Phoenix Suns Team Report - November 23

(Basketball News) - Amare Stoudemire scored 24 points on 8-of-10 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Phoenix Suns to a 100-98 win over the Miami Heat on Saturday at America West Arena.

Joe Johnson added 17 points and eight rebounds for the Suns, who have won three straight overall and snapped a three-game losing streak to Miami.

The Suns also scored 100 points for the first time in 12 games this season, marking the longest it has taken the team to reach that plateau to start a campaign. It took Phoenix 11 games to hit 100 points at the start of the 1996-97 season.

A pair of free throws by Stoudemire with 6:36 to play and a layup by Shawn Marion with 5:40 left gave Phoenix an 87-82 lead.

The Suns went up by six at 97-91 on a driving layup by Stephon Marbury with 2:36 remaining, but Miami pulled to within 98-97 on a jumper by Odom with 23 seconds left.

However, Marbury hit a pair of free throws with 18 seconds remaining to put Phoenix back up by three.

Lamar Odom missed a three-pointer at the other end and Brian Grant was fouled on a hook attempt under the basket with 0.7 seconds to play. Grant missed the first free throw and made the second to make it a two-point game, but that was how it ended.

The Suns are off until Tuesday when they visit the Denver Nuggets.