Phoenix ? The Phoenix Suns were at it again Wednesday night – racing past another opponent to improve to 13-2 – the NBA’s best record and the franchise’s best start in 24 years.
Amare Stoudemire, Steve Nash and Quentin Richardson each scored 21 points, and the Suns won their ninth in a row.
“By far, they are the best team in the NBA right now,” LeBron James said. “Just their ability to score, that’s an amazing system that their coach has got them in.”
Joe Johnson scored 18 points and was the lead defender in holding James to 6-for-19 shooting for 15 points – 11 under his average.
“They made me work tonight,” James said. “They played great defense. At times, I was just indecisive. It wasn’t one of my better ones, but that’s what’s good about the NBA. We’ve got another one tomorrow.”
Stoudemire scored 13 on 6-for-6 shooting in the decisive third quarter and Nash sat out the fourth while his backup Leandro Barbosa scored 13 of his 15 points.
Shawn Marion had 10 points and 12 rebounds as all five Phoenix starters scored in double figures for the second night in a row. The Suns had a season-high 30 fast-break points.
The victory streak matched the sixth-longest in Suns’ history and avenged one of Phoenix’s two losses this season.
“I still don’t think we’ve done nothing yet,” Johnson said. “Don’t get me wrong. It’s fun to win. But it’s a long, long season. There’s a lot ahead of us and a lot more room for improvement.”
The game featured the players of the month for November, Nash in the Western Conference and James in the Eastern.
Jeff McInnis scored 26 and Zydrunas Ilgauskas 22 for Cleveland, 0-2 on a three-game trip to the West. Drew Gooden grabbed 19 rebounds.
The Suns led just 48-46 but outscored the Cavs 72-55 in the second half.
“In the first half, we were a little dead mentally,” Phoenix coach Mike D’Antoni said. “We’ve done that a couple of times. We just turn it on when we want to, which is a good thing because we can turn it on. But I don’t want us to get in the habit of doing that.”
Did he fire the team up with a halftime speech?
“I don’t think they listened to me, as usual,” D’Antoni said jokingly. “I guarantee you none of them would remember what I said.”
An 18-6 run put the Suns ahead 67-55 on Johnson’s 16-footer with 6:33 left in the third quarter. Stoudemire started the surge with a three-point play. He also had a dunk after Marion’s acrobatic save falling out of bounds.
Barbosa’s rebound basket gave Phoenix its biggest lead of the quarter at 86-71.
“It’s hard for a team to keep up with us for 48 minutes,” Johnson said.
When Phoenix played in Cleveland Nov. 10, the Suns blew an 18-point lead with 6 1/2 minutes in regulation and lost in overtime, 114-109. There was no such collapse in the rematch.
Barbosa’s over-the-head layup, followed by his 3-pointer, capped a 10-2 run that gave Phoenix a 106-86 lead with 5:58 to play.
Cleveland was up by as many as seven early, but the Suns used a nine-point spurt to go up 35-33 on Johnson’s driving layup with 6:57 left in the second quarter. Jake Voskuhl’s two free throws put Phoenix ahead 46-44 with 1:05 to go, then Richardson’s fast-break runner off the glass made it 48-44. Robert Traylor’s 15-footer with 26.6 seconds to go cut the halftime lead to two.
“I wish we could have played our starters for 48 minutes,” Cavs coach Paul Silas said. “Then maybe we would have had a shot.”
Richardson scored 14 on 6-for-8 shooting and Nash had 10 points and six assists in the first half. Stoudemire was in foul trouble and made just 3-of-10 shots for eight points in the first two quarters. He didn’t miss again.
Notes: In addition to the players of the month, the game also featured the last two Western Conference players of the week (Marion and Stoudemire). … Ilgauskas scored 13 points in the first quarter, but none in the second. … The smaller Suns outrebounded Cleveland 48-37.
