Phoenix Suns Team Report - December 2

(Basketball News) - The Phoenix Suns lost their second in a row Monday, falling to the Indiana Pacers,89-82, at America West Arena.

Phoenix forward Shawn Marion, who missed Friday’s loss to Golden State with an ankle injury, played and contributed 15 points and 12 rebounds.

Stephon Marbury scored 14 points and dished out 10 assists for Phoenix, which has lost three of its last four.

Trailing 62-61 to open the fourth quarter, the Pacers ran off 11 of the first 13 points to take a 72-64 lead. Harrington scored the first six points of the spurt.

Phoenix cut the lead to 74-70, but an Anthony Johnson basket and a Reggie Miller three sandwiching a Scott Williams free throw pushed the Indiana lead to 79-71 with about five minutes to go.

An Amare Stoudemire basket made it 79-73, and Stoudemire had a chance to get the lead down to four on the next trip down the floor, but Jermaine O’Neal swatted his shot and filled the lane on the ensuing fast break. O’Neal not only made the layup, but was fouled and converted the three-point play for the 82-73 advantage with less than three minutes to play.

The Suns got the Indiana lead back down to four at 82-78 on a Penny Hardaway three-pointer with just over a minute to play, but O’Neal buried two free throws at the other end to push the lead back to six.

Marbury converted a three-point play for the Suns when he was fouled by O’Neal while making a layup to slice the Phoenix lead to 84-81. However, after O’Neal missed a layup under heavy pressure in the paint, he secured his own rebound and hit a turnaround six-footer to get the Pacers’ lead back to five.

Marion made one free throw and Kenny Anderson made 1-of-2 for the Pacers, before O’Neal collected Anderson’s miss and made the final basket of the night for the final margin.

The Suns are off until Wednesday when they host Kevin Garnett and the Minnesota Timberwolves.