Barbosa, Suns burn Hornets

Shawn Marion added 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Pacific Division- champion Suns, who remain the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference playoff race, 2 1/2 games ahead of San Antonio. Steve Nash chipped in with 15 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds.

"I think we are all waiting for the playoffs," Nash said. "Our chemistry has dropped off a little bit. We still have a lot of work to do."

David West tallied 17 points for the Hornets, who fell a full three games behind the idle LA Clippers for the eighth and final playoff berth in the Western Conference. Marc Jackson had 16 points, while Devin Brown and Jannero Pargo each had 13 points in the loss.

The Hornets were without injured starters Chris Paul, Tyson Chandler and Desmond Mason and the Suns took advantage by closing the opening frame with a 14-2 run to take control of the contest. Marion highlighted the burst with a pair of dunks and Phoenix led 37-23, heading into the second quarter.

"We spotted them too many points in the first quarter and we couldn’t recover from that," West said. "Guys on this team have a lot of heart, we are always going to play and not back down."

The Hornets recovered a bit in the second but still trailed by 12, 60-48, at intermission.

West managed to get the Hornets to within six points on two different occasions in the third quarter. But, the Suns put things away with a 9-0 burst midway into the final frame.

James Jones highlighted the flurry with back-to-back jumpers before Barbosa capped things with a three to make it 91-71 with just over seven minutes to go.

An 8-0 run late was too little, too late for the Hornets as Phoenix held on.

Game Notes

The Hornets announced before the game that Mason would miss the rest of the season after breaking his nose against Seattle on Wednesday...Paul and Chandler are both questionable for the Hornets next game...The Hornets lost for the first time in five games.