azdad1978
Championship!!!!
By Slim Smith, Tribune
In June of 1993, 14-year-old Tim Luukkonen, his 13-yearold brother Phil and their 10-year-old neighbor Josh West put the finishing touches on their homemade basketball court behind the Wests’ home in Chandler by painting the Phoenix Suns logo on the court.
The moment was captured for posterity on Page One of the Tribune.
The boys were hardly alone in their enthusiasm. That month, people across the Valley were swept up in a wave of excitement, adorning their homes, businesses and cars with Suns emblems as the team progressed through the playoffs and into the NBA Finals. At the end, 300,000 fans turned out for a parade to honor a team that lost in the Finals.
Today, the Suns play Memphis in Game 2 of their opening-round playoff series. By the end of the day Tuesday, tickets for the game were still available.
Tim Luukkonen is now 26. He’s a Web designer and animation instructor at Mesa Community College, finishing his work on an electrical engineering degree. He said he’s rarely watched the Suns play this year.
This year’s Suns are compa- rable to the 1992-93 team in many respects. Both entered the playoffs with the best record in the NBA. Both boasted dynamic players who employed a thoroughly entertaining style of play.
But in one obvious respect, the current Suns are a poor imitation of the team that captured the Valley’s imagination 12 years ago.
"There’s a big difference between then and now,’’ said Suns chairman Jerry Colangelo, "because the circumstances have changed.’’
Colangelo, the architect of the 1992-93 team, sold his interest in the team to Robert Sarver last June, although he has retained his title as chairman. He said the dynamics that surrounded the 1992-93 team created an aura of anticipation that this year’s team could not be expected to rival.
"At that time, we were moving into a new arena with a new coach in Paul Westphal and then the big trade that brought Charles Barkley,’’ Colangelo said.
"From the opening of training camp, the bar was raised considerably. The expectations were extremely high and the team did not disappoint. The team jumped out of the gates quickly and had the best record in the league the entire season. The excitement just continued to grow the entire year and the climax was the playoff run and getting to the Finals,’’ he said.
The current Suns, by contrast, were something of a mystery going into the season.
"The expectations were mediocre at best,’’ Colangelo said. "It’s taken a while for people to jump on the bandwagon, so to speak.’’
Roger Egan, owner of McDuffy’s Sports Bar and Restaurant in Tempe, fondly recalls the playoff run of ’93.
"I tell you there were times when the roof shook here during the playoffs,’’ said Egan, who opened McDuffy’s in 1988. "The excitement level was far beyond anything we’ve seen before or since.’’
While today’s Suns feature exciting players such as Amaré Stoudemire, Steve Nash and Shawn Marion, the ’92-93 Suns boasted players whose personalities transcended the relatively narrow confines of sports.
Kevin Johnson was a regular guest on the Arsenio Hall Show while Dan Majerle was the Valley’s heartthrob. And then there was Barkley, perhaps the most charismatic personality the NBA has ever seen.
"Barkley just took it to another level completely,’’ Colangelo noted.
Luukkonen vividly recalls the magical quality of that playoff run.
"We lived out in the cornfields in Chandler — Ocotillo and Gilbert (roads),’’ Luukkonen said. "Back then, there were just three families living out there and the families would get together to watch the playoff games. Then, after the game, me and my brother and Josh would go outside and play basketball. I just remember it being a big deal, a lot of excitement.
"Now, I hear people talk about the Suns, but the excitement is nowhere close. I’d say it’s about 60 percent of what it was back then,’’ Luukkonen said.
In a sense, Luukkonen’s recollections of 1993 are a metaphor for what’s happened in the Valley since. It is the paradox of growth: More people, less intimacy.
"It can’t help but be different,’’ Colangelo said. "We didn’t have major league baseball back then and it is a much more competitive market for the entertainment dollar, not just for sports events, but all types of entertainment. This is one of the most saturated entertainment markets in North America. And it’s a much more diverse community now.
"So, yeah, it’s a different world.’’
