Sun Valley Bobcats 44-38 (2-4)

Buffalo Blizzard 52-30 (4-2)

Score (click for boxscore)	Game MVP	Hi Points	Hi Rebounds	Hi Assists
1. Bobcats 165, Blizzard 157	Kevin Johnson	40 Karl Malone	14 Kevin Duckworth	21 Kevin Johnson
2. Bobcats 160, Blizzard 153	Kevin Johnson	36 Karl Malone	14 Karl Malone	25 Kevin Johnson
3. Blizzard 149, Bobcats 128	Tom Chambers	36 Tom Chambers	11 K.Malone/M.Turpin	19 Kevin Johnson
4. Bobcats 155, Blizzard 151	Kevin Johnson	47 Tom Chambers	11 Karl Malone	14 Kevin Johnson
5. Blizzard 145, Bobcats 134	Karl Malone	43 Karl Malone	15 Wayman Tisdale	20 Kevin Johnson
6. Blizzard 174, Bobcats 170 OT	Tom Chambers	47 Tom Chambers	14 Mel Turpin	19 Kevin Johnson
7. Blizzard 154, Bobcats 143	Karl Malone	47 Wayman Tisdale	27 Karl Malone	17 Kevin Johnson

Game 1 – April 16, 1990 – The Sun Valley Bobcats traveled to Buffalo Memorial Auditorium looking for a different outcome than what happened in last year’s Conference Semi-Finals. Well, Karl Malone and Tom Chambers had other ideas. They each scored 16 points and despite SVB having a .593-.464 shooting percentage differential, the Buffalo Blizzard were up 48-38 after one. Buffalo still enjoyed a 70-58 lead with 3:39 to go in the half, but Sun Valley woke up and went on a 19-8 run and headed to the lockers down only 3. The Mailman had 24 at the half; Antoine Carr’s 15 topped the ‘Cats. Mr. T, Wayman Tisdale, took control of the 3rd period, scoring 17 points and leading the visitors to an 118-113 advantage going into the 4th. The Bobcats built a 130-121 lead with 8:31 to go, but Buffalo regrouped and had a 13-4 spree that knotted the scoreboard at 134. The contest see-sawed from there and was tied at 148 with 2:02 on the clock. The Bobcats hit their free throws down the stretch and kept BUF at arm’s length and stole game one by a 165-157 margin. Clyde Drexler, Malone and Chambers all had foul issues with Clyde and Karl fouling out and TC finishing the game with 5. They collectively played about 24 minutes less than expected. The visitors shot .552 for the game and made 56-63 free throws. The home team shot .524 and was 49-51 at the stripe. Malone was 18-18 from the free throw line and finished with a game-high 40 points. Kevin Duckworth added 30 points and 14 rebounds. Chambers tallied 26. Drexler’s game was limited, finishing with 6 points. Tisdale topped SVB with 33 and Carr had 25. KJ got the benefit of always being fouled down the stretch, making 19-22 from the line for 25 points. He dished out 21 dimes to boot and was named game MVP.

Game 2 – As per the usual with these teams, no defense was played and Buffalo found themselves up 49-45 after one behind Karl Malone’s 17 points. Wayman Tisdale countered with 22 for Sun Valley. Tom Chambers scored 11 in the 2nd frame and Buffalo had a 86-78 halftime lead. Buffalo would enjoy a 17-point lead at one point and they took the 3rd quarter 30-25. It looked like the home team would coast to victory and tie the series at one game apiece. Well, KJ would hear nothing of it and he cranked up SVB’s version of “showtime” and the Bobcats went on a 25-8 tear that gave them a 4-point advantage with 6:29 to go. The teams battled for the next 3:53 when, with the score 142-139, the Blizzard went into “hack-a-Cat” mode, but the visitors were up to the task, going on a 7-2 run from the charity stripe. Sun Valley kept adding points one-at-a-time and BUF would get no closer than 6. The 4th period was magical for SVB as they pulled out a 57-37 quarter to surprise everyone in Buffalo and the VBA with a 2-0 series lead after two games at Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. Kevin Johnson scored 19 of his 26 points in the 4th, with 13 coming from the free throw line. He earned his 2nd straight game MVP with 25 assists and 5 rebounds. Darrell Griffith was 5-6 from 3-land to finish with 28. Tisdale had a team-high 35. Malone had a game-high 36 for Buffalo and was also the leading rebounder with 14. Clyde Drexler managed a triple-double (30 pts, 12 reb, 10 asts) before fouling out with just under 40 minutes played. Chambers finished with 15 points in just over 21 minutes played before getting ejected with a flagrant foul. The series shifts to Sun Valley for games 3 and 4. 

