Sacramento’s Loss Is the Lakers’ Big Gain

The Phoenix Suns are rising, the Sacramento Kings are falling, and they could face each other in the first round of the playoffs.

Shawn Marion had 16 points and tied his career-high with 19 rebounds as Phoenix beat Sacramento, 88-86, Sunday night, knocking the Kings out of first place in the Pacific Division.

Jason Kidd added 20 points and 14 assists and Rodney Rogers scored 20 as the Suns climbed a half-game ahead of Portland into sixth place in the Western Conference playoff race.

Chris Webber scored 22 points but none in the fourth quarter for the Kings, who fell a half-game behind the Lakers in the division. The Lakers own the tiebreaker against the Kings and can clinch the division title with a win over the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday.

Webber missed all three of his fourth-quarter shots, including a short hook in traffic that would have tied the score with less than a second to play.

He had little to say afterward.

“I don’t know, I don’t know,” Webber said. “It just hurts too much.”

Webber scored only four points in the second half.

“Whatever the Lakers did, we had to win and we didn’t do it,” Sacramento Coach Rick Adelman said. “Now they’ve got destiny in their hands.”

Phoenix, one game behind Dallas for the No. 5 spot, has two to play.

Dallas 107, Seattle 99--Michael Finley scored 26 points as the Mavericks outlasted the SuperSonics in overtime at Seattle to pull within one game of Utah for the fourth spot in the Western Conference.

Philadelphia 89, New York 82--Allen Iverson scored 27 points at Philadelphia to help the 76ers defeat a playoff-bound team for only the fourth time in the last 13 games.

The Knicks stayed one game behind Miami for third place in the Eastern Conference.

Orlando 90, Miami 73--Tracy McGrady scored 24 points at Miami as the Heat suffered a lopsided loss without point guard Tim Hardaway.

Hardaway went on the injured list before the game because of a bruised left foot and will miss the rest of the regular season. He is expected to be ready for the playoffs.

Miami’s Alonzo Mourning, starting for the first time this season, had six points and seven rebounds in 20 minutes.

Minnesota 107, Utah 100--Jazz forward Karl Malone and Timberwolf forward Kevin Garnett were ejected for arguing calls within a minute of each other about midway through the third quarter but Minnesota regrouped to win at Minneapolis.

Garnett made an obscene gesture toward the officials as he left the court.

Garnett and Wally Szczerbiak had 17 points apiece for Minnesota.

Charlotte 99, Detroit 90--Jamal Mashburn had 20 points at Auburn Hills, Mich., to help the Hornets win their second in a row after losing eight of 10.

The Hornets are one game behind Toronto for the fifth seed in the East and one game ahead of Orlando.

Indiana 93, Chicago 86--Zan Tabak scored a season-high 16 points at Chicago and the Pacers (40-40) won their seventh consecutive game to reach .500 for the first time since being 11-11.

Boston 95, New Jersey 88--Walter McCarty, making only his second start of the season, scored 27 points in the Celtics’ victory at Boston.

Cleveland 106, Washington 98--Andre Miller scored 10 of his 20 points in the decisive third quarter in the Cavaliers’ victory at Washington.