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=40306
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In June of 1993, 14-year-old Tim Luukkonen, his 13-yearold brother Phil and their 10-year-old neighbor Josh West put the finishing touches on their homemade basketball court behind the Wests’ home in Chandler by painting the Phoenix Suns logo on the court.
The moment was captured for posterity on Page One of the Tribune.
The boys were hardly alone in their enthusiasm. That month, people across the Valley were swept up in a wave of excitement, adorning their homes, businesses and cars with Suns emblems as the team progressed through the playoffs and into the NBA Finals. At the end, 300,000 fans turned out for a parade to honor a team that lost in the Finals.
Today, the Suns play Memphis in Game 2 of their opening-round playoff series. By the end of the day Tuesday, tickets for the game were still available.
Tim Luukkonen is now 26. He’s a Web designer and animation instructor at Mesa Community College, finishing his work on an electrical engineering degree. He said he’s rarely watched the Suns play this year.
This year’s Suns are compa- rable to the 1992-93 team in many respects. Both entered the playoffs with the best record in the NBA. Both boasted dynamic players who employed a thoroughly entertaining style of play.
But in one obvious respect, the current Suns are a poor imitation of the team that captured the Valley’s imagination 12 years ago.
"There’s a big difference between then and now,’’ said Suns chairman Jerry Colangelo, "because the circumstances have changed.’’
Colangelo, the architect of the 1992-93 team, sold his interest in the team to Robert Sarver last June, although he has retained his title as chairman. He said the dynamics that surrounded the 1992-93 team created an aura of anticipation that this year’s team could not be expected to rival.
"At that time, we were moving into a new arena with a new coach in Paul Westphal and then the big trade that brought Charles Barkley,’’ Colangelo said.
"From the opening of training camp, the bar was raised considerably. The expectations were extremely high and the team did not disappoint. The team jumped out of the gates quickly and had the best record in the league the entire season. The excitement just continued to grow the entire year and the climax was the playoff run and getting to the Finals,’’ he said.
The current Suns, by contrast, were something of a mystery going into the season.
"The expectations were mediocre at best,’’ Colangelo said. "It’s taken a while for people to jump on the bandwagon, so to speak.’’
Roger Egan, owner of McDuffy’s Sports Bar and Restaurant in Tempe, fondly recalls the playoff run of ’93.
"I tell you there were times when the roof shook here during the playoffs,’’ said Egan, who opened McDuffy’s in 1988. "The excitement level was far beyond anything we’ve seen before or since.’’
While today’s Suns feature exciting players such as Amaré Stoudemire, Steve Nash and Shawn Marion, the ’92-93 Suns boasted players whose personalities transcended the relatively narrow confines of sports.
Kevin Johnson was a regular guest on the Arsenio Hall Show while Dan Majerle was the Valley’s heartthrob. And then there was Barkley, perhaps the most charismatic personality the NBA has ever seen.
"Barkley just took it to another level completely,’’ Colangelo noted.
Luukkonen vividly recalls the magical quality of that playoff run.
"We lived out in the cornfields in Chandler — Ocotillo and Gilbert (roads),’’ Luukkonen said. "Back then, there were just three families living out there and the families would get together to watch the playoff games. Then, after the game, me and my brother and Josh would go outside and play basketball. I just remember it being a big deal, a lot of excitement.
"Now, I hear people talk about the Suns, but the excitement is nowhere close. I’d say it’s about 60 percent of what it was back then,’’ Luukkonen said.
In a sense, Luukkonen’s recollections of 1993 are a metaphor for what’s happened in the Valley since. It is the paradox of growth: More people, less intimacy.
"It can’t help but be different,’’ Colangelo said. "We didn’t have major league baseball back then and it is a much more competitive market for the entertainment dollar, not just for sports events, but all types of entertainment. This is one of the most saturated entertainment markets in North America. And it’s a much more diverse community now.
"So, yeah, it’s a different world.’’
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=40306
