San Antonio, TX (Basketball News) - Amare Stoudemire poured in a game-high 31 points and Joe Johnson added 26, as the Phoenix Suns defeated the San Antonio Spurs, 111-106, to stave off elimination in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals at the SBC Center.
The Suns now trail the best-of-seven series, 3-1, and will face another must- win situation when the teams play Game 5 at America West Arena on Wednesday.
Steve Nash finished with 17 points and 12 assists for the Suns, who haven’t been swept in a best-of-seven series since the Los Angeles Lakers won four straight against them in the 1989 conference finals.
"When you’re down 0-3 it’s not always easy to come out and play this strong, but we did and showed a lot of heart down the stretch," Stoudemire said.
Quentin Richardson added 14 points in the win and Shawn Marion posted 11 points and 14 rebounds.
Manu Ginobili netted 28 points for the Spurs, who dropped to 6-2 at home this postseason. San Antonio, the 2003 NBA champions, still need just one more win to reach the NBA Finals for the second time in three years.
Tim Duncan ended with 15 points and 16 rebounds in the loss. Bruce Bowen and Robert Horry also added 15 points apiece and Tony Parker chipped in 13 points.
"It’s frustrating because we played so badly and still had a chance to win," said Duncan.
Phoenix held a seemingly comfortable eight-point cushion at 102-94 with about 3 1/2 minutes left in the fourth, but the Spurs charged back with seven unanswered points. Bowen and Horry each hit three-pointers in the run to make it a 102-101 game with 2:26 left.
Bowen hit another shot from beyond the arc to cut the deficit to 107-106 with 1:03 left, but that would be as close as the Spurs would get. Stoudemire made a layup with 46 seconds left off a nice feed from Nash to give Phoenix a 109-106 edge. Stoudemire then blocked Duncan on a dunk attempt with 34 seconds left.
"To be a champion that’s what you got to do and he (Stoudemire) did it tonight," said Suns head coach Mike D’Antoni.
Johnson missed a jump shot for the Suns on their next trip down, but his team secured the rebound and Nash was fouled with 6.2 seconds left. Nash hit both free throws to make it 111-106 and seal the win.
San Antonio held a 59-52 cushion at halftime, but the Suns changed that with a big third quarter. The Spurs still led 63-57 after Bowen’s jumper with 10:23 left in the third and Phoenix answered that with an 11-3 stretch. Richardson had five points in the run for the Suns.
The Spurs grabbed the lead back briefly when Ginobili hit a three-pointer to make it 69-68, but Phoenix used a 10-0 explosion to grab the lead for good. Johnson keyed the run with a three-pointer from the left corner. Johnson would also make a short jumper in the lane with 1:34 left in the third to give the Suns their biggest lead at 85-73. The Suns led 87-80 at the end of the third quarter.
"I think our transition defense was not very good and, at the same time, they obviously wanted to push the ball hard at us. So, it’s a bad combination," said Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich.
The Spurs trailed 91-83 early in the fourth quarter, but used a 10-4 run to slice the deficit to just two points. Ginobili’s three-pointer capped the run and made it 95-93 with 6:41 left. The Suns scored seven of the game’s next eight points to get the lead back to eight. Nash converted a three-point play with 5:16 left and Marion nailed a baseline jumper to make it 102-94 with 3:38 remaining.
The Suns opened the game on a 7-1 run, but San Antonio responded with a 12-4 stretch to grab the lead. Parker sparked the Spurs’ run with six points, all of which came on drives to the hoop.
However, Phoenix would hold the largest lead of the opening quarter when Jim Jackson hit a three-pointer and made a layup to give the Suns a 26-20 lead with 39 seconds left. The score stood at 26-23 after Ginobili converted a three-point play with two seconds left.
The Spurs opened the second quarter on a 13-4 burst to grab a 36-30 edge. Bowen’s three-pointer capped the run with 7:39 remaining, but the Suns scored eight of the game’s next 10 points to even the score at 38-38.
The score remained tight for the rest of the half until San Antonio started to pull away in the final minute of the second quarter. The Suns held a 52-51 after a basket by Stoudemire with 1:34 left, but the Spurs closed the half on an 8-1 run. Ginobili and Horry bookended the runs with three-pointers.
Ginobili led all scorers with 16 points at the break, while Stoudemire paced Phoenix with 14.
Phoenix Suns 
San Antonio Spurs 
