They hit the rim, they hit the backboard. They seemingly hit everything but the bottom of the net until Leandro Barbosa got going early in the fourth quarter and buried the Bulls again.

Barbosa led the decisive run, Amare Stoudemire scored 24 points and the Phoenix Suns pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat Chicago 88-77 Sunday.

“I always like to be aggressive,” said Barbosa, who scored 13. “I saw the space for me to go to the basket and I made the shot, so I was happy.”

Former Kansas University standout Kirk Hinrich did all he could to keep the Bulls in the game, finishing with 31 points – the second time in less than a week he scored more than 30.

“I’m just trying to be aggressive,” Hinrich said. “(I’m) trying to make a conscious effort to take the ball to the basket, trying to make plays.”

Last season, Barbosa buried a three-pointer with 1.5 seconds left to lift the Suns to a one-point win at the United Center. This time, he started a 12-0 run in the fourth with a baseline drive and two three-pointers, sending the Suns to their sixth win in seven games. That allowed Phoenix to exhale after three difficult quarters and a trying week.

The Suns won despite finishing with their second-lowest point total of the season and going 5-of-25 on three-pointers – after hitting 17 against Cleveland.

Stoudemire hit nine of 16 shots, while Marion added 15 points and 11 rebounds. But they got little help for most of the game.

Steve Nash finished with 14 points, even though he did not score until he hit a 3-pointer midway through the second quarter.

“We played hard,” Stoudemire said. “It was a scrappy game. There are going to be a lot of loose balls, a lot of long rebounds. You’ve just got to have the heart to get those type of wins.”