Shawn Marion scored 22 points and Quentin
Richardson added 18 points and 14 rebounds Wednesday night, leading the
surging Phoenix Suns to a 108-98 win over the Houston Rockets.
Amare Stoudemire finally cooled off after a torrid two-game stretch in which he scored a
total of 84 points, finishing with just 19 points and nine rebounds. But
his Suns teammates picked up the slack and rolled to a relatively easy
victory despite coming off a draining 122-115 win at Minnesota the night
before.
Steve Nash had 12 points and 13 assists, Joe Johnson had 17 points and
Casey Jacobsen tied a season high with 14 for the Suns, who won their
fourth straight to improve their NBA-best record to 28-4.
Tracy McGrady led Houston with 24 points, David Wesley added 15 and Yao
Ming finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds. The loss snapped Houston's
season-high three-game winning streak.
In a matchup between the NBA's youngest team (Phoenix) and its oldest
(Houston), the Suns jumped out to a big early lead, Houston gamely fought back and the Suns were
ultimately able to pull away.
Johnson scored 11 points in the game's first four minutes,
including three 3s, to help the Suns race out to an early 22-8 lead. The
Rockets never really recovered from such a deep, early hole.
Bob Sura hit a jumper to move the Rockets within 74-71 late in the
third quarter, but Jacobsen quickly responded with another 3 and Houston
never got any closer the rest of the way.
Phoenix put on quite a shooting display against one of the league's
best defensive teams, going 15-of-34 from behind the arc. They finished
one 3-pointer shy of their season best of 16 against the Lakers on Dec. 8
and tied their season high of 34 attempts.
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-01-06 15:04
