Phoenix Suns Team Report - February 26

(Basketball News) - Amare Stoudemire had 24 points and 14 rebounds for Phoenix, spoiling Stephon Marbury’s return to the desert with a 113-95 win over the New York Knicks on Wednesday at America West Arena.

Joe Johnson added 22 points, eight boards and five assists, as the Suns put the brakes on a season-high eight-game slide. Shawn Marion contributed 18 points in the win before leaving with 6:01 to play in the third quarter due to a sprained left ankle.

Stoudemire has a personal-best seven consecutive games with at least 20 points. Only Tim Duncan has a longer streak — 12.

Johnson buried a trey less than three minutes into the final frame to push the margin to 89-72, but New York would not go away quietly, scoring eight of the next 10 points to narrow the gap to 11 at 91-80 with 6:49 remaining.

The difference stayed at 11 points until Jake Voskuhl’s three-point play with 2:36 to go made it 105-91. After Anfernee Hardaway missed a layup at the other end, former Knick Howard Eisley added a jumper to increase the margin to 16, virtually putting the game out of reach just before the two-minute mark.

Phoenix, one of the worst rebounding teams in the league, had a 33-16 advantage on the boards and outscored the Knicks in the paint 40-16 in the first half.

Phoenix had shipped Marbury, along with Anfernee Hardaway and Cezary Trebanski for Antonio McDyess, Eisley, Charlie Ward, Maciej Lampe, the rights to Milos Vujanic and two first-round draft picks.

McDyess, in his third game since coming off the injured list, finished with eight points in 15 minutes on 4-of-6 shooting, as the Suns improved to 7-18 since the deal and picked up their first win in their gym in six games.

Phoenix will return to action on Friday when it starts a brief two-game road trip in Seattle. The Suns have dropped two of three to the Sonics this season and have lost four of the last five meetings in the series. Phoenix is also winless in its last four trips to the Emerald City.