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If you’re a paying customer and fan of a NBA team, imagine this. Your team is rallying from a deficit – successfully, I might add – and hold off their opponent to gain the win. While that is impressive, imagine that your team does this without their star point guard and the player in question is healthy and having a great game.

That’s what happened during the game on Wednesday night between the San Antonio Spurs and Phoenix Suns at US Airways. The Suns, without Steve Nash on the floor during the fourth quarter, managed to put together a rally and would subsequently pull away and grab the 112-101 win over San Antonio. 

Jason Richardson, who had recently been bothered by a sore back, scored 13 points in the third quarter; he dunked after a slick pass from Nash to put the Suns ahead 88-74 with 1:44 in the period. But the Spurs scored the last six of the quarter, capped by a Matt Bonner buzzer-beater that made it 88-80 after three quarters of play.

After Channing Frye’s jumper for the Suns, Roger Mason sank a three-pointer and Tony Parker drained a jumper from the baseline to slice the lead to 90-85 with 10:27 remaining in the game. Suns coach Alvin Gentry called a timeout and they would cruise from that point until the final horn.

Amare Stoudemire led the Suns with 29 points, 8 rebounds, an assist and a steal while Richardson chipped in 20 (including 3 three-pointers) with 2 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal; Nash added 18 with 4 rebounds, 12 assists and a steal while Grant Hill poured in 17 with 8 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal and a block.

Mason led the Spurs with 18 points (including 4 three-pointers), 6 rebounds and an assist while Richard Jefferson added 17 with 6 rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block; Tim Duncan chipped in 14 with 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks.

Phoenix (51-27) plays again on Friday when they travel to Oklahoma City to take on the Thunder while San Antonio (48-30) returns home to host the Memphis Grizzlies – also on Friday night.