Remember when? Suns set records vs Nuggets

It was two days after Christmas 1992, not even two months into the already explosive and exciting Charles Barkley era, when the Phoenix Suns set two of the most impressive franchise records in their 25 year history.

To set this game up, I need to get a little personal.

My ninth birthday had only been several weeks before. To this point in my life, I was largely disconnected from the world of sports, although I had a package of baseball cards (which are long gone now) that I had numbered on the back the order of which I liked them best to worst. I had never watched a Suns game and I knew very little about the team and the sport itself outside of old coupons to games at the old Veterans Memorial Coliseum that I had somehow collected.

In the 1992-93 season, I had an Aunt who worked for the franchise and was very well-known and liked by many of the players and executives. That season she had set my father up with a gig of playing with a band outside the new America West Arena as fans came pouring in. A few minutes before the opening player introductions, he would pack up and use the two tickets that was a part of his pay to go into the game. Regularly the second ticket went to me.

December 27, 1992 against the Denver Nuggets was my first outing.

Phoenix entered this matchup riding a franchise record 12 game winning streak (as you recall it stretched to 14 games from December 1 through December 31 their only unbeaten month in club history) and a 19-4 record, their fastest start ever.

If you recall previous matchups with the Denver Nuggets, the Suns regularly came on top, far out scoring the generally extremely high scoring MIdwest Division rival. Not only did the Suns tie the NBA record for most points in a non-overtime game with a 173-143 contest again Denver in 1990, but Phoenix even dropped 186 on them in a preseason game only a couple of weeks prior.

So for the Suns to come out of the gates against Denver on this cold winter’s evening, roaring like an unstoppable force with 19,023 screaming fans willing them on, was nothing but expected.

The Suns broke the game wide-open early, ending the first quarter on a 13-2 run leading 33-17. Rookie Richard Dumas, one of the most high-flying and athletic small forwards in league history, helped to extend the Phoenix league to two just 34 seconds into the second period with his first of seven dunks. Most of those came off of passes from point guard Kevin Johnson, who for the second game in a row was relegated to a bench position as he recovered from a groin injury that had sidelined him for the prior 30 days.

Johnson remarked after the game that “the only team that can beat our starting five is our bench right now.” His statement held true as the reserves, which at this moment was highlighted by Johnson, Dumas, Tom Chambers, and Danny Ainge, helped the Suns to not only broaden their first half lead with a strong run to end the second quarter sending the two teams to the locker room with a Phoenix lead of 60-39, but then carry the team for the rest of the way as starters Charles Barkley and Dan Majerle watched much of the second half from the bench.

“I told the team before the game I was tired of the fourth-quarter heroics and I wanted a blowout,” said Suns Head Coach Paul Westphal who had replaced the retired Cotton Fitzimmons over the summer. “I realize now I should have asked for it sooner.”

Helping to stretch the lead to 27 points with four minutes left in the third quarter, Charles Barkley sat down never to re-enter, finishing his 24th game as a Sun with 21 points, 9 boards, and zero personal fouls. Barkley later commented that “I needed the rest.”

The aforementioned best bench in the league closed the game out, outscoring the severely over-matched Nuggets 49-37, leading to a 129-88, 41 point win, the largest victory to that point in franchise history. The win also gave Phoenix it’s 13th consecutive and knocked the Nuggets to their 11 straight loss – including anoth Suns victory just four days earlier.

Leading the Suns in scoring was Richard Dumas who finished with a career-high 27 points in only his fifth ever NBA appearance. KJ scored 12 while dishing out 12 assists while Ceballos scored 16 to go along with his game-high 12 boards.

In the loss, no Nugget scored over 12 points. Starters Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf and Mark Macon each reached that plateau, as well as reserve Todd Lichti. Second-year future Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo finished with a 10 and 10 double-double, although he was hampered with foul trouble, finishing with five fouls, through still managing five blocks.

Unfortunately back then 82-game television contracts were almost non-existent and this game was not televised. I have never seen a replay of it anywhere and there is nothing to offer from YouTube to help to display the fantastic nature of this particular blowout early in the team’s best-ever season.

For me, I was now officially hooked on basketball and especially the Suns. I went home with my head spinning, believing that the team was not only the greatest ever assembled, but that they would never lose again. Ironically, Barkley was asked about that very topic, answering that “there’s that chance. We don’t know until we lose.”

Suns fans as a whole too were questioning if this was the greatest team in history as even newspapers were already projecting into the future noting that although only 24 games in Phoenix was on pace to win 68 games, one off of the NBA record of 69 set by the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers.

Personally, I never missed a game again. After learning that I could listen to Al McCoy and Cotton Fitzsimmons on 620am at the time, I had the calendar memorized and every matchup scheduled in my head from that day forward.

More from Valley of the Suns

I become such an obsessed nine-year-old that my father used to tell the story that several months later (I believe it was March 21, 1993) I was supposed to be in bed, but had the radio on very low listening to a closely matched Suns vs Indiana Pacers game. At some point my father came into my room. There I was under the covers with the lights off, but eyes wide open as the two teams battled out what would eventually be a 109-108 Pacers victory. Apparently my Dad leaned into the door to say something and I shushed him immediately with “shh! The Suns are winning!”

Attending that blowout victory was one of life’s little blessing as the victory was so pronounced that it was easy to be hooked immediately. Although I’m sure that had my first attended Suns game been a different outcome I still would have had a similar reaction as the lights and spectacle of it all blew me away (beginning with the still mind-blowing opening introductions). However, to be able to look back on that game all these years later, as the Suns inch closer to their 50th season, I cannot help but look fondly on this one game as the first I ever attended, which at the time happened to be the biggest blowout in the franchise’s history.

Information from the game recap was found through a story from December 28, 1992 in the Associated Press.