PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets, having dispelled the idea that their NBA Western Conference series might be a giant mismatch, square off in game two Sunday night at Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
The Suns, tabbed 12-point favorites by the oddsmakers and heavier favorites by Denver coach Doug Moe, eked out a 104-103 victory over the Nuggets in Friday night's opener of the best-of-five series.
Harassed by Denver's trapping defense, Phoenix committed 25 turnovers, shot only 41 percent from the floor and scored 14 points fewer than its league-leading average of 118.6 points per game.
'I think now everybody won't believe everything Doug Moe says,' said Phoenix coach Cotton Fitzsimmons, chiding Moe's contention that it would 'take a miracle' for his struggling, injury-ridden team to beat the Suns.
Fitzsimmons said he thought the Suns -- who have only four players with playoff experience -- 'had the jitters a little bit.'
Point guard Kevin Johnson, a second-year pro who directs the Suns' offense, agreed, but said, 'We grew up tonight.'
'This was the first time I felt we lost our composure since the first half of the season,' said Johnson. 'We did stupid things that we know better than to do. And it's my job as point guard to settle us down.'
Rookie Dan Majerle -- whose steal of an in-bounds pass preserved Friday's win after Tom Chambers had put the Suns ahead with a pair of free throws at the three-second mark -- said the game was a learning experience.
Noting the Suns lost a 14-point lead in the final eight minutes, Majerle said, 'When we're up, and if we're up, we have to put them away because they won't quit. We learned a lot tonight, but Sunday we've got to turn it up a notch and play better.'
The close call, said Phoenix forward Eddie Johnson, 'scared the stew out of us.'
Moe said he was encouraged by the play of the Nuggets, with starting center Dan Schayes slowed by an ankle sprain and starting guard Michael Adams sidelined with a hamstring pull.
'I'm not saying it was good to lose, but it's better than a blow-out,' Moe said. 'We needed this game to give us a little bit of confidence. It's the first basketball game that we've played where we competed defensively.'
Denver guard Lafayette Lever, who had 20 points, 17 assists and 12 rebounds, said, 'We picked up our defense. Run, switch, trap, we did everything we had to.'
Phoenix's homecourt advantage was somewhat negated by the return of Walter Davis, signed by Denver as a free agent last summer, to the building where he played his previous 11 seasons as a pro.
Coming off the bench, Davis scored 34 points in 33 minutes, including a long jumper from the right side which gave Denver its first lead of the game, 101-100 with 20 seconds remaining Friday.
'I was excited,' Davis said. 'The fans pumped me up. It was good to be home. This ranks up there with one of the most emotional nights that I've had in this building.'
Said Fitzsimmons, 'Walter Davis was just sensational. He's done it to me many times. He made some shots when we had people all over him.'
Fitzsimmons promised 'some adjustments' for game two -- including an earlier call for defensive specialist T.R. Dunn, a former Nugget, if Davis gets hot. The Phoenix coach said he probably left Majerle guarding Davis a little too long Friday.