Game 3 – Since being swept out of the Eastern Conference finals a year ago, this Buffalo Blizzard team, two years removed from the finals, thought it still had enough firepower to make a worthy championship run. But little has gone right dating all the way back to last year’s playoff exit. The “something is missing” label has fit this defensive-challenged team to a T: after it barely mustered 50 wins this season and seceded this division again to a Costa Mesa team that remains a juggernaut, the Blizzard couldn’t even secure the number three seed, relinquishing that to an impressive and hungry Pittsburgh squad. And now, after being stunned late in two opening playoff games at the Aud by the lower fifth-seed Bobcats in this first round matchup (Buffalo surrendered an embarrassing 300 plus points in the two contests), the ambitions are much more modest as it travels to Sun Valley for game 3: for starters, this Blizzard team is merely hopeful its season doesn’t die in the Arizona desert, the victims of yet another consecutive playoff sweep. A 3-0 deficit in games remained a stark reality after the first half of this game played at the Den. The host Bobcats never trailed in the opening two periods after Sun Valley grabbed the lead just one minute in, then carried that advantage all the way to halftime intermission. After Sun Valley dominated the first quarter 38-31 (the biggest lead was 30-17 eight minutes in following free throws from Bobcats guard Tom Garrick it held on, 74-68 at halftime. Buffalo, which finally started to show a pulse on defense late in this game, continued clawing back in the second half: It captured its first lead of the game 5:22 into the third period, courtesy of a Tom Chambers jumper that put the Blizzard ahead 84-83. From there, Buffalo, entirely led by Chambers (16 points in the period), closed out the period in dominating fashion going on a sizzling 29-16 tear, in claiming a sizeable 113-99 lead after three. (The Blizzard shot 65 percent from the field in the third in outscoring Sun Valley 45-25). Buffalo was never really threatened in the fourth and outscored the Bobcats 36-29 to secure the Blizzard’s first win of this series 149-128 (and give it life anyway headed into Game 4). Chambers was the game’s top scorer with 36 points, but Clyde Drexler was game MVP for Buffalo for a triple double performance of 26 points and 10 assists and 10 rebounds. Kevin Johnson and James Worthy paced the Bobcats with 32 points and 24 points respectively.

Game 4 – As it faced the Sun Valley Bobcats on their home court in Game 4 of this first-round West Conference playoff matchup, the Blizzard, down 2-1, was hopeful the series would continue following form where the away squad has been the victor in all three games. And as the first half concluded, the Blizzard’s momentum from its must win in game 3 seemed to be trickling into this contest. Buffalo, sparked by 28 first-half points from Tom Chambers, led 73-66 at the midway point. But Sun Valley’s point guard extraordinaire, Kevin Johnson, erupted in the third quarter, scoring 18 points as the Blizzard offense started to cool off. Buffalo still held a 97-90 lead with just over four minutes to play in the third before disaster struck for the visitors: the Bobcats, led by Johnson and a frenzied fast-paced attack went on a 23-6 run the rest of the period to claim a commanding 113-103 lead going into the final 12 minutes of regulation (the only field goal Buffalo could manage during that stretch came from Mark Aguirre). The Bobcats shot a scorching 74 percent from the field during the quarter, while Buffalo was 30 percent. In the fourth quarter, it was center Antoine Carr who ignited the Bobcats, scoring 18 points in picking up where Johnson had left off. The Blizzard, in catchup mode the entire quarter, closed the deficit to 152-147 headed into the final minute of regulation, following a pair of free throws by Clyde Drexler. But a jumper by Bobcats forward Wayman Tisdale and a free throw by Carr ensured there would not be another Buffalo rally as in game three: following a Chambers basket that pulled Buffalo to 155-151 with 10 seconds left, Johnson successfully dribbled off enough time to ensure that was the final score, the Bobcats rallying to win by four to take a commanding 3-1 lead as the series heads back to Western New York for Game 5. While Johnson sparkled in customary fashion in finishing with 33 points and 14 assists to garner Game MVP honors, it was Carr who surprisingly proved to be a true difference maker: he recorded 34 points, the majority of them in that last period to finish off Buffalo, and he converted 14 of 15 free throws, all in just 28 minutes of play. In its losing cause, the Blizzard wasted superlative efforts by Tom Chambers (a game-high 47 points) and Karl Malone (32). Sun Valley finished the game shooting .581 from the field (compared to 48 percent by Buffalo), and the Bobcats converted an eye-popping 29 of 31 from the foul line. The Blizzard will need to find some semblance of a defense if it wishes to stave off elimination in Buffalo and return to Arizona for a Game 6.

