Suns get best win of O’Neal’s tenure

PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns picked a nice afternoon and the perfect opponent to show why they felt they needed Shaquille O’Neal.

Three days past his 36th birthday, in his 10th game with Phoenix, O’Neal scored 14 points and grabbed 16 rebounds Sunday to help the Suns beat the San Antonio Spurs, 94-87.

O’Neal provided the toughness, not to mention girth, the Suns felt they needed inside to finally get past the Spurs in the West. He even dived into the third row for a loose ball, catching an unfortunate fan with an elbow to the lip.

“I think I hit one guy,” he said. “I tried to miss the kids.”

Grant Hill scored 18 points, including a crucial baseline 20-footer with 1:15 to go, as the Suns showed why they thought they needed O’Neal to compete with the rugged Spurs and the other big teams in the West.

“There’s a lot of teams with size in the West,” Nash said. “We added size, let alone a guy with championship experience. One win isn’t going to say we’re a finished product, but we’re on our way, I think, to improving and getting to a place where we’re going to feel confident once the playoffs come around.”

Phoenix outscored the Spurs, 14-2, in the final 3:40 to improve to 4-6 with O’Neal.

“It was definitely a playoff atmosphere,” said Suns Coach Mike D’Antoni, whose team lost a bitter series to the Spurs a year ago. “It’s a big game just because of the standings and everything, but we do know we still need some work, and we know it’s not going to be easy.”

Manu Ginobili scored 22 points but missed several shots down the stretch for the Spurs, who lost their second in a row after an 11-game winning streak. Tony Parker added 21 points. Tim Duncan had 17 points and 10 rebounds.

“I had two turnovers and two missed layups down the stretch,” Duncan said. “We’re up five with three-something left -- a situation where we usually play a lot better than that.”

Amare Stoudemire scored five of his 16 points in the last three minutes for Phoenix, which had lost its previous three at home. Stoudemire played the final 6:51 and O’Neal the last 5:55 with five fouls.

O’Neal’s two blocked shots made him the third player in NBA history to have 26,000 points, 11,500 rebounds and 2,500 blocks. The others are Kareem-Abdul Jabbar and Hakeem Olajuwon.

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