Suns Now on the Hot Seat

The Greatest Show on Earth just received notice it is running out of performances.

The Phoenix Suns, the highest-scoring NBA team in 10 years, shot it out with the San Antonio Spurs again and lost again.

They got the standard 37 points by Amare Stoudemire and the usual 29 points and 15 assists by Steve Nash, but the Spurs came from behind on them again Tuesday night, scoring on 12 of their last 13 possessions and winning, 111-108.

The Spurs lead the Western Conference finals, 2-0, going back to San Antonio for Games 3 and 4. The Suns are down to two chances: Slim and none.

“The last two games, they’ve been phenomenal at making big shots in the fourth quarter,” said Nash.

Worse for the Suns, they hit the Spurs with their best shot, shooting 55.7% and coming back from a 13-point deficit to go up by nine points in the third period.

“We didn’t do very well on defense,” conceded Spur Coach Gregg Popovich. “Part of the reason is because Steve is the MVP of the league and Amare is unstoppable.”

Of course, the Suns do even worse trying to defend against the Spurs. After San Antonio hit them with a 43-point fourth quarter in Game 1, Sun Coach Mike D’Antoni said, “Hopefully, this will be a long series.”

Nor did the Suns sound as confident about their little lineup after Game 1. Shawn Marion, asked about letting Tim Duncan score 28 points on him, noted, “Do the math. I’m only 6-7, 225.”

Tuesday, D’Antoni put Stoudemire on Duncan, hoping that Stoudemire would stay out of foul trouble. That didn’t turn out to be the Suns’ problem; they played lethargically in the first quarter and the next thing they knew, they were behind, 26-13.

By halftime, however, Nash had 18 points, Stoudemire had 16 and the Suns were back in it.

When Duncan came out after picking up his fourth foul early in the third period, the Suns surged into a nine-point lead. Popovich had to put Duncan back in the game.

The Spurs cut the Suns’ lead to 85-80 going into the fourth quarter. By then, the Suns’ starters had already logged heavy minutes -- Nash wound up going 46, Stoudemire 42 and Marion 44 -- and the deeper Spurs, who had only one player, Tony Parker, go 40, ran them down again.

With Joe Johnson still out, D’Antoni played his reserves for a total of 33 minutes, with backup center Stephen Hunter getting 30.

“I rolled the dice a little bit to see if he [Nash] didn’t run out of gas and he might have just a little bit in the fourth quarter,” the coach said.

Nash is on one of the great rolls in playoff history, with games of 48-34-39-29-29. However, at the end, the Spurs began trapping him when he came off screens on pick-and-rolls, trying to get the ball out of his hands. It worked only a couple of times but seeing as how the Suns couldn’t stop the Spurs at all, it was enough.

With 2:56 left, Nash made a three-point basket to give the Suns their last lead, 102-100. At the other end, Robert Horry made his third three-point basket of the game to put the Spurs back ahead, 103-102, with 2:31 left.

Nash, shooting 59% over his five-game burst, made 13 of 22 Tuesday night, but this time down the floor he missed a 17-footer. At the other end, Manu Ginobili beat Marion, who was playing him to go left.

Ginobili came back right by going behind the back on the dribble and scored on a reverse right-handed layup to put the Spurs up, 105-102.

Stoudemire then blew a layup and Ginobili hit a 17-footer, making it 107-102.

After that, the Spurs held off the Suns.

“We know it’s going to be tough,” said D’Antoni, “but with four days off, we will prepare a little bit and try to get Game 3. If we get Game 3, it’s a different ball game.”

The bad news for Phoenix: As the sides are presently constituted, there aren’t enough Suns.

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NBA PLAYOFFS

* If necessary; All times Pacific

EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS

No. 1 MIAMI vs. No. 2 DETROIT

Pistons lead series, 1-0

* GM 1: Detroit 90, at Miami 81

* GM 2: Tonight at Miami...5

* GM 3: Sunday at Detroit...5 p.m.

* GM 4: Tuesday at Detroit...5 p.m.

* GM 5: June 2 at Miami...5 p.m.*

* GM 6: June 4 at Detroit...5 p.m.*

* GM 7: June 6 at Miami...5 p.m.*

TV coverage: All games are on TNT.

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WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS

No. 1 PHOENIX vs. No. 2 SAN ANTONIO

Spurs lead series, 2-0

* GM 1: San Antonio 121, at Phoenix 114

* GM 2: San Antonio 111, at Phoenix 108

* GM 3: Saturday at San Antonio...6 p.m.

* GM 4: Monday at San Antonio...5:30 p.m.

* GM 5: June 1 at Phoenix...6 p.m.*

* GM 6: June 3 at San Antonio...6 p.m.*

* GM 7: June 5 at Phoenix...5:30 p.m.*

TV coverage: ESPN -- Games 3, 5, 6. Channel 7 -- Games 4, 7.