Boston ? Amare Stoudemire scored 42 points, Quentin Richardson added 23 and the Phoenix Suns won their fourth straight with a 128-119 victory over the Boston Celtics on Friday night.
Phoenix got all of its scoring from six players. Joe Johnson and Jim Jackson scored 17, Shawn Marion added 16 and Steve Nash finished with 13 points and 15 assists.
Paul Pierce led Boston with 34 points and nine rebounds. Ricky Davis scored 19 for the Celtics, who began the day in first place in the Atlantic Division and had won five straight at home.
Boston outscored the Suns 36-22 in the third quarter and cut a 26-point deficit to 118-109 with four minutes left, but Phoenix responded with baskets from Nash and Stoudemire to push the lead to 13 with 3:10 remaining.
The Suns connected on 13 of 25 3-pointers, with Richardson going 7-of-9 from long range.
Phoenix led 40-31 after the first quarter, when Stoudemire and Richardson were nearly unstoppable. Stoudemire made seven of eight shots from the field and scored 16 points, while Richardson hit four of five 3-pointers and had 12 points.
The Suns extended their lead to 20 midway through the second quarter on Stoudemire’s layup and went into halftime with a 74-48 advantage.
