Suns’ Marion Suffers a Concussion in Fall

Shawn Marion’s game thrives above the rim, but that style of play can be as dangerous as it is spectacular.

Marion, one of the NBA’s rising stars, was carried off the court at America West Arena in Phoenix on a stretcher after sustaining a concussion in a frightening fall in the final minute of the Phoenix Suns’ 90-80 victory over the Utah Jazz on Sunday.

Suns’ team doctor Thomas Carter said Marion had a “grade 3” concussion--the most severe type--because he lost consciousness for more than a minute.

Marion was to be hospitalized overnight for observation and would be sidelined for about a week, Carter said.

Marion also sprained his right wrist on his fall, but tests showed no other serious injuries.

The second-year forward, who had 24 points and 14 rebounds, soared for a rebound after John Stockton missed a three-point attempt, but he came down on the back of Utah’s John Starks and slammed shoulder- and head-first on the court with 52.2 seconds left.

Marion briefly lost consciousness, then was loaded carefully onto a stretcher and taken to a hospital for tests.

“It looked really, really bad,” Sun Coach Scott Skiles said.

“When I got there, he was in and out of consciousness. Doc got him to say a couple words and it looked like he was going to be OK.”

The crowd loudly booed Starks as Marion was taken off, but the Suns’ Jason Kidd said the play was clean. Marion, who made two big offensive plays in the final minutes, had soared over Starks to get the rebound.

“I was backing up to block him out and caught up underneath his leg,” Starks said. “I tried to catch him, but he just came down hard.”

The Suns won their fourth in a row and are 6-1 since the All-Star break. During that stretch, Marion has averaged 24.3 points and 13.1 rebounds while shooting 59%.

New York 88, Sacramento 86--Jason Williams gave no explanation for what happened on the final play of the game, which was fitting in a way because his miss was so inexplicable. Williams blew a wide-open layup just before time expired at Madison Square Garden, capping a futile fourth quarter on offense for the Kings.

“It was a layup. It was a good shot,” King Coach Rick Adelman said. “Jason made a drive, he was right there, it just rolled out.”

Latrell Sprewell scored four of his 18 points in the final 41 seconds for the Knicks, who held the Kings to two baskets during the final nine minutes.

Allan Houston scored 21, Marcus Camby grabbed 17 rebounds and Kurt Thomas and Glen Rice came off the bench to each score 10 points for the Knicks, who won for only the third time in their last eight games.

Mark Jackson had six points and one assist in 27 minutes as he took over New York’s starting point guard job from Charlie Ward.

Peja Stojakovic led Sacramento with 26 points, only two of which came during the final 12 minutes as the Kings struggled without Chris Webber, who sat out his seventh consecutive game because of a sprained ankle.

Indiana 110, Minnesota 100--The Pacers played long ball at Indianapolis, making a season-high 14 of 19 three-point baskets, including six in the fourth quarter.

Reggie Miller and Jalen Rose each scored 29 points to lead the Pacers.

Austin Croshere, who scored only two points in the first three quarters, made all three of his three-point attempts in the fourth, with the final one pushing the lead back to 11 points.

Miller followed with the sixth of his season-high seven three-pointers on the next possession for a 96-81 lead.

Milwaukee 122, Golden State 95--Glenn Robinson returned from a one-game suspension to score a career-high 45 points to help the Bucks at Milwaukee.

Robinson, who sat out Friday’s game against the Vancouver Grizzlies while serving a suspension for his part in an altercation with Chicago’s Ron Artest on Tuesday night, made 18 of 27 shots and seven of eight free throws.

Cleveland 101, Detroit 94--The Cavaliers used an 11-0 run midway through the fourth quarter to take control and end their six-game road losing streak. Jerry Stackhouse scored 35 points and Ben Wallace had eight blocked shots for Detroit, which lost for the fourth time in five games.

Lamond Murray led the Cavaliers with 19 points.

New Jersey 101, Washington 91--The Nets, who shot 49%, never trailed at East Rutherford, N.J., after outscoring the Wizards, 27-13, in the second quarter of a game that pitted the worst teams in the Atlantic Division.