Robinson Scores 50 for Suns

In the greatest night of his 11 NBA seasons, Cliff Robinson scored a career-high 50 points, the most by any player in the league this season, and tied the Phoenix record for points in a quarter with 23 as the Suns beat the visiting Denver Nuggets, 113-100, Sunday night.

“I don’t think he took a bad shot,” teammate Jason Kidd said.

Toronto’s Vince Carter had the league’s previous high this season with 47 on Friday night against Milwaukee.

Robinson, sent home from the team’s shoot-around earlier in the day because of flu, broke the scoring record for the eight-year-old America West Arena. The previous mark was 42 by former Sun Kevin Johnson on April 3, 1994.

It was the third-highest regular-season scoring game for a Phoenix player. Tom Chambers scored 60 and 56 in the 1989-90 season. Robinson’s 23 first-quarter points also were an arena record.

Robinson’s 23 first-quarter points equaled the franchise record set by Charlie Scott against Seattle on Dec. 16, 1973, and tied by Eddie Johnson against the Clippers on Nov. 12, 1988.

Robinson’s performance made him the 130th NBA player to top 13,000 points for his career. He needed 32 going into the game.

“It felt great,” Robinson said. “I just tried to put some effort out there, and it came out good.”

Robinson’s previous career high was 41 when he played for Portland against Minnesota on Jan. 7, 1996.

Denver Coach Dan Issel was ejected when he drew his second technical foul as the Nuggets left the court at halftime. It was the second game in a row that the visiting team’s coach was thrown out of the game in Phoenix. Portland Coach Mike Dunleavy was ejected from the Trail Blazers’ victory over the Suns on Friday night.

Sacramento 113, Cleveland 102--Chris Webber had 25 points, 11 rebounds and five blocked shots as the Kings held off the Cavaliers at Sacramento. Jason Williams added 20 points and 10 assists for the Kings, who won their fifth in a row and ninth of 11.

Miami 94, Vancouver 83--Alonzo Mourning scored eight of his 27 points in the fourth quarter as the Heat won at Vancouver, Canada.

Michael Dickerson scored 23 points for the Grizzlies, who lost their third game in a row.

Notes

In a funeral service in his hometown of Baton Rouge, La., Bobby Phills’ teammates and friends said goodbye to the Charlotte Hornet guard who died Wednesday in a car crash after drag racing with a teammate. . . . Milwaukee’s J.R. Reid and Toronto’s Charles Oakley were each suspended for one game and fined $7,500 by the NBA. Reid hit Toronto’s Antonio Davis in the face Friday night, and Oakley did not leave the court in a timely manner after being ejected for extreme unsportsmanlike conduct a few moments earlier in the same game. . . . The Cleveland Cavaliers placed backup forward Ryan Stack on the injured list and activated forward Danny Ferry. Stack collapsed from apparent dehydration before last Wednesday night’s game at Portland and is awaiting test results.