Suns Get Defensive in Beating Rockets

Believe it or not, the high-scoring Phoenix Suns had to rely on some tough defense to get out of Houston with their fifth straight victory.

Shawn Marion had 23 points and 18 rebounds, Joe Johnson added 19 points and the surging Suns held the Rockets to 34% shooting in a 91-78 victory on Sunday night.

“It was one of those games when you would have liked to play better offensively,” Phoenix Coach Mike D’Antoni said. “But they only shot 34%. So, on one hand, defensively we did a great job.”

Former Rocket Jim Jackson came off the bench to score 15 points on a night when two of their All-Stars, point guard Steve Nash (five points) and power forward Amare Stoudemire (nine), struggled. They combined to make only six of 17 shots.

The victory kept Phoenix ahead in the race for the league’s best record (56-17) in the battle with Miami (55-19) and San Antonio (54-19) for home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.

The Rockets, meanwhile, couldn’t take advantage of a rare off-night by Phoenix. They were held to 78 points, about 26 fewer than the Suns’ league-worst average, and failed to get an unusually active Yao Ming more involved. Yao returned after missing Friday’s loss to New Orleans because of a sore right calf and had 19 points, 12 rebounds and two blocked shots. Tracy McGrady had only 13 points on six-for-21 shooting.

Cleveland 100, Dallas 80 -- Playing all 48 minutes, LeBron James scored 37 points at Cleveland to help the Cavaliers win despite the late third-quarter ejections of Robert Traylor and Drew Gooden for arguing a foul called on Traylor.

“LeBron came up right after that and said, ‘I’ve got it,’ ” Cavalier interim Coach Brendan Malone said. “When you have a player of his caliber saying ‘I’ve got it,’ you got it.”

Dirk Nowitzki scored 21 points for the Mavericks, who had a four-game winning streak ended.

Philadelphia 97, Boston 93 -- Allen Iverson scored 38 points for the 76ers, who blew most of a 26-point first-quarter lead but held on at Boston.

Philadelphia, which had lost three in a row, moved one game ahead of Orlando for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.

Iverson added nine assists and six steals and put the game away with a jumper with 22.7 seconds left after the Celtics had cut the lead to three. Paul Pierce had 26 points and 13 rebounds for Boston.

Minnesota 112, Sacramento 100 -- Kevin Garnett had 30 points and 13 rebounds and the Timberwolves took a 16-point lead early in the fourth quarter to extend to four the longest current winning streak of any opponent at Arco Arena.

Peja Stojakovic scored 25 points for the Kings.

Golden State 101, Seattle 92 -- Jason Richardson scored 22 points at Oakland to help the Warriors keep the SuperSonics from clinching their first division title since the 1997-98 season.

Ray Allen had 27 points, nine rebounds and five assists for Seattle.

Detroit 113, Toronto 103 -- Chauncey Billups scored eight of his 26 points during a decisive 16-0 fourth-quarter run to lead the Pistons at Toronto.

Jalen Rose and Morris Peterson each had 22 points for the Raptors.

Indiana 79, Washington 76 -- Stephen Jackson and Anthony Johnson scored 15 points apiece and the Pacers overcame two-for-20 three-point shooting with a 16-2 fourth-quarter run at Washington.

Gilbert Arenas had 22 points for the Wizards.

Milwaukee 106, New York 102 -- Mo Williams made four free throws and Desmond Mason added another in the final 16 seconds at Milwaukee to help the Bucks end their eight-game losing streak.

Michael Redd had 32 points to lead the Bucks.