April 10th, 2008 
Stephen Rhodes 
Posted in ???????????? 
No track meet was necessary as Wednesday’s matchup between the Phoenix Suns and San Antonio Spurs would indicate; on the contrary, the feel of the game was more like an Eastern Conference game.? Regardless, six Suns scored in double-digits as they comfortably defeated the Spurs, 96-79, at AT&T Center.? The game in and of itself seemed like a Western Conference playoff preview, other than the final score.
San Antonio enjoyed an?early lead in the first quarter, thanks to poor shooting by Phoenix, but the Suns fought back in the second?quarter by taking a brief lead during an 8-0 run – capped by Steve Nash’s first score of the game and 6 straight points by Amare Stoudemire; both teams were knotted up at 45 at halftime.? A dunk by Phoenix’s Boris Diaw put them up 67-66 with 2:20 left in the third quarter and was part of an 11-2 run to close the period; they would take a 72-68 advantage into the fourth quarter.? Up by 4 points, the Suns’ Shaquille O’Neal and Nash helped the Suns pull away with a big 13-0 run to go up by 19; shortly thereafter, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich cleared his bench.
Phoenix was led by Stoudemire with 21 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal and 3blocks while O’Neal scored 16 with 9 rebounds, 2 steals and a block; Nash added 12 with 5 rebounds and 10 assists.? San Antonio was led by Tim Duncan with 23 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocks while Tony Parker scored 20 with 2 rebounds and 4 assists.? Phoenix (53-26) will now make the short trip to Houston to face the?Rockets Friday while San Antonio (53-25) stays home to host the Seattle SuperSonics – also on Friday.
