clarinews@clarinet.com (01/18/90)
DALLAS (UPI) - The Phoenix Suns are beginning to roll, the Dallas Mavericks are beginning to crumble and both teams continued along their current paths Wednesday night. With Jeff Hornacek and Tom Chambers leading the way and with Phoenix dominating the backboards, the Suns ran away from Dallas in the fourth period to post a 108-88 win. It was the fifth straight victory for Phoenix - the longest current streak in the NBA - and the fifth straight loss for Dallas. The Suns have won five of seven road games ``We played solid defense all night,'' said Phoenix Coach Cotton Fitzsimmons. ``Our rebounding certainly improved the day Kurt Rambis joined our club. ``This is a team that believes it can win with defense and rebounding rather than win with offense. ``We really aren't concerned with how many points we score. We are going to go out and stop people and win with some defense.'' Phoenix outrebounded the Mavericks, 53-33, with Rambis gathering in 15. ``Phoenix is a very, very good team,'' said Dallas Coach Richie Adubato. ``They won 57 games last year and they are right back where they were. ``We can't rebound the way we did tonight and expect to win.'' Tom Chambers scoring 26 points one game after a 40-point performance against Charlotte and Hornacek had 22. The Mavericks were led by 17 from Rolando Blackman - 15 of which came in the third quarter. Phoenix never trailed, holding a 28-24 advantage after one quarter and a 50-44 lead at the half. Dallas rallied from an 84-76 deficit after three quarters to get within five early in the fourth quarter. But from that point the Suns outscored the Mavericks, 22-7. Hornacek scored seven points in a three-minute stretch early in the decisive Phoenix run while playing as a point guard in place of Kevin Johnson. Johnson, averaging 19 points per game, scored eight and sat out much of the second half.