Suns Win In Penny's Return

After a seven-week absence, Penny Hardaway is back with the Phoenix Suns.

The Suns celebrated Hardaway's return Saturday night with their third consecutive victory, 101-88 over the road-weary Cleveland Cavaliers, who lost their fifth in a row.

"I played 28 minutes tonight. It felt like 45, but I felt great when I was out there," Hardaway said. "I don't know about tomorrow morning, but tonight I feel pretty good."

Shawn Kemp had 20 points and nine rebounds but missed four consecutive free throws when the Cavs, on the last stop of a seven-game road trip, had a chance to stay close in the fourth quarter. Bob Sura had 12 points and 10 assists for Cleveland.

Hardaway had missed 21 games since going on the injured list Dec. 5 with what was eventually diagnosed as a partial tear in the plantar fascia on the bottom of his right foot.

In his first game back, he shot 3-for-10 from the field and 6-for-6 at the foul line for 12 points. He also had three assists and six rebounds.

"It was nice to be able to get him 28 minutes and get his feet wet," Suns coach Scott Skiles said. "I thought he did some nice things out there considering he hasn't played in a long time."

Hardaway went through an extensive workout in front of a foot specialist in Los Angeles on Frida and told Skiles before the game that he was ready to play. When Rex Chapman was unable to play with a sore ankle, Hardaway was the obvious choice to start.

"I never felt any pain or anything," he said. "That was the great thing about it. I was looking for something. I thought maybe if I made certain moves backpedaling or whatever, but I had already tested it enough to know I could go out there and be pain-free."

The Suns led throughout after the opening 4@1/2 minutes of a sloppy game that featured 24 turnovers by Phoenix and 23 by Cleveland.

Phoenix led 45-32 at the break and stretched it to 47-32 on Luc Longley's stuff to start the second half. Sura capped a 14-4 Cleveland run with a 3-pointer that cut the lead to 59-56 with 4:38 left in the third quarter.

After Kemp missed two free throws, the Suns scored the next 10 points, six on a pair of 3-pointers by Todd Day, to boost the lead to 69-56 on Cliff Robinson's inside basket with 1:56 left in the third.

The Suns scored the last nine points of the first half on two 3-pointers by Rogers and one by Kidd to give Phoenix a 45-32 lead at the break. All three 3-pointers were set up when Cleveland double-teamed Hardaway in the low post.

The Cavaliers shot 37.5 percent from the field in the first half (12-for-32) and committed 16 turnovers. The Suns weren't much better, shooting 39 percent (16-for-41) with 11 turnovers.

In a wild incident with 7@1/2 minutes left in the game, Cleveland's Andre Miller was knocked to the court by Oliver Miller and hollered angrily at the Suns players as he was helped to the sidelines. He was called for a technical on the play.

The next time down the court, the Cavs' Miller collided with Hardaway and initially Hardaway was called for a foul. But after Suns coach Scott Skiles was called for a technical for running down the court to complain, the referees called Andre Miller for a flagrant foul for elbowing Hardaway.

Cavs coach Randy Wittman said his player was hit in the throat by the Suns' Miller.

"A cheap shot was thrown and went unnoticed," Wittman said, "and I've got a rookie point guard that doesn't say two words all year that voices his concern for the first time. He gets a technical. Now he's sitting in here unable to talk, and I've got three referees out there that didn't see it."

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