Stoudemire, Diaw, Horry suspended

The penalties came as the result of a flagrant foul call on Horry, who delivered a forearm to Suns guard Steve Nash with 18.2 seconds left in Monday’s 104-98 Phoenix victory at San Antonio, evening the best-of-seven series.

Horry was suspended for flagrantly fouling Nash and striking Raja Bell above the shoulders with a forearm. Stoudemire and Diaw were suspended for leaving "the immediate vicinity of their bench" during an altercation, according to Stu Jackson, the NBA’s executive vice president of basketball operations.

Horry will serve his suspension sitting out Games 5 and 6 of this series. Stoudemire and Diaw will miss Game 5 on Wednesday in Phoenix.

The loss of Stoudemire is big for the Suns, considering he’s averaging a team- best 23.9 points and 12.1 rebounds per game in the playoffs. Diaw is averaging 7.2 points.

Appearing in his 15th straight playoffs, Horry is averaging 6.4 points this postseason.

Stoudemire, who had called the Spurs a dirty team earlier in this series, saw Nash knocked to the floor by Horry, and players from both teams had to be coaxed to remain on their respective sides. Horry was ejected from the game.

It also appeared Stoudemire, who was not playing at the time in favor of Kurt Thomas, came off the bench during the incident, which is the reason for the automatic one-game suspension.

After the game, Stoudemire maintained he only left the bench to check into the game.

"I didn’t really see exactly what happened totally," Stoudemire said. "I was just trying to check in on the foul because it was so important there down the stretch where we needed to get me back in the game. That’s when it all happened."

It was the latest in a series of ugly play and talk between the teams. In Game 1, Nash collided with Spurs guard Tony Parker, leaving the two-time league MVP with a bloody nose. Then in Game 3, Bruce Bowen kneed Nash in the groin, and in that same contest on Saturday night, Spurs guard Manu Ginobili was left with a bloodied and bruised eye after being inadvertently poked by Phoenix’s Shawn Marion. Stoudemire also said Bowen purposely kicked him in the Suns’ Game 2 win.