Pfund Circles Lakers’ Wagons

PHOENIX —  Seeking inspiration as he prepared for today’s decisive playoff game against the Phoenix Suns, Laker Coach Randy Pfund turned to his playbook, the Good Book and a history book.

“I looked over the great wars and battles,” he said, “and then I got to the Wild West and Custer, and I closed the book on that real quick.”

While the Suns’ last two performances indicate they are ready to close the book on the Lakers’ season, so little in this series has gone according to form that neither team would predict much Saturday, beyond saying they expect to bring out the best in each other.

“It’s fun. It’s scary. It’s exciting. It’s why you play,” said Phoenix Coach Paul Westphal, whose team can become the fourth to rebound from a 2-0 deficit in a best-of-five series and the first to overcome a 2-0 deficit incurred at home in a series of any length.

The Lakers, already the first eighth-seeded team to defeat a top-seeded team on its home floor, asserted that they can become the first No. 8 seeded club to advance to the second round since the current format began in 1984--if they can slow the tempo today.

“We have to continue what we’ve done, utilize the experience we do have and use every little edge we have,” said forward James Worthy, who is shooting only 33% in this series.

“It’s almost like the other four games are irrelevant now. The season is one game. You hold nothing back. This is the game everyone has to play their hardest.”

Said guard Byron Scott: “We’re pretty loose. We’re pretty excited about it. We know either way it goes, we’ll be part of history.”

Or they will be history.

The Suns’ confidence, which bubbled after they scored more than 100 points in each of the last two games, was evident Saturday after their closed session. However, their optimism was tempered by wariness of the Lakers’ big-game experience and road success.

“Obviously, the pressure’s on us to win. They’ve taken the series a lot further than people expected,” said Charles Barkley, who leads both teams with averages of 26.8 points and 14.5 rebounds. “They should be confident. They won two games here. I don’t really think anybody has the advantage. The team that plays best is going to win.

“We adjusted our pace after Games 1 and 2, and it’s been very beneficial to us. We’ve got to get the game speeded up and play with confidence, and I think we will do that.”

The winner today will play San Antonio, with the series likely to start Tuesday.

Westphal will look for a few key signs early in the game to judge how his team will fare. Foremost is whether point guard Kevin Johnson can penetrate the defense, as he did so well in Games 3 and 4, and whether Barkley, who was occasionally moved out of the low post and to the top of the key to get more maneuvering room, is making 15-foot jump shots and driving to the basket.

But Westphal considers his team’s mood as important as its execution, and he liked its mood Saturday.

“It’s important to relax and do what you do best and find a way to play aggressive but not play tight,” he said. “I think they’re in a good frame of mind.”

Guard Danny Ainge, who has played in many decisive playoff games during his 10-year career, said he would tell his teammates to ignore the pressure put on them when they compiled a league-best 62-20 record.

“I’d say ‘be loose, aggressive, attack, have fun, don’t be scared,’ ” he said. “We have a saying on this team. ‘If you’re scared, buy a dog.’ ”

There was no barking in the Suns’ locker room--only Barkley. But he’s more than enough to worry the Lakers, who shuddered in recalling his 13-for-28 shooting performance Thursday and his impact on a game that was tied, 51-51, with 8:27 to play in the third quarter but became a 101-86 Phoenix rout.

“To me, that was the championship team everybody talked about, and that’s what worries me,” Pfund said. “When they play like they did the other night, it’s obvious why people think they can win a championship. I think they can win a championship, but I wouldn’t say that to (Knicks’ Coach) Pat Riley.”

To foil the Suns’ chances of winning today, Pfund will implement what worked in the first two games: a straight-up defense on Barkley with Elden Campbell or A.C. Green bumping him; a slow-down, half-court offense designed to feed Campbell or Vlade Divac in the low post and selective forays into a running game. “We’ve been in 3 1/2 games, so it’s hard for me to see why we have to come up with a drastic change,” Pfund said.

Westphal hasn’t changed his prediction that the Suns will win the series today. Even if he’s right, he has no intention of testing his psychic skills on the lottery.

“My predicting days are over,” he said. “I certainly don’t regret saying it. I believed it and I still believe it. (But) there’s no money-back clause attached to it.”