Phoenix Suns Team Report - March 9

(Basketball News) - The Phoenix Suns host the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday at America West Arena in a possible preview of the Western Conference finals. The Suns have a nine-game lead over the Sacramento Kings for first place in the Pacific Division, while the San Antonio Spurs own a 7 1/2 game lead over the second place Dallas Mavericks in the Southwest Division.

It will be the third and final meeting of the regular season between the clubs. In the two previous contests, San Antonio picked up a pair of victories as it won once at the SBC Center and on Phoenix’ homecourt on January 21st, which was the last contest between the squads.

Overall, the home team has won nine of 13 and 13 of the last 18 meetings in this series. San Antonio has won six in a row and nine of the 12. The Spurs have won three straight at Phoenix.

The Spurs have a one-game lead over Phoenix for the top seed in the Western Conference.

The Suns come into Monday’s game on a three-game winning streak. On Sunday, Joe Johnson poured in a game-high 30 points and grabbed six rebounds to lead Phoenix to a 110-99 win over the Seattle SuperSonics in a matchup between two Western Conference powers at KeyArena.

Amare Stoudemire netted 22 points in Sunday’s win over Seattle, while Shawn Marion contributed 18 points and nine boards for the Suns, who have won seven of their last nine games overall. MVP candidate Steve Nash finished with 12 points and a game-high 10 assists.

Phoenix is 27 in games decided by 10 points or more this season. The Suns, who are 19-3 when they allow under 100 points, are 11-3 in Wednesday games.

Nash has played three of Phoenix’ six games since the All-Star break. He is averaging 12.3 points and 10.7 assists in that span.

The Suns, who will host Tracy McGrady and the Houston Rockets on Friday, are an impressive 22-7 at home this season. Phoenix is 6-4 in its last 10 at America West Arena.

After hosting the Rockets, Phoenix is scheduled to travel to Denver to face the Nuggets on Sunday at the Pepsi Center. The Suns defeated the Nuggets, 107-105, on December 20th at Denver. The teams will play twice more in the 2004-05 campaign, as the clubs will meet on March 28th and April 18th at America West Arena.