1990–91 Phoenix Suns season

The 1990–91 Phoenix Suns season was the 23rd season for the Phoenix Suns in the National Basketball Association.^[1] The Suns had the 21st overall pick in the 1990 NBA draft, and selected power forward Jayson Williams out of St. John's University; the team also selected point guard Negele Knight from the University of Dayton with the 31st overall pick, and selected small forward Cedric Ceballos out of California State University, Fullerton with the 48th overall pick.^[2][3][4] However, Williams did not reach a contract agreement and never played for the Suns; he was later on traded to the Philadelphia 76ers.^[5][6]

Early into the regular season, the Suns traveled overseas to Tokyo, Japan to play their first two games against the Utah Jazz at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium; this marked the first time that two teams in U.S. professional sports played a regular season game outside of North America.^[7][8] In the first game on November 2, 1990, the Suns were the road team and defeated the Jazz by a score of 119–96; Tom Chambers and Kevin Johnson both posted double-doubles, as Chambers finished with 38 points and 10 rebounds, while Johnson contributed 29 points and 10 assists.^[9][10][11] In the second game on November 3, the Suns were the home team and lost to the Jazz by a score of 102–101; Johnson led the Suns with 28 points, while Chambers added 19 points.^[12][13][14] Both games had an attendance of 10,111 fans at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.^[11][14]

The Suns got off to an 8–7 start to the regular season in their first 15 games. In December, the team traded sixth man Eddie Johnson to the Seattle SuperSonics in exchange for All-Star forward Xavier McDaniel.^[15][16][17] The Suns posted a seven-game winning streak in December, then posted a six-game winning streak in January, and later on held a 30–16 record at the All-Star break.^[18] The Suns posted another seven-game winning streak in March, and finished in third place in the Pacific Division with a 55–27 record, earning the fourth seed in the Western Conference.^[19]

Kevin Johnson averaged 22.2 points, 10.1 assists and 2.1 steals per game, and was named to the All-NBA Second Team, while Chambers averaged 19.9 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, and Jeff Hornacek provided the team with 16.9 points, 5.1 assists and 1.4 steals per game. In addition, McDaniel averaged 15.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game in 66 games after the trade, and sixth man Dan Majerle contributed 13.6 points and 5.4 rebounds per game off the bench, and was named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team. Also off the bench, Ceballos contributed 8.2 points per game, while starting center Mark West averaged 7.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game, and also shot .647 in field-goal percentage, Knight contributed 5.3 points and 3.0 assists per game, and Andrew Lang provided with 4.9 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game.^[20]

During the NBA All-Star weekend at the Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina, Chambers and Kevin Johnson were both selected for the 1991 NBA All-Star Game, as members of the Western Conference All-Star team; it was Chambers' fourth and final All-Star appearance.^[21][22][23] Kevin Johnson also finished in seventh place in Most Valuable Player voting,^[24] while Majerle finished in second place in Sixth Man of the Year voting, behind Detlef Schrempf of the Indiana Pacers; Majerle finished with 37 first-place votes, while Schrempf had 38.^[25][24]

In the Western Conference First Round of the 1991 NBA playoffs, and for the second consecutive year, the Suns faced off against the 5th–seeded Jazz, who were led by the trio of All-Star forward Karl Malone, All-Star guard John Stockton, and Jeff Malone. The Suns suffered a Game 1 home loss to the Jazz by a 39-point margin, 129–90 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum, but managed to win Game 2 at home, 102–92 to even the series. However, the Suns lost the next two games on the road, which included a Game 4 loss to the Jazz at the Salt Palace, 101–93, thus losing the series in four games.^[26][27][28]

The Suns finished 18th in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 589,591 fans at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum during the regular season.^[20][29] Following the season, McDaniel was traded to the New York Knicks after only one season with the Suns.^[30][31][32]