Suns top Grizzlies for 10th straight win
(Agenices)
Updated: 2004-12-24 13:54

Amare Stoudemire had 30 points, 11 rebounds and five steals — and Shawn Marion scored 29 points — to lead the Phoenix Suns to their season-best 10th consecutive victory, 109-102 over the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday night.

Phoenix Suns' Amare Stoudemire, right, drives on Memphis Grizzlies' Pau Gasol, left, of pain during the fourth quarter Thursday, Dec. 23, 2004, in Phoenix. The Suns won their 10th straight, 109-102. [AP]

The Suns — winners of nine in a row earlier this season — improved to 23-3, the NBA's best start since Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls went 41-3 in 1995-96.

Steve Nash had 17 points and 14 assists, and sealed the victory with four free throws in the last 23.1 seconds.

Mike Miller scored 19 of his 22 points in the first half for Memphis, and Jason Williams had 19 of his 21 in the second. Paul Gasol added 19 points for the Grizzlies.

Down 77-70 with 2:25 left in the third quarter, the Suns called a timeout, then went on a 17-0 run to go up 87-77 on Stoudemire's 17-footer from the baseline with 9:51 left in the game.

Memphis cut it to 103-99 on Williams' 3-pointer, followed Gasol's inside hook with 1:53 to go. After Shane Battier missed a 3, Stoudemire sank two free throws and Phoenix led 105-99.

Miller's 3-pointer, his only basket of the second half, with 45.1 seconds left made it 105-102. Marion's air-ball from 3-point range gave the Grizzlies the ball and a chance to tie.

But Miller, who made his first nine shots, threw up an air-ball with 24 seconds to go, and Nash clinched it at the line.

Phoenix scored the last eight points of the third quarter and the first nine of the fourth. Marion had seven points and Stoudemire six in the decisive surge.

Consecutive stuffs by Stoudemire and Marion, both on passes from Nash, made it 95-83 with 5:51 to play.

The Grizzlies, playing for the second night in a row, finished their western trip 2-2.

Memphis used a 22-6 outburst to go up 77-70 on consecutive basket by Earl Watson, leading coach Mike D'Antoni to call the timeout that changed the momentum.

Miller scored 17 points, including 15 from long-range, in a 21-4 run that erased Phoenix's nine-point early lead and put the Grizzlies ahead 35-29 with 10:11 left in the first half.

James Posey's 3-pointer gave Memphis a 49-45 lead, but the Suns outscored the Grizzlies 11-4 over the final 3 1/2 minutes of the half — including 3-pointers by Richardson and Marion — to go up 56-53 at the break.

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