The Last Meaningful Suns Game on Easter Sunday

It’s been 33 years since the Suns last played a meaningful (playoff) game on Easter Sunday. But what a game it was.

Described as ‘lightning and thunder,’ Walter Davis and Maurice Lucas were the Suns 80’s equivalent of a famous Arizona Monsoon Storm. One of the greatest shooters in franchise history in the same lineup as one of the best low-post power forwards, this Suns tandem not only helped the literally limping 1983-84 team sneak into the Western Conference playoffs with a 41-41 regular season record, their worst in seven years, but on this Easter Sunday 1984, pull away with the most meaningful game the team had played to that point all season.

As the West’s 6-seed, the Suns were matched up in the best of five game First Round series against the 3-seed Portland Trailblazers team who had won four of six against the Suns in the regular season. Phoenix, who due to a series of unfortunate injuries coupled with several trades that completely re-shaped the face of the roster, was not only better than there record implied, especially after a late 6-game winning streak to end the season, but was also a fantastic home team. With with a .500 regular season win percentage overall the Suns were 31-10 at Veterans Memorial Coliseum, and coupled with the excitement of playing a nationally televised Easter Sunday game, that combination would play heavily in the Suns’ favor.

The teams split the series’ first two games in Portland, Phoenix winning the first behind 22 points and 13 assists from Walter Davis, then Portland returning the favor led by Mychal Thompson’s 26 points and 3 boards.

After one period in game three the Suns held a five-point lead only to have Portland score the second period’s first eight points. In came reserve guard Paul Westphal who over the course of the next ten minutes scored 14 points – his only scoring in 13:00 of action. His boost off the bench was most important because Phoenix would only outscore the Blazers 26-24 after Portland’s early outburst, keeping the Suns in the game when the younger Portland team could have built a sizable lead that would have been difficult for the older, more worn down, Suns to overcome.

However, the foul trouble that plagued the Suns in the first half forcing Westphal onto the court actually worked in their favor.

“I wasn’t tired at all,” said Walter Davis following the game, Sweet D who with three early fouls was one of several players forced to the bench in the first half.

After a rough third quarter which saw the Blazers stretch their lead to seven heading into the fourth quarter, the Suns’ ‘Monsoon Storm’ blew in just when the team needed it most helping overcome the slick play of Portland star guard Darnell Valentine.

Down five with 2:41 remaining, and a 2-1 deficit looming, Kyle Macy sank a jumper to cut the Portland lead to three. Following a missed shot and rebound, Davis nailed a fastbreak jumper to pull Phoenix to within a single point. With the pressure now on Portland to increase the lead (for the younger fans reading this just remember: this was an era when the three-point shot was still treated as a novelty. Suns Head Coach John McLeod was not a fan of the shot, and in this game only three attempts from beyond the arc were even attempted, all by Portland, each of them missed).

Valentine, who shot 50.0% from the field for the game, turned the ball over in the paint leading to another fastbreak, and a Walter Davis layup, giving the Suns a lead with 1:31 remaining, sending the 11,531 fans in the Coliseum into a frenzy.

Six seconds later, the now desperate Valentine committed a second consecutive error, this time stepping behind the halfcourt line, giving Phoenix a chance to take some time off the clock and pad their lead possibly putting the game out of reach.

During a Monsoon we all know that what follows lightning is thunder. Walter Davis’ quick offense to give the Suns the lead was the lightning. It was then Maurice Lucas would provide the rim-rattling and series shaking thunder.

Following the second turnover McLeod called a timeout using the opportunity to substitute in Alvan Adams from the bench. In the ensuing possession Adams missed a layup, but it was Maurice Lucas, who finished with a 10 point and 10 rebound double-double, who grabbed the offensive rebound and threw it in, stretching the lead to five, and it turned out finishing the Blazers off flipping the series on it’s head giving the underdog Suns now the 2-1 series lead. The victory was Phoenix’s eighth in their last nine tries.

“I’ve never seen Walter Davie like this…never,” said Lucas to reporters in wonderment following the last second scramble that gave Phoenix the upper hand in the series. “He’s playing defense, his shooting is unbelievable. He’s…I don’t know. He’s just right.”

Through the series’ first three games Davis had averaged a cool 13 points in the fourth quarter and 24.7 per game. The seventh-year guard out of North Carolina recorded the team’s second of three double-doubles of the game with a 27 point 10 assists effort, nailing 12-18 from the field and tied for the game-lead in steals with 2. Larry Nance would too record a double-double with 17 points on 8-12 shooting and 10 rebounds, managing 2 blocks as well.

The Blazers would win game 4 in Phoenix sending the series back to Portland for the deciding fifth game of the series which Phoenix would use a huge second half outscoring their rivals 59-47 winning by 12 and moving on to the Western Conference Semi-Finals for the fifth time in the last six years. There the Suns would surprise the West’s second-seed Utah Jazz winning in six-games only to lose to the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals also in six with the series deciding game in Phoenix 99-97.

Next: Phoenix Suns Christmas Day History

Since 1984 the Phoenix Suns have not played another playoff game on Easter Sunday, though the vast majority of their franchise’s Easter games have been played since.

All-Time Easter Sunday Results

*Playoffs (P) (BOLD = Win)

70 – at Lakers 114-101 (P)

76 – vs Seattle 103-91 (P)

77 – vs NY Nets 128-124

79 – vs Portland 101-91 (P)

80 – vs Kansas City 114-99 (P)

81 – vs Kansas City 88-95 (P – Game 7)

84 – vs Portland 106-103 (P)

85 – at Seattle 125-110

86 – at Seattle 89-103

89 – at Lakers 116-118

93 – vs Utah 112-99

94 – vs Denver 108-98

96 – at Vancouver 112-92

97 – vs Seattle 107-106

98 – at Vancouver 129-106

01 – vs Sacramento 88-86

04 – vs Memphis 89-83

06 – at Lakers 89-109

07 – at Lakers 115-107

All-Time – 15-4

Regular Season – 10-3

Playoffs – 5-1

*Game information and quotes were pulled from the Arizona Republic on April 23, 1984. Regular season, series, and playoff statistics were pulled from basketball-reference.com.