Game 5 – Sun Valley wanted to end this series tonight to make up for Buffalo defeating them in last year’s playoffs. The Bobcats went on a 15-5 run near the end of the first period to take a 39-33 lead after one. Karl Malone had 13 first period points and SVB was led by Melvin Turpin’s 8. After allowing the Blizzard to pull within 4, the ‘Cats went on another run, this time 16-7 to take an 11-point advantage into the locker rooms. The Mailman had 23 first half points, Big Game James showed up this time and had 19 thru two. Sun Valley would build a 20-point lead during the 3rd frame and was still up by 15 at period’s end. Turpin’s 7 led the visitors in the 3rd, Tom Chambers topped the home squad with 6. Sun Valley was feeling pretty good about their chances, but, the wheels fell off the bus. Buffalo shot .769 in the 4th compared to SVB’s .308 leading to the home town team opening a can of whoopass on the visitors with a 48-22 quarter. It was aided by Wayman Tisdale(23) and Worthy(29) fouling out with their 52 points. Their DQ’s came with 7:38 and 4:05 respectively. The Bobcats were up 126-123 when Worthy was whistled for fouling Malone. BUF finished the game on a 22-8 spree to stay alive 145-134. KJ had 23 points and 20 assists for SVB’s highest game score. Tisdale also had a game-high 15 rebounds. Malone had 43 points and 12 rebounds to earn game MVP. Chambers added 25.

Game 6 – When we had last heard from the Buffalo Blizzard, the team had stared elimination in the eye and pulled off a stunning fourth-quarter rally in Western New York to turn back the underdog Sun Valley Bobcats in Game 5 in the first round of the West playoffs. Trailing 3-2 now as the Blizzard returned to the Valley of the Sun (Buffalo was still on the cusp of a early postseason exit), the only real certainty in a series where defense has been non-existent, is that we’d probably have another game with a 300-point total between both teams. In the immortal words of Casey Stengel, can anyone here play defense? As the Blizzard grabbed another 82-77 lead at just halftime intermission, the teams assured the Arizona crowd they were well on that pace. The fireworks continued through the second half. Buffalo extended the lead to 122-115 entering the fourth quarter. In a series where both teams rallied late to win contests, it was the Bobcats’ turn to mount a comeback. Sun Valley, which never had the advantage through this entire game while remaining within striking distance, grabbed its first lead when with 5:35 in regulation, Otis Smith converted a driving basket to put the home team ahead 137-136. Sun Valley extended the lead from there. With under two minutes to play, James Worthy off the fastbreak scored a late field goal that put the Bobcats ahead 153-148 and in sight of a first round upset and West semifinal matchup with the Costa Mesa Condors. But Buffalo fought back, and Blizzard’s Clyde Drexler stunned the Arizona faithful in the closing moments. With Buffalo down 158-155, he sank a rare three-pointer with 23 seconds to play in the fourth that tied the game. Playing for the series triumph in the final seconds, the Bobcats were foiled by a steal by Blizzard center Bill Cartwright but another long three-point attempt by Drexler, rushed at the buzzer, was no good, meaning for the first time in this series, we’d have overtime. The teams traded the lead through most of the five extra minutes, and the Blizzard’s Mark Aguirre converted a pair of free throws with 48 seconds to play that gave Buffalo a 171-170 lead. A failed possession by Sun Valley led to two more Aguirre free throws with 18 seconds left, and following another Bobcats failed try (sorry game film cut off on me), a free throw with six seconds by Blizzard point guard Lester Conner left gave Buffalo the two-possession lead it needed to survive and extend its season, 174-170. Yes Virginia, there will be a seventh game. Tom Chambers who paced Buffalo throughout this contest finished with a game-high 47 points along with 12 rebounds and was game MVP. Karl Malone and Drexler added 33 and 27 respectively. Sun Valley went deep into its bench in this overtime thriller with 10 players logging double digit minutes, but James Worthy and Kevin Johnson expectedly led the way with 42 points and 34 points respectively. The decisive game of this first-round series will be played in Buffalo’s Memorial Auditorium.

