When the offseason arrives and you find yourself wandering through the basketball desert that exists between the draft, free agency, and training camp, you have two options. You can look forward and project, or you can look backward and reflect.
As we navigate this wasteland over the next few weeks, I thought it’d be fun to revisit some of the strangest statistical anomalies in Phoenix Suns history.
We’ll begin this little summer series with a number that feels almost impossible when you first see
it. That’s the point of this series. Statistical anomalies. One-off moments that are difficult to explain.
The first one? The most free throws ever attempted by the Phoenix Suns in a single game. It also stands as the second-most free-throw attempts by any team in NBA history and remains the most free throws made in a single game. The final tally was an almost unbelievable 61-of-80 from the stripe, a record set on April 9, 1990, against the Utah Jazz. More than three decades later, no team has managed to top it.
When you go back to the 1989–90 Phoenix Suns, you find one of the best offensive teams in franchise history. Phoenix finished second in the NBA that season, averaging 114.9 points per game behind a franchise record 27.2 points per game from Tom Chambers. His fellow All-Star and Second Team All-NBA teammate, Kevin Johnson, averaged 22.5 points and 11.4 assists per game. What’s interesting is that Chambers’ 27.2 points per game ranked fourth in the NBA that season behind Michael Jordan, Karl Malone, and Patrick Ewing. Johnson’s 11.4 assists ranked third, trailing only John Stockton and Magic Johnson.
As the regular season neared its conclusion, Phoenix hosted the Utah Jazz in a matchup between two of the Western Conference’s best teams. The Suns entered the game at 50–25, while the Jazz were 51–22. The teams met at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum, and what followed was one of the strangest games in NBA history.
Phoenix carried a 74–65 lead into the fourth quarter, but Utah scored 36 points in the final period to force overtime. The Suns ultimately prevailed, 119–115. The reason we’re talking about this game, however, isn’t because it was an overtime victory against the Jazz down the stretch. It’s because a combined 84 personal fouls were called. As a result, the Suns attempted 80 free throws due to the 52 fouls called against Utah.
Kevin Johnson went to the line 24 times, making 23. Tom Chambers was 17-of-22. Kurt Rambis went 6-of-12, and Eddie Johnson came off the bench to shoot 10-of-11. The whistles never stopped. Four Jazz players fouled out. John Stockton, Thurl Bailey, Bob Hansen, and Eric Johnson never made it to the finish line. Karl Malone and Blue Edwards each finished with five fouls, and four other Utah players ended the game with four personals.
Those 80 free throw attempts remain the most in Phoenix Suns history. They’re also the second most by any team in a single game in NBA history. The record still belongs to the Syracuse Nationals, who attempted 86 free throws in a five-overtime game against the Anderson Packers on November 24, 1949. The Packers, for what it’s worth, attempted 75 free throws themselves.
What does remain an NBA record, however, is the number of free throws made. No team has ever made more in a single game than the Phoenix Suns did in April 1990, when 61 of their 119 points came at the charity stripe.
“The good thing about it is we pulled this victory out. The bottom line is you’ve got to win the game any way you can,” Eddie Johnson told The Arizona Republic. “It was definitely the strangest game I’ve been associated with.”
Phoenix would meet the Jazz again a few weeks later in the first round of the playoffs and defeat them 3–2. Across that five-game series, the Suns attempted 170 free throws. That means their 80 attempts in one regular season game equaled 47% of the total they attempted during an entire playoff series against Utah.
Phoenix also finds itself on another unique list. The Suns are tied for the fifth most free throw attempts in a playoff game, which occurred on June 5, 1993, against the Seattle SuperSonics. They are also tied for the most free throws made in a playoff game, sinking 57 that night. The only other team to reach that number was the Boston Celtics on March 21, 1953.
So there’s your statistical anomaly. No team has ever made more free throws in a single regular season game than the Phoenix Suns, who made 61 against Utah in 1990. They are also tied for the most free throws ever made in a playoff game, with 57 against Seattle in 1993.
That’s what makes sports history so much fun to revisit. Every franchise has records that feel inevitable and others that seem impossible. This one belongs firmly in the second category. 80 free throws. 61 makes. A game where the whistle became the main character and the Suns walked away with a record that has survived more than three decades of basketball evolution. If this series is about uncovering the strangest statistical corners of Suns history, it’s hard to imagine a better place to start.
