 Farmer's sudden increase in scoring prompted complaints from the fan base that Sutton disliked Farmer and was limiting his minutes out of favoritism for his son, Sean.Some fans began to boo when Sutton, the team's starting point guard, returned to the game to replace Farmer.Farmer maintained that Sutton had treated him fairly, and Sutton cited lack of practice time as the reason for Farmer's limited playing time; in early January 1989, local media reported that Farmer had been limited in practice due to right knee pain.