News / Sports
NBA Scores: Phoenix Suns Blowout the Utah Jazz to Inch Closer to Locking No. 2 Seed
Amare Stoudemire scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, Steve Nash added 13 points and 18 assists and Leandro Barbosa ended the night with 28 points as the Phoenix Suns (61-19) blew out the Utah Jazz (49-31) 126-98 to move within one victory of locking up the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference playoffs.
Phoenix had seven players score in double figures and shot 52 percent from the floor in the lopsided win. Both Shawn Marion and Raja Bell finished with 18, Boris Diaw added 14 and James Jones scored 10 to round out the list.
The Suns had little problem establishing their dominance early in the game after opening the contest on a 13-1 run that acted as a knock out blow to a stunned Jazz unit. Bell hit three three-pointers in the period as Suns took a 32-19 lead into the second quarter.
Utah was able to cut their deficit to five in the first four minutes of the second but Phoenix responded with a 16-6 run that pushed their lead back to 52-37. By the end of the half they had moved ahead by 22 and Utah had no way of stopping the Phoenix offense.
Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur each finished with a double-double for the Jazz, Boozer had 18 points and 10 rebounds while Okur finished with 20 points and 10 boards in the loss.
Phoenix is currently slated to play the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs but Sunday could change all of that. The Lakers have a ½ game lead on the Los Angeles Clippers for the seventh spot in the playoffs while The Golden State Warriors have an identical record to the Clippers. All three teams play on Sunday and a Clippers and Warriors victory coupled with a Lakers loss would drop the Lakers outside the playoff picture with just one game remaining. The Clippers and the Warriors each have two games left on their schedule following Sunday’s games.
