Could Phoenix have won the series if he was healthy? Should he have sat out Game 7? Welcome to a summertime series that navigates the countless sliding doors the Phoenix Suns organization has faced throughout its 56-year history. The “what ifs”, the “almosts”, the “so closes”; the team history is full of moments, decisions, and breaks (literally and figuratively) that will always leave us wondering what could have been. This is Suns Sliding Doors. Injuries. Every team gets them. For the Phoenix Suns, however, it always seems to occur at the most inopportune time. Last week we discussed the Cedric Ceballos injury in Game 6 of the 1993 Western Conference Finals against the Seattle SuperSnics. This week we are recalling another injury against the same opponent in the same series. The 1978-79 Phoenix Suns were a team two years removed from the NBA Finals. They went 50-32 that season, finishing with the third-best record in the NBA, trailing only the Washington Bullets and the Seattle SuperSonics. Phoenix possessed a potent offense, scoring 115.4 points per game (2nd in the NBA) behind 24.0 points from Paul Westphal, 23.6 points from Walter Davis, and 17.8 points from the Oklahoma Kid, Double A himself, Alvan Adams. Alvan Adams was a 6’9” center who earned an All-Star bid in his rookie year, along with winning the Rooke of the Year Award in 1976. 1978-79 was his fourth year in the league and, with great guard play around him, he posted 17.8 and 9.2 rebounds that year. The team went 50-32 that season which earned them the third seed in the West. After downing the Portland Trail Blazers (2-1) and the Kansas City Kings (4-1), the Suns squared off against Dennis Johnson, Jack Sikma, and the Seattle SuperSonics. Seattle had made the 1978 NBA Finals but lost in seven games to Elvin Haynes and the Washington Bullets. Revenge was on their mind. And the Suns stood in their way. Phoenix dropped the first two games of the series, losing by 15 points in Game 1 and 6 points in Game 2. They came back to Phoenix and, after scoring 8 points in 11 minutes, Suns’ center Alvan Adams twisted his ankle. Here is where the sliding doors moment takes a twist as painful as what Adams sustained. 5/8/79 – W/no Alvan Adams (ankle), the Phoenix #Suns took a 16p lead after opening the 4Q on a 12-0 run (although only won the 4Q 19-14) cruising to a 100-91 win to tie the WCF 2-2 w/the #SuperSonics. Davis: 27p/9r/8a. Westphal: 21p/10a. Truck: "Suns in six." #ItTakesEverything pic.twitter.com/SNJVwdopqI— Arizona Sports History (@AZSportsHistory) May 8, 2024 The Suns would win Game 3. Then Game 4. Then Game 5. Head coach John MacLeod played Joel Kramer, a 6’7” forward, at the center position with Double A out...and it worked. Kramer had averaged 5.9 points and 4.1 rebounds for the Suns as a reserve in 1978-79. He was suddenly thrown in to play against an up-and-coming big man, the Soncis’ Jack Sikma. Sikma, who was in his second season in the NBA, had earned his first of seven consecutive All-Star appearances earlier that season. The future hall of fame, who stood 6’11”, was good for 15.6 points and 12.4 rebounds that season. He had his way in the series' first three games, averaging 13 points and 11.3 rebounds. But he couldn’t figure out Joel Kramer. In Game 4 and Game 5, Sikma was confounded. He shot 19.2% from the field — an abomination for a big man — en route to 14 total points. “He had had some success against me, and I don’t know if I ever in my career felt as much pressure to kind of get it going as I did during times in that series,’’ Sikma said of playing against Kramer. The Suns entered Game 6 up 3-2 and at home. A win would send them to their second NBA Finals in franchise history, where the Bullets were waiting. The Suns had won their last 16 games at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The game was tight. Jack Sikma played much better, scoring 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting. Joel Kramer did his part as well, scoring 19 points for the Suns in 32 minutes. After being up 85-77 entering the fourth quarter, Phoenix managed to score just 20 points in the fourth, allowing the Sonics to take a one-point lead with seconds left on the clock. In the end, the Suns had the ball with a chance to win the game. Gar Heard, who famously hit a shot in the Boston Garden three years prior, took the shot. As fate would have it, this time, it did not go in. Game 7 it was. Alvan Adams had been battling back, doing all he could to play again in the series. He got the chance in Game 7, and Jack Sikma was waiting for him. Sikma put together his best performance of the series in front of the home crowd at the Seattle Kingdome, scoring 33 points, grabbing 10 rebounds, and hitting 13 of his 15 free throw attempts. Phoenix lost 114-110. Seattle would go on to beat Washington 4-1 in the 1979 NBA Finals, securing their first-ever title. The Suns are still without a ring. While I vividly remember the Ceballos injury and that postseason push, the Adams injury was 3 years before my arrival on planet Earth. I do not recall the events around the injury or the view on what that loss meant. To better understand this point of view, I reached out to Phoenix Suns fan, and entertainer extraordinaire, Jim Rose Circus. He recalls the Alvan Admas experience: To me, this was the series that exposed some issues with Double A. It was the era of the behemoths mattering. The league had solved Adams by that time. Beat the hell out of him offensively. He was a good finesse defender but didn’t like the rough stuff. He was getting injured often. On the other side of the coin was the Sonics who had gone to the finals the year before on the back of Marvin “The Human Eraser” Williams (a giant swatting machine center)...BUT Williams had been traded to New York for massive amounts of money for the ‘79 season, so Alvin vs. Sikma ( a former forward turned center ) seemed like a favorable matchup for our Suns. First 2 games Sikma was beating Adams like he was a rented mule and the Sonics went up 2 games. Third game, Alvin turned his ankle and most thought he was done for the series. 6’7” rookie Joel Kramer came in for Adams and started to beat the shit out of Sikma. That pummeling turned the series and the Suns won 3 straight. Sikma was in a real funk but the Sonics took game 6 and evened the series 3-3. The Suns were up 6 with 7 minutes to go in Game 6. After winning 3 in a row and seeing the 4th quarter lead, the entire Valley was tasting a championship but we lost that game. Adams made a miraculous return for Game 7 and made a lot of great shots but he couldn’t stop Sikma and the rest is history. It’s interesting to look back and wonder what might have been. Many think that Adams’ health could have been the deciding factor in the series, yet it was only when he went out that the Suns experienced success. Perhaps if he was healthy enough for Game 6, where the Suns had the opportunity to put Seattle away at home, is where the sliding door exists. The case could be made that he should’ve sat our Game 7 as Kramer was doing an adequate job on Sikma. We’ll never know, thus the sliding door. One of many “oh, so close” moments in Phoenix Suns history. Source: https://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2024 ... tle-sonics