Suns end Mavericks winning streak
NEW YORK: The Phoenix Suns ended the Dallas Mavericks's nine-game winning streak with a crushing 126-104 home victory in a showdown between the NBA's top teams on Sunday.
Leandro Barbosa scored 29 points, Amare Stoudemire had 24 and Steve Nash 23 points and 11 assists as the Suns won their second straight game against the Mavericks.
"Things were flowing and the ball was moving," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni told reporters.
The Suns (55-18) broke the game open in the fourth quarter when they sank 13 of 15 shots and all four three-point attempts.
Dallas (61-12) trailed by only five after Dirk Nowitzki's jump shot with 11:19 to go, but the margin soared to 20 points at 120-100 with 1:22 remaining on a pair of free throws by Barbosa.
The Suns shot an NBA season-best sizzling 64.8 percent.
"But this doesn't mean we are so much better than Dallas," D'Antonio said.
"Dallas has got the best record and they are going to be the number one seed (in the playoffs). But I think it is going to be very competitive."
The two teams split their four-game series this year, with Phoenix winning the last game in double overtime.
Nowitzki scored 21 points for Dallas, but he made only six of 18 shots. One reason was the strong defensive play of Shawn Marion on the Mavericks star.
Josh Howard led Dallas with 28 points and Jason Terry had 21.
The Boston Celtics took advantage of the absence of Cavaliers star LeBron James to edge Cleveland 98-96.
Gerald Green scored 18 of his 25 points in the second half as the Celtics held on for the victory.
Al Jefferson scored 18 points and Ryan Gomes added 17 for the Celtics, who improved to just 3-23 without Paul Pierce. The star swingman sat out with a sore left elbow, which also sidelined him earlier this season.
With the score tied, Boston's Delonte West drove to the basket and was tripped by Anderson Varejao in the lane with 1.9 seconds left. West, who scored 11 points, made both free throws.
Cleveland's Damon Jones missed a wide open 3-pointer from the right corner at the buzzer.
James sat out with tendinitis in his right knee and is day to day. In his absence, Larry Hughes scored 24 points, making 12-of-12 free throws.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 14 points for the Cavaliers, who are one-half game ahead of Chicago for second place in the Eastern Conference. Cleveland fell four games behind Detroit for the top spot in the East.
Chris Bosh had 24 points and 16 rebounds as the Atlantic Division-leading Toronto Raptors scored a 107-94 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats to lock up their first playoff berth in five years.
The Indiana Pacers ended the San Antonio Spurs's six-game winning streak with a 100-99 home victory on Jamaal Tinsley's layup with one second remaining.
The Utah Jazz broke a six-game road losing streak with an 86-83 victory over the Houston Rockets. Yao Ming had 35 points, 16 rebounds and four assists for Houston.
Agencies and AFP
(China Daily 04/03/2007 page24)
