SALT LAKE CITY -- Phoenix Coach Cotton Fitzsimmons never had a doubt the Suns opening-round playoff series would be decided in the final seconds.
Fortunately for him the decision went to Phoenix as Kevin Johnson hit a jumper from the foul line with eight-tenths of a second remaining, giving the Suns a 104-102 triumph over the Utah Jazz in the deciding fifth game of their playoff series.
With the Jazz winning 55 regular-season games and the Suns 54, 'how else should it end?' Fitzsimmons said. 'No other way, three games to two, coming to the wire right at the end.'
'Two good teams played,' he said. 'It's a shame one of them doesn't get to go on, and I mean that. If it had been us (losing), I would have felt the same way. I wouldn't have a complaint either way.'
On the final play Utah's John Stockton helped double-team Mike McGee of Phoenix, leaving Johnson wide open.
'I was supposed to penetrate as close as I could,' Johnson said. 'I did that, then spotted Mike McGee on the side and hit him with a pass. I thought he might take the shot, but he fired it back to me and I put it up.'
'John let me get back to the left for the pass from Mike. I then had the shot. It was a great win.'
With the 3-2 series triumph, Phoenix advances to the Western Conference semifinals against the Los Angeles Lakers. Game 1 in the best-of-seven series against the Lakers is Tuesday night at the Forum.
'The last play is a 1-4 situation with Kevin taking the ball,' Fitzsimmons said. 'He has the option of beating his man and shooting.'
Rather than force the shot in traffic, with Stockton chasing the ball, Fitzsimmons said, McGee 'went right back to Kevin and Kevin buried it.'
'I think it was the series I said it would be,' he said.
Tom Chambers and Eddie Johnson brought the Suns back from an 89-79 deficit with 9:02 left in the game. Chambers scored 14 of his 32 points down the stretch and Eddie Johnson 9 of his 23. Kevin Johnson had 26 for Phoenix.
Chambers called the series 'a great fight. It was the hardest five games I've ever played in my career.'
Karl Malone and Thurl Bailey each had 26 points to lead the Jazz, who were eliminated from the first round of the playoffs for the second straight season. But Malone spent more than 7 of the final 17 minutes on the bench in foul trouble.
'We played hard and were right there and had an opportunity to win it. We just didn't get it done,' said Malone. 'It's just an empty feeling right now.'
Bailey, who converted just 11 of 29 shots from the field, sank a running one-hander to put Utah up 100-99 with a minute left. But Eddie Johnson was fouled on a jumper from the lane and also made the free throw, giving Phoenix a 102-100 lead.
Malone's 20-footer tied the score 102-102 with 14.9 seconds left. But after a timeout, Kevin Johnson kicked the ball in to McGee, who passed back to the wide open guard. Kevin Johnson, who had been bothered by a hip pointer suffered earlier in the series, canned his jumper from the foul line with eight-tenths of a second remaining.
'If I put my thumb on it, they hit the big shots, we didn't,' said Stockton, who had 17 assists but only 9 points. 'If we both could have hit our big shots then, with our lead, we could have pulled it out. They did, but we didn't.'
Utah Coach Jerry Sloan said, 'We had a nice lead on them, but I thought we broke down a little bit. Karl got in foul trouble and we took him out of the game and it seemed like our momemtum slipped away from us, both offensively and defensively.'
'We did a poor job shooting the free throw shots we got,' said Sloan. 'That's a big difference in the ball game.'
The Suns hit 30 of 35 free throws, including 16 for 16 by Chambers. They outscored the Jazz 30-15 from the foul line.
The game started slowly, with Utah leading 9-6after six minutes. The Jazz pushed out to a 20-13 advantage before a 12-2 spurt by each team. The Suns' run, including Eddie Johnson's basket to open the second period, put them in front 25-22. But, early in the second period, the Jazz answered with an identical run and never trailed again until the 3-point play by Eddie Johnson with 1:17 left.
