Suns crumble late, dumped by Spurs Suns crumble late, dumped by Spurs
By Paul Coro
SAN ANTONIO - Four-game road trip, four games out of playoff position.
The Suns completed a winless four-game trip through Florida and Texas by closing the journey against San Antonio much like it started in Orlando, losing a fourth-quarter lead with an uncharacteristic silent spell of offense in a 103-98 loss Sunday afternoon at AT&T Center.
Like in Orlando, the Suns led briefly again with seven-plus minutes to go after coming back from an 11-point third quarter hole. But Phoenix missed four shots and made three of its eight turnovers on the next seven possessions to get behind by 10 again, leaving the Suns to make another mad scramble just to have a chance to win
The Suns pulled within three points on three occasions in the final three minutes but never go the stop that would give them a shot to tie the game. The Spurs made their final four shots, three of which came in the paint to send the Suns to their fourth consecutive loss and a four-game gap behind eighth-place Dallas in the Western Conference playoff race.
The Suns had not lost every game on a four-game road trip since 2004-05 but they had a lot more leeway then, when Phoenix was 31-4 before the skid. Now the Suns have to beat Dallas at home Tuesday to get back within two games and give themselves a chance at winning the head-to-head series tiebreak with Dallas, should it even come into play.
Spurs guard Tony Parker scored 12 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter for his fourth 30-point game in the past eight games. Parker had help picking up the scoring load with Manu Ginobili still a week away from returning. Parker added nine assists, helping Roger Mason to his 18 points while Tim Duncan won the post battle with Shaquille O'Neal with a 17-point, 15-rebound game. O'Neal was 6 of 16 from the field for 14 points and had five rebounds for the second consecutive game. Nash was 10 of 22 from the field, a game after needing to take 27 shots in Houston. He led the Suns in scoring with 23 points for a third consecutive game and added 11 assists.
The Suns only committed eight turnovers, just as they only had seven in a Jan. 29 loss to San Antonio at home. But Phoenix only shot 44.4 percent while San Antonio shot 50 percent.
The Suns, trying to be the first visiting team to ever win four regular-season games in a row at AT&T Center, were off a normal start Sunday when they were tied at 30 with San Antonio after the first quarter. Phoenix only made 13 of 27 first-quarter shots with O'Neal going 1 for 5 against Duncan but the Suns also made only one turnover.
Suns forward Grant Hill defended Parker from the tip-off and the Spurs point guard was held in check. San Antonio had an 11-2 run on the Suns when Nash was out but Phoenix quickly wiped that out when he and Hill returned. Three minutes later, consecutive scores by Nash had the game tied at 45-45 with 5:19 to go in the half.
The Suns missed their final 11 shots of the first half as the Spurs closed it on a 13-0 run with the first nine coming from Parker or Duncan. Although the last one was a half-court shot, half of the other 10 Suns consecutive misses were in the lane. Nash missed five of the first seven, as he took an uncharacteristic high number of shots for the fourth consecutive game (27 vs. Houston, 17 vs. Miami, 14 vs. Houston).
The hole remained deep nearly midway through the third quarter when the Spurs led 65-54. But an 8-0 Phoenix run quickly made the Suns a threat again. All that took was three stops but the Spurs ran off five consecutive scores and survived a Parker-less by getting a late Roger Mason 3-pointer for a 78-74 lead at the end of the third.
With Louis Amundson on Duncan and Parker out of the game, the Suns held San Antonio without a field goal early in the fourth quarter until Barbosa rebounded his own miss with Amundson's help and took it outside for a 3-pointer that tied the game at 79-79 with 9:15 to go.
The Suns even led, 82-81, with 7:42 to play on Hill's first 3-pointer since Jan. 23 but did not score for the next four minutes and never got a shot to tie again after that 11-0 Spurs run.