Rockets Put Suns in Bad Spot

Shandon Anderson tied his career high with 35 points as the Houston Rockets beat Phoenix, 107-98, Tuesday night at Phoenix and hurt the Suns’ bid for home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Penny Hardaway’s first triple double since 1994 wasn’t enough for the Suns, who fell behind by 17 in the first half, battled back to tie it in the fourth quarter, then were outscored, 20-11, over the final 8 1/2 minutes. Hardaway had 20 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds.

After losing two in a row at home for the first time this season, Phoenix has fallen into a tie with San Antonio for the No. 4 spot in the Western Conference. Since the Spurs hold the tiebreaker edge, the Suns need to win at Golden State tonight and hope San Antonio loses at home to the Lakers.

Charles Barkley had considered making a cameo appearance in the game. But he was in street clothes on the Houston bench to cheer on the Rockets’ sixth victory in seven games. Barkley plans to play briefly in the Rockets’ final game tonight against Vancouver in Houston.

Miami 97, Toronto 73--Pat Riley moved within one victory of 1,000 as the Heat beat the Raptors at Miami. If Miami wins at Charlotte in tonight’s season finale, Riley would become the second NBA coach to hit the four-figure milestone. Atlanta’s Lenny Wilkens has 1,179 career wins.

Atlanta 111, New Jersey 109--If the Hawks played all their games at home, they might have had a shot at the playoffs. Lorenzo Wright scored four of Atlanta’s six points in the second overtime and blocked a potential tying layup by Keith Van Horn at the buzzer.

The Hawks wound up with a 21-20 record in their first season at Philips Arena. Unfortunately, the Hawks, who close out the season at Indiana tonight, were 7-33 on the road.

New York 100, Detroit 88--The Pistons failed to clinch the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, losing in a game at New York that meant almost nothing to the Knicks.

Detroit can still claim the seventh spot and a more favorable matchup--against the Heat rather than the Pacers--in the first round of the playoffs by beating Chicago tonight.

Allan Houston scored 29 to lead the Knicks, who already are locked into a first-round matchup against Toronto.

Philadelphia 93, Chicago 89--Aaron McKie made three free throws in the last 24 seconds at Chicago as 76ers, without Allen Iverson, barely kept their hopes alive for home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Philadelphia is a half-game ahead of the Hornets in the race for the home edge, but Charlotte has one more game and wins the tiebreaker because it took the season series, 3-1.

Charlotte 103, Cleveland 88--David Wesley scored 23 points, including 14 in the decisive third quarter, to spark the Hornets to victory at Cleveland.

Charlotte has won six in a row and 13 of 15.

Boston 114, Washington 81--The Celtics’ 33-point victory at Washington was their biggest margin of victory this season. Reserve forward Danny Fortson had 17 points and 12 rebounds to lead seven players in double figures for the Celtics.

Chris Whitney, finishing the season for injured point guard Rod Strickland, scored 25 points for the Wizards, who matched their worst loss of the season and dropped their final three home games.

Denver 105, Utah 104--Raef LaFrentz had a career-high 32 points and 17 rebounds and George McCloud hit a 20-foot jump shot with 25 seconds left in overtime for the Nuggets at Denver as Jazz Coach Jerry Sloan rested his starters for the final 19 minutes.