Charles Barkley had the flu and Kevin Johnson was coming off a hamstring pull.
That was nothing compared with what happened to Houston's Clyde Drexler. He got tossed in the first game of the Rockets-Phoenix Suns Western Conference semifinal series Tuesday night, and it demoralized his team.
"We let the incident get us out of our game," Rockets guard Kenny Smith said after the Suns set a franchise record with 43 points in the second quarter -- when Drexler was ejected -- and raced to a 130-108 win. "Everyone was out of it mentally."
"It was a perfect game as far as the way it went. As far as I didn't have to play a lot of minutes," said Barkley, who threw up in the morning and took intravenous fluids during the afternoon.
The Suns shot 60 percent while momentarily turning the tables on the defending champions, who knocked them out in last year's semifinal round. They outrebounded the Rockets, 48-29.
Game 2 of the best-of-7 series is Thursday night in Phoenix.
Barkley had 26 points and 11 rebounds, and Johnson had 21 points and 13 assists for the Suns. A.C. Green hit 8 of 12 shots for a career playoff high 25 points and had 15 rebounds.
"I think we are very hungry right now," Green said. "We're desperately trying to do what it takes to win."
Which means taking advantage of a short-handed Houston team that had even more problems when Drexler was ejected.
"It was just like a nightmare," said Robert Horry, who matched up with Green at small forward. "Everything that happened this game won't happen next game. After a while, we didn't even try to win. 'Dream' sat on the bench the whole fourth quarter. It's one of those things that, you just let it go."
Sam Cassell scored 31 points for the Rockets and Hakeem Olajuwon had just 18, only four rebounds and one block.
"We look at this as a game to throw away," Cassell said. "That wasn't us out there."
The Suns bolted to 20-point leads over the dispirited Rockets in the second quarter and led 75-57 at halftime. They were up 106-81 after the third quarter.
Drexler picked up two technical fouls and was ejected with 10:12 left in the second quarter. Both came for his strident complaints after he fouled Dan Majerle.
After calling the first technical, referee Jake O'Donnell walked away, but Drexler kept talking, and O'Donnell ejected him.
Drexler, who had nine points in the first quarter, went ballistic and charged O'Donnell, but Tomjanovich and Mario Elie held him back.
"It was a tough situation, and I know exactly how he felt," said Olajuwon, who picked up three fouls in the first 13:23 of play. "From the beginning of the game, I could see what the referees were doing."
Johnson made both technical free throws, and Majerle made one of two foul shots, increasing the Phoenix lead to 43-30.
The three points were part of a 22-5 run by the Suns, who were up 54-35 when the spurt ended with a 3-pointer by Danny Ainge with eight minutes remaining.
Michael mum for second straight day
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Apparently Michael Jordan will let his next performance do his talking.
The unlikely goat of Game One of Chicago's playoff series with Orlando slipped out of practice without speaking to reporters for the second straight day Tuesday. However, his silence hardly had the Bulls and Magic guessing about what's on his mind.
Game Two of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal is tonight (8:00, TNT), and Orlando's Nick Anderson expects Jordan to show up determined to redeem himself for mistakes that cost Chicago the opener.
"He'll come out and try to take the game over from start to finish," said Anderson, who held the Bulls superstar to 19 points on 8-for-22 shooting in Game One.
"That might make a difference if I didn't know what to expect. But I do, and I've got to try to find a way to stop it."
There was a time when Anderson wouldn't have been as confident of his chances of at least slowing down Jordan, who declined to use a sore right wrist as an excuse for a sub-par performance in Sunday's 94-91 loss.
The Magic, however, is 2-0 against Chicago since Jordan ended his retirement in March and Anderson has done a good job of containing him each time. In a seven-point, regular-season loss to the Magic, Jordan went 7 for 23 and scored 21 points.
Anderson chased down Jordan and forced a turnover that sets up Orlando's go-ahead basket in Game One, then watched in disbelief when the Bulls guard passed up a potential winning shot only to turn the ball over again with 1.5 seconds left.
Anderson said Jordan clearly is not the same player who left the sport after the Bulls won their third consecutive NBA title in 1993.
"No. 45 doesn't explode like No. 23 used to," Anderson said.
McHale gets Wolves job
MINNEAPOLIS -- Kevin McHale is expected to officially take over basketball operations of the Minnesota Timberwolves Thursday.
The team has called a news conference at which McHale, former Boston Celtics teammate Jerry Sichting and former University of Minnesota teammate Phil Saunders are to attend.
McHale, the Wolves' assistant general manager, has been making most of the team's basketball decisions the last six weeks.
He will replace retiring general manager Jack McCloskey. It is uncertain what title McHale will hold, although it has been widely speculated he will be vice president of basketball operations.
Sichting, who played with McHale on Boston's last championship team in 1986, did radio commentary with the Celtics last season. He is expected to replace Stan Novac as Minnesota's scouting director.
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