| | PHOENIX -- When Clifford Robinson took his game from the
Northwest rain to the desert sun, his impatience, hot temper and
headband were left behind.
He has seemed at peace with himself, and he has played the best
basketball of his career, a renaissance punctuated by a 50-point
performance for the Phoenix Suns against the Denver Nuggets Sunday
night.
| |  | | Robinson |
"I think what you've seen in Cliff is just him mature,"
Phoenix coach Scott Skiles said. "He just figured the NBA out,
what happens and what's expected of him. Some guys never figure it
out."
Against Denver, Robinson couldn't be stopped. In the first
quarter, he outscored the Nuggets 23-19.
Throughout the game, he mixed up his attack. His baskets came on
drives to the hoop, on 3-pointers and on 13 of 15 free throws. He
made 17 of 26 field goals and was 3-for-5 from 3-point range.
He broke the scoring record at 8-year-old America West Arena and
tied the franchise record for most points in a quarter. Among
Phoenix players, only Tom Chambers has scored more points in a
regular-season game. It was the biggest scoring game in the NBA
this season, eclipsing the 47 by Toronto's Vince Carter against
Milwaukee two nights earlier.
At 33, in his 11th NBA season, Robinson is at the top of his
game.
"I'm confident about what I can do," he said. "I've played
against a lot of guys in the NBA. I know what I can do against
certain guys. Against the younger guys, I feel I have an advantage
because I've been around a little longer. I think I've matured into
the type of player that I am now, where I better understand how I
can attack defenders."
When he was drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers out of
Connecticut 11 seasons ago, Robinson slipped into the second round
because of concerns about his work ethic and attitude.
He immediately proved to be a steal, and as a rookie he was an
important part of the Blazers' drive to the NBA Finals. With his
red, white and black headbands and his flamboyant personality,
dancing on the sidelines and showing high emotion in the game, he
was at times a fan favorite and won the NBA's Sixth Man award in
1993.
Other times, especially in his later years in Portland, he was a
fan target as he repeatedly struggled during the playoffs.
Robinson was reminded of his early NBA career when he watched
Portland's Rasheed Wallace lose his temper and get thrown out of
the game against Phoenix last Friday.
"I remember the days when I had incidents like Rasheed,"
Robinson said. "Seeing that let me know how far I've come."
When he signed with the Suns as a free agent in 1997, the
headbands were left behind. He had a solid, if unspectacular first
season with Phoenix. Then in last year's abbreviated campaign, he
had what most considered his best all-around season and was
especially tough on defense.
"I thought he should have been on the all-defensive team,"
teammate Jason Kidd said.
This season, Robinson got off to a slow start when coach Danny Ainge decided to bring him off the bench behind rookie Shawn
Marion.
But 17 games into the season, a knee injury sidelined Marion and Robinson became a starter. In the 20 games since then, Robinson has averaged 23 points per game and has had five games of 30 points or more.
"He's had two in a row, back-to-back career years," said
Skiles, who took over as coach when Ainge resigned. "Danny and I
talked during the summer about whether there's any way Cliff could
duplicate what he did last year. We felt like three-quarters of
last year would have been great out of him. But he's played better
since being put into the starting lineup. Once he started getting
the minutes, he started playing better than he did last year."
Robinson deserves to go to the All-Star game, Skiles said.
"Cliff has played like an All-Star," Skiles said. "There's no
doubt about it. I think Cliff's problem is maybe he doesn't have a
definite position. People don't know if he's a 'three' on our team
or a `four.' But if you look at the starting 'three' men in the
West, I don't know who's had a better year than him."
A 50-point game will be hard to ignore.
"This should open some people's eyes," Skiles said.
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