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PHOENIX (AP) -- Amare Stoudemire had 22 points and 20 rebounds, Leandro Barbosa scored 25 points and the Phoenix Suns ended a four-game losing streak with a 106-104 victory over the Utah Jazz on Saturday night.
In a game that was close throughout, the Suns finally took the lead for good, 100-99, on Boris Diaw's free throw with 1:55 to play. Then, Stoudemire scored on a layup with 41.4 seconds left, and Steve Nash hit two free throws with 20.7 seconds remaining, giving Phoenix a 104-99 lead. Utah's Andrei Kirilenko hit a 3-pointer with 15.5 to go, then Diaw and Matt Barnes each made a foul shot before Utah got the final basket.
Shaqulle O'Neal, who was in foul trouble throughout the second half, had 15 points and 10 rebounds for Phoenix. Barnes finished with 14 points, and Diaw and Nash with 12 apiece. Nash also had nine assists.
Paul Millsap and C.J. Miles, who hit four of four 3-pointers, topped the Jazz with 20 points each. Kirilenko scored 17 points, Daron Williams had 15 points and 15 assists, and Mehmet Okur had 12 points and 13 rebounds.
Utah, playing without leader scorer Carlos Boozer for the 10th straight game (left quad), capitalized on the Suns' sloppy ballhandling in the first half, scoring 19 points off 11 Phoenix turnovers and forging a 50-50 tie at intermission. In contrast, Utah turned the ball over only nine times, leading to seven Phoenix points.
Even though the Suns shot 52.3 percent from the field (23-for-44) in the first two quarters, they were only 1-for-10 from 3-point range.
It was a back-and-forth half, with the teams exchanging the lead eight times. There also were eight ties. The Jazz got even in the final 1:08 on a layup by Millsap and two jumpers by Williams. At halftime, Utah already had three players in double figures -- Miles and Millsap with 12 points apiece and Williams with 10. Stoudemire led the Suns with 11.
The third period was a copy of the first two, and ended tied at 78.
O'Neal incurred his fourth personal with 6:42 left in the quarter and sat down. But Barbosa picked up the offensive slack for Phoenix, scoring 11 points. Meanwhile, the Jazz kept pace by scoring at will underneath against the Suns' porous interior defense.
O'Neal came back for the start of the fourth period but was tagged with his fifth personal 51 seconds into the quarter and had to leave again. Foul difficulty also hampered the Jazz when Millsap got his fifth with 9:05 remaining and was taken out.
Notes:@ Without Boozer, and centers Jarron Collins (inflamed right elbow) and Kyrylo Fesenko (strained lower back), the Jazz already have missed 69 man games -- 24 more than all of last season. ... They lost another player in the first quarter when Brevin Knight was taken to a hospital for a CT scan after hit in the throat. ... Starting the game, the Suns led the league in field-goal percentage and turnovers; only the 1974-75 Portland Trail Blazers have finished a season No. 1 in both categories. ... The Jazz beat the Suns 109-97 in their first meeting this season, even though Williams and Okur did not play. ... Nash had six assists in the first half, enabling him to pass Alvan Adams for second place on the Suns' career assists list with 4,014.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
