley from Philadelphia for Hornacek, Tim
Perry, and Andrew Lang. On November 7, 1992, the Suns opened their new home, America West Arena
(now US Airways Center), with a new head coach in Westphal, a new logo, and new uniforms.
The 1992-93 club finished the season with a club-record and NBA-best 62-20 record and Barkley
earned the NBA’s MVP award. The Suns made NBA playoff history by coming back to beat the Lakers
in the opening round after losing the first two at home. They defeated San Antonio in six games, Seattle
in seven, and returned to the Finals for the first time since 1976. After losing the first two at home to
the defending World Champion Chicago Bulls, the Suns went to the Windy City and won two of three,
including a 129-121 triple-overtime affair in Game 3. John Paxson gave the Bulls their third-straight
NBA title after sinking a three-pointer with 3.9 seconds left in Game 6 at Phoenix.
The 1995 All-Star Game was held at AWA, as Barkley and Majerle were starters on the winning West
squad coached by Westphal. After the break, the team won its second Pacific Division title in three
seasons and earned the No. 2 seed in the playoffs behind San Antonio. The Suns swept Portland in
the first round and faced Houston for the second-straight season in the semifinals. The Suns took a
3-1 series lead, but the Rockets won three-straight and went on to win their second-straight NBA title.
...Return of the Run-and-Gun
Danny Ainge and Michael Jordan faced off
in the 1993 NBA Finals. Chicago defeated
the Suns 4-2 in an exciting series.
For the second time in the team’s history, the offseason addition of an All-Star turned into an NBA
MVP and a franchise-record tying 62 single-season victories in 2004-05. Point guard Steve Nash,
originally drafted by the franchise in 1996, agreed to return to the Suns in the summer of 2004 and
in his first season in Phoenix led the club to a 33-game turnaround from the previous season, the first
of two consecutive Western Conference Finals appearances and won the first of back-to-back league
MVP honors. That signing keyed a renaissance of high-scoring basketball, not just in Phoenix but around
the NBA, and has earned the Suns scoring titles in five of the last six seasons.
121
A Fantastic Story