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View Full Version : Nash leads way as Suns beat Raptors 113-94



chrism
11-29-2009, 09:31 PM
TORONTO — Steve Nash had 20 points and 16 assists, Jason Richardson scored 22 points and the Phoenix Suns won their fourth straight game, 113-94 over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday.

Amare Stoudemire had 18 points and Leandro Barbosa added 17 before leaving with a sore left ankle. Channing Frye scored 15 as Phoenix won its 12th straight over Toronto.

The Suns have not lost to the Raptors since a 101-94 defeat on Feb. 10, 2004, the final meeting before Nash re-signed with the team. Nash scored the decisive basket in Phoenix's 101-100 home win over Toronto on Nov. 15, converting a three-point play in the final minute.

Six different Phoenix players reached double-figure scoring, and the Suns finished 13 of 30 from 3-point range. The Raptors made just one of 20.

Chris Bosh had 30 points and 17 rebounds for Toronto, which has lost three straight and seven of nine. Andrea Bargnani had 24 points and DeMar DeRozan had 14.

Toronto's Hedo Turkoglu scored on a three-point play to cut the lead to 84-79 early in the fourth, but the Raptors couldn't get any closer. Stoudemire capped a 6-0 run with a putback dunk, two of his eight points in the fourth quarter, and the Suns weren't threatened again.

Nash came in averaging an NBA-high and career-best 11.8 assists and had seven in the first quarter. He fed Stoudemire on all four of his baskets, including two dunks, as the Suns opened a 33-25 lead after one.

Held to three points in the first quarter, Bosh scored 16 in the second, making seven of 10 shots as Toronto trimmed it to 50-49 at the half.

Phoenix used a 10-2 early in the third to push its lead back to double digits, then kept on scoring. A 3-pointer by Frye and Stoudemire's dunk off a pass from Nash forced Toronto to call timeout with 4:40 left and the Suns up 78-61. The Raptors responded by closing the quarter on a 15-6 run, with Turkoglu's three-point play making it 84-76.

Two days after he was kneed in the "pelvic region" on a dunk by Boston's Paul Pierce, Bosh took another hard knock in this one, getting shoved to the ground by Stoudemire as he drove to the basket with 4:18 left in the second. Stoudemire was called for a flagrant foul.

Bosh's teammates, who didn't react Friday as Pierce stood over Toronto's leading scorer in a taunting pose, were more vocal this time, with Calderon briefly getting into Stoudemire's face before being yanked away by Richardson.

Calderon knocked Nash to the floor on a drive early in the third but no flagrant foul was called and Calderon was the first to help Nash to his feet.

NOTES: Phoenix is the only NBA team to score at least 100 points every game this season. ... Nash posted a Facebook message on Sunday morning thanking Canadian fans for their support and calling his annual visit to Toronto "one of my favorite games of the year."