Suns' All-Star Trio Shine Against Spurs

The Suns' All-Star trio helped Phoenix start a new winning streak with a rare victory over the Spurs. Dwyane Wade didn't look much like an All-Star for three quarters _ then he put together an

Friday, February 2nd 2007, 6:46 am

By: News On 6

The Suns' All-Star trio helped Phoenix start a new winning streak with a rare victory over the Spurs. Dwyane Wade didn't look much like an All-Star for three quarters _ then he put together an All-World fourth quarter for the Heat.

Amare Stoudemire had 24 points and a career-high 23 rebounds, Steve Nash had 11 assists and Shawn Marion has 12 points and 12 boards as Suns rallied to beat San Antonio 103-87 Thursday night. The victory came three days after their 17-game winning streak was snapped at Minnesota.

All three Suns standouts were selected earlier Thursday as reserves for the Western Conference All-Star team, which will be led by Suns coach Mike D'Antoni in Las Vegas on Feb. 18.

``I'm just really happy for all three because they deserve it,'' D'Antoni said. ``They got me to Vegas so for them to make it is great. The coaches rewarded the guys who played unselfishly for their team.''

The Suns won for the third time in 13 regular-season games against the Spurs, and for the first time this season they beat one of the other top teams in the West. Phoenix is now 1-5 against Dallas, Utah and San Antonio.

In the first meeting of the season between the Suns and Spurs, San Antonio won 111-106 in overtime. It was part of Phoenix's 1-5 start to the season.

``The team that played those guys in early November is not even close to being the same team today,'' D'Antoni said.

The Suns have won 36 of their last 40.

In the only other NBA game of the night, Wade scored a team-record 24 points in the fourth quarter as Miami pulled off a big rally at home to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 92-89.

Wade, an All-Star starter for the East, set two other team records: most free throws made in a game (23, in 24 chances) and most turnovers (12).

``I knew it was a matter of time before I got going,'' said Wade, who finished with 41 points. ``I was just hoping it came soon.''

While Miami's franchise player was in top form late, Cleveland's All-Star starter was obviously hurting.

LeBron James, bothered by a sprained right big toe, played 36 minutes and finished with 17 points, nine assists and six rebounds _ but was 3-for-8 from the line and missed three free throws in a span of 17.2 seconds late in the game, including one that would have tied it with 44.8 seconds left.

Cleveland's biggest lead was 12 on two occasions, the last on Eric Snow's jumper with 8:01 left, but Miami outscored the Cavaliers 28-13 from there, led by Wade.

In Phoenix, Manu Ginobili scored 32 points for the Spurs, who have lost two straight. Tim Duncan and Tony Parker each added 20 for San Antonio. Duncan also had 18 rebounds.

``We had a really tough game against a difficult team (Utah on Wednesday) and today we played a team that runs fastest in the league,'' Ginobili said. ``It's hard to keep up with them. But I don't believe we lost because of being tired. They made key shots. We didn't.''

Parker also was selected as a Western Conference reserve, along with Denver's Allen Iverson, who extended his streak of consecutive All-Star appearances to eight, Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki and Utah forward Carlos Boozer.

Left off was Carmelo Anthony, the NBA's leading scorer. He is averaging 31.3 points but missed 15 games while suspended for his role in the brawl at Madison Square Garden in December.

Boozer is dealing with an injury, as is starting All-Star center Yao Ming, so a spot could open up for Anthony.

Detroit and New Jersey had two players apiece picked for the Eastern Conference reserves.

Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton, who both made their first appearances last season, are going back for the Pistons, and Jason Kidd and Vince Carter will represent the Nets in the game at UNLV's Thomas & Mack Center.

``I'm happy that Rip made it, too, because he's having a career year,'' Billups said. ``If I only made it, a piece of me would've been disappointed. I've always felt like we're a package deal.''

Indiana's Jermaine O'Neal and first-timers Dwight Howard of Orlando and Caron Butler of Washington round out the East reserves.

The seven reserves were voted on by the head coaches in their respective conferences. Coaches couldn't vote for their own players, and had to select two forwards, two guards, a center and two players regardless of their position.