Suns shine, hold off Spurs charge

DALLAS: Boris Diaw and Raja Bell kept the Phoenix Suns in the NBA playoffs for one more game while the Dallas Mavericks fell to the edge of elimination on Sunday at the hands of the New Orleans Hornets.

The host Suns defeated defending NBA champion San Antonio 105-86 to avoid being eliminated while New Orleans ripped host Dallas 97-84 to give the Hornets a 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series.

The Mavericks, losers in eight road playoff games in a row, must win on Tuesday at New Orleans or a team that reached the 2006 NBA Finals and won 67 games in 2006-2007 will fall in round one of the playoffs for the second year in a row.

The Hornets have not won a playoff series since 2002 and had not won a game in Dallas in 12 tries since 1998, but David West scored 24 points and Serbian sharpshooter Peja Stojakovic added 19 while Chris Paul had 16 for New Orleans.

"Our team was a lot more aggressive on the defensive end," West said. "We have to have the same approach and the same focus (in Game 5). We have to be aggressive. We have to be the ones to land the first punch."

Dallas made a late-season trade for Jason Kidd, who was ejected for a flagrant foul in the fourth quarter with Dallas trailing by 16 points, and Phoenix traded for Shaquille O'Neal, who has been unable to stop the Spurs.

With neither move paying off, both clubs are on the verge of elimination.

At Phoenix, Bell scored 27 points while France's Diaw added 20 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists to power the Suns, but NBA teams down 3-0 in a best-of-seven series are 0-83 and only thrice have even forced a game seven.

"I know this series isn't over," Bell said. "Until they win four, we still have a chance."

The Suns, who will try to stay alive by winning on Tuesday in San Antonio, outscored the Spurs 34-13 in the first quarter and cruised to victory.

"We understood that we had to come out early and be productive," Bell said. "We dug ourselves a big hole in the last game and we were a bit embarrassed after last game's performance at home in a game that we definitely needed to have. We came out and played really hard and really well."

Diaw impresses

Diaw also turned in an impressive defensive performance against fellow Frenchman Tony Parker, the Spurs star guard who scored 41 points in San Antonio's Game 3 triumph but managed only 18 Sunday.

"It really feels good to win. For me that's all that matters," Diaw said. "We proved that we can beat them. Now we just have to do it again.

"We were angry and frustrated that we lost three games because we've always felt that we can beat them. It's a battle but we know that if we take care defensively we'll be fine."

Phoenix won twice at San Antonio in the regular season, the only NBA club to do so. The Spurs went 34-7 in home games this season and beat the Suns there in the first two playoff games, the opener in double overtime.

"We (must) play like it's our last game," Diaw said. "It's our last game anyway if we don't win it. It's a matter of life or death."

Suns coach Mike D'Antoni, who was ejected before the finish, praised Diaw and Bell for stepping up with the season at stake.

"Boris obviously dominated the game on both ends of the floor," D'Antoni said. "He was phenomenal. His defense on Parker and then being able to kind of direct the offense from the low post, that was huge.

"I thought Raja - his aggressiveness coming out shooting, playing - did an unbelievable job. We got one. But we have got a long ways to go yet."

Tim Duncan added 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Spurs, who could not get a lift from playmaker Parker.

In the Eastern Conference, Detroit rallied in the second half to beat upset-minded Philadelphia 93-84 and level their NBA playoff series while the Cleveland Cavaliers moved to the brink of advancing.

Tayshaun Prince scored 23 points while Rasheed Wallace added 20 points and 10 rebounds as the Pistons rallied from a 46-36 half-time deficit by outscoring the 76ers 34-16 in the third quarter to seize command for good.

"We knew we had to take our time," Pistons star Richard Hamilton said. "In the first half we were rushing our shots. In the second half we took our time. We're a veteran team. We've been here before. We know what we have to do. We just have to do it."

Hamilton and Chauncey Billups each contributed 18 points and seven assists for the Pistons, who matched the 76ers at 2-2 in their Eastern Conference opening round best-of-seven series with Game 5 on Tuesday in Detroit.

James leads Cavs

Sunday's other East matchup saw LeBron James score 34 points and Delonte West adding a career playoff-high 21, including the game-winning basket with 5.4 seconds remaining that gave Cleveland a 100-97 victory over Washington.

"The play was really drawn up for everybody just to get out of the way and let LeBron do what he does best," West said. "Fortunately, that's one thing that he does best is he finds the open man."

The Cavaliers seized a 3-1 lead in the series and the defending Eastern Conference champions can advance to the second round with a home triumph in Game 5 on Wednesday.

The Pistons, who lost to Cleveland in last year's East final, are looking to move themselves to the brink of the next round as well but Hamilton said they must continue to play as they did when they made the comeback on Sunday.

"We have to stay focused. We have to come out and hit first," he said. "We have to stay patient with the ball, make plays and look for each other on the court. If we do that we'll be fine."

AFP

(China Daily 04/29/2008 page24)