Paul Westphal never said anything about overtime.
Last weekend, after his team had dropped the first two games of its opening-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns coach Westphal predicted his team would come back and win the series."Are we dead? No," Westphal said after his team's Game 2 loss. "We're going to win this series . . . We'll come back here and win Game 5 and everybody will say what a great series it was."
At the time, it sounded like a desperate reach in a locker room shocked into submission. After all, only three teams had bounced back from an 0-2 deficit to win a best-of-five playoff series, and none after losing the first two at home.
But Sunday the Suns made a prophet of their coach by eliminating the Lakers, 112-104 in overtime to advance to the next round.
Rookie Oliver Miller scored 9 of his 17 points in overtime to pace the Suns, who had the NBA's best record during the regular season and will now meet the San Antonio Spurs, starting Tuesday night in Phoenix.
Charles Barkley led the Suns with 31 points and 14 rebounds, while Kevin Johnson finished with 24 points and 13 assists. Dan Majerle, who spent Saturday night in the hospital with a severe case of flu, scored 19 points, including a key jumper with 13.6 seconds left in regulation.
"I'm very humble to be able to win this," said Westphal. "I think we had the better team and I've seen this team fight all year and I thought we had a lot of fight in us."
James Worthy led the Lakers with 24 points off the bench, including 15 in the fourth quarter and overtime. It was Worthy's three straight buckets - including a three-pointer - that allowed Los Angeles to tie the game 87-87 midway through the fourth quarter.
Sedale Threatt added 18 points for L.A., Elden Campbell had 17 and A. C. Green finished with 15 points and 19 rebounds.
"Charles Barkley used the description of it being like a boxing match and it was a championship fight in the first round. And I don't think many people expected anything but an early knockout or a quick decision," Lakers coach Randy Pfund said. "Our guys played great and we had a couple of opportunities to win it and it just didn't happen."
In Sunday's other playoff action: Cleveland advanced with a 99-89 victory over New Jersey in Game 5 of their series and the New York Knicks blasted Charlotte, 111-95, in Game 1 of their second-round series.
Cavaliers 99, Nets 89
At Richfield, Ohio, Brad Daugherty scored 24 points and grabbed 20 rebounds to help Cleveland down the ailing Nets and advance to the next round.
The Cavaliers, who won the first-round series 3-2, will play Chicago in the best-of-seven Eastern semifinals beginning Tuesday at Chicago.
After the Nets had rallied to within 81-77 in the fourth quarter, Mike Sanders made a layup and Daugherty hit a jumper to help the Cavs pull away.
Derrick Coleman paced the Nets with 33 points and 25 rebounds. New Jersey played without injured guard Kenny Anderson and centers Sam Bowie and Chris Dudley.
Larry Nance contributed 20 points and 12 rebounds and Mark Price, who didn't attempt a shot from the floor in the first half, added 16 second-half points for the Cavs.
Knicks 111, Hornets 95
At New York, Patrick Ewing scored 33 points and Rolando Blackman had 8 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter, pacing the Knicks to a Game 1 victory over the Hornets.
Charles Oakley added 17 points and 10 rebounds and John Starks had 14 points and 11 assists for New York, which will host Game 2 on Wednesday night.
Charlotte's Alonzo Mourning finished with 27 points, but was held to 2 points while the Knicks were on a fourth-quarter run that gave them control of the game.
Larry Johnson, the Hornets' leading scorer and rebounder, left the game two minutes into the first quarter with a sprained right leg and did not return until late in the third quarter. Johnson is expected to be ready for Game 2.