Game 7 – Buffalo Memorial Auditorium was the site for this Game 7 of a VBA classic series between a resilient, upcoming Sun Valley Bobcats team and a Buffalo Blizzard squad with plenty of talent yet has been mired in quicksand all season that seemed destined to continue its year round futility into an early first round exit here. For this Game 7, the Aud was a shaky homecourt advantage for the Blizzard at best as Buffalo dropped the first two contests at home. Then in game 5 with Buffalo down 3-1 in its building, the Blizzard faced a 112-97 deficit in the fourth quarter with elimination looming, before waking up and rallying to survive, 145-134. Buffalo then captured a nail biting overtime 174-170 win in Sun Valley to force this Game 7. More offensive fireworks were expected in this insanely high-octane series as the two teams took the court, but as the first quarter unfolded, it was obvious jitters were overcoming both teams, each surprisingly unable to to find the basket. In fact, nearly halfway through the first quarter, Buffalo led just 7-6 as both squads failed to convert numerous opportunities time and again. Led by Kevin Duckworth who scored nine points off the bench in the first quarter, Buffalo built a 25-18 lead near the end of the first, but the Bobcats closed the quarter on a 12-5 run to close its deficit after 12 minutes to 31-30. Wayman Tisdale shined for Sun Valley in accounting for half of those Bobcats points (15). In the second quarter, Buffalo successfully outshot its visitors .536 to .464 from the field yet only outscored Sun Valley 39-37. Karl Malone pulled down everything under the sun (excuse the Arizona pun) as he dominated the glass (more about that rebounding prowess later) and the Mailman scored 12 points during the period for Buffalo. Shockingly the Blizzard limited Kevin Johnson to three points in the entire half (those in the second quarter), yet the contest remained up for grabs after 24 minutes, Buffalo leading just 70-67 at the break. James Worthy picked up the slack big time for Sun Valley in the second quarter with his first nine points and Tisdale added eight more, giving him 23 by the half. In the third quarter, this well coached Sun Valley squad continued to hang around despite multiple players facing foul trouble (including Worthy and Tisdale). The Bobcats, which had a couple leads of two points in the second quarter, served notice they were not going anywhere, and despite not leading at all in the third quarter as the Blizzard went on some spurts, Buffalo’s lead was just 110-105 entering the final period of play. Amidst the Bobcats foul trouble, Steve Johnson of all people (just 25 regular season games) was activated for Game 7 and kept these Bobcats close, with him and Worthy providing nine third quarter points to keep the home team incredibly uncomfortable. Sun Valley, which had outplayed the Blizzard in this series overall, sensed the opportunity to finally upset Buffalo in the final 12 minutes of this series. Led by more unreal scoring in the fourth by Tisdale (he added 20 more points in the period as KJ and Worthy faced fatigue), the Bobcats, applying full court pressure throughout, continued exchanging baskets with Buffalo and kept the deficit down to 146-141 with just over two minutes to play. After a free throw conversion by Clyde Drexler improved Buffalo’s lead by six, Worthy missed a three-pointer that would have closed Sun Valley’s margin down to just one possession in these final two minutes. Moments later with Sun Valley continuing to ratchet up the defensive pressure, the ball landed in the hands of Buffalo’s Tom Chambers (just 12 points to that point) who proceeded to bury an outside prayer of a jumper as he was double-teamed, a damaging blow to the visitors. Then just moments later after a Sun Valley Antoine Carr miss, Chambers with two defenders again draped on him fired in a field goal from the corner as Carr fouled him. After Chambers converted the three-point play, Buffalo’s lead had improved to 152-141 with 1:24 left in regulation (a lead belying how close this game was throughout). The Blizzard was able to dribble at the clock and exhale a collective sign of relief in defeating these game Bobcats 154-143. Malone, the game MVP, finished with 37 points in 40 minutes, but more consequently he emerged as a record-breaking rebound machine with 27 boards, a new VBA playoff mark. Malone had reached 20 of those through the first two minutes of the third quarter as he cleaned the glass with reckless abandon early. Bill Cartwright and Duckworth, dividing time at center, finished with 23 and 21 points respectively; that helped overcome sluggish starts by Chambers (17 points total) and Drexler, who was sat throughout the contest to avoid late-game foul trouble but who later came to life in the fourth with 12 of his 23 points and the series on the line. Tisdale put up an argument for game MVP honors, converting 17 of 23 from the field and he was a perfect 13 for 13 from the line in a losing effort. Worthy added 22 and Kevin Johnson was held to 13 points, the same total as the other Johnson who provided a surprising spark that almost put Sun Valley over the top (Steve). Congratulations to Joe and the Bobcats who ultimately proved to be incredibly worthy West Conference Championship contenders (and rest assured they will be heard from once again through this decade). On a side note thanks Joe for setting up this incredibly entertaining head to head matchup on Hamachi 🙂 Buffalo has its work cut out for it against a Costa Mesa team that swept it in last year’s West finals, then proceeded to win every game over Buffalo during the regular season. More magic is needed by this Blizzard squad after (luckily) overcoming a 3-1 deficit against these Bobcats.