Stoudemire, Suns Win 11th Straight Game

Tuesday, December 12th 2006, 6:17 am

By: News On 6

The Phoenix Suns look simply unstoppable. Amare Stoudemire scored a season-high 30 points and the Suns coasted to their 11th straight victory, 103-89 over the Orlando Magic on Monday night.

It was Stoudemire's highest-scoring game since he had 42 in the Suns' Game 5 playoff loss to the Spurs on June 1, 2005.

Shawn Marion had 19 points and Steve Nash added 18 points and 15 assists for Phoenix, which displayed a stifling team defense in the third quarter. The Suns held the Magic to 28-percent shooting and forced seven turnovers in the period while outscoring them 30-14 to break open a close game.

``Offensively, we were just OK, but I thought the third quarter was the best defense we ever played and that's kind of shocking,'' Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni said.

The Suns outscored the Magic 20-3 in the first 8 minutes of the third quarter. The Magic missed eight straight shots and turned the ball over five times during that stretch.

``Potentially, we can always play great defense,'' Stoudemire said. ``Orlando did a great job of hanging with us for awhile, but we put them away when we started playing defense in that third quarter.''

Stoudemire had 10 points in the quarter and the Suns pushed the lead to 21 points before settling for a 85-67 lead at the end of the period.

In other games Monday night, it was: Portland 81, Philadelphia 79; Miami 99, Toronto 77; New Jersey 105, Memphis 92; Boston 97, New York 90; New Orleans 95, Cleveland 89; Chicago 106, Indiana 91; Utah 101, Dallas 79; and San Antonio 103, the Los Angeles Clippers 81.

The closest the Magic got in the final quarter was 94-83 on a 3-pointer by Travis Diener with 5:41 to play. Marion answered with a dunk and Boris Diaw's 3-pointer gave the Suns plenty of cushion for the final 3 minutes.

Magic center Dwight Howard got in early foul trouble and played only 19 minutes before fouling out. Howard scored four points and had three rebounds, both season lows.

Magic coach Brian Hill picked up a technical for vehemently arguing the fifth foul called on Howard.

``I didn't think it was a two-way street,'' Hill said. ``I thought (Howard) was getting beat on pretty good at one end and every time he touched somebody at the other end, the whistle blew.''

Backup Trevor Ariza had a season-high 19 points and seven rebounds for Orlando.

Jazz 101, Mavericks 79

At Salt Lake City, Carlos Boozer had 31 points and 11 rebounds to help Utah coach Jerry Sloan get his 1,000th win.

Deron Williams finished with 15 points and seven assists for the Jazz, who improved their NBA-best record to 16-5.

Dirk Nowitzki had 26 points and 11 rebounds for Dallas, which was outrebounded 42-26.

Nets 105, Grizzlies 92

At East Rutherford, N.J., Vince Carter put on a long-range show, setting a New Jersey single-game record with nine 3-pointers.

Carter finished with 37 points and Jason Kidd moved past Wilt Chamberlain into sole possession of third place for career triple-doubles, registering his 79th with 12 points, 13 assists, 10 rebounds.

The Nets' also tied a franchise record with 15 3-pointers in snapping a three-game losing streak and winning for only the third time in 11 games.

Chucky Atkins had 26 points to lead Memphis.

Trail Blazers 81, 76ers 79

Playing without Allen Iverson once again, host Philadelphia lost its eighth straight game.

Zach Randolph had 18 points and 10 rebounds, and Juan Dixon added 17 points for Portland.

Nearly all traces of the inactive Iverson were gone from the Wachovia Center, and the usually faithful fans were also absent. Iverson's nameplate was removed, his locker was cleaned out, and the pregame video featured none of his dazzling highlights.

Spurs 103, Clippers 81

Tony Parker scored 21 points, Manu Ginobili added 18 and visiting San Antonio led from wire-to-wire. Reserve Brent Barry scored a game-high 24 points for the Spurs.

Elton Brand led the lethargic Clippers with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Paul Davis had 15 points and Shaun Livingston had 11 points and eight assists.

Heat 99, Raptors 77

Dwyane Wade tied his season high with 37 points, including individual runs of 11 and 10 points, for host Miami.

Anthony Parker scored 18 points for the Raptors, who played their second straight game with leading scorer Chris Bosh sitting out due to a bruised bone in his left knee.

Hornets 95, Cavaliers 89

At Oklahoma City, Chris Paul had 30 points and 11 assists to lead the Hornets.

New Orleans had lost seven of its last eight games, but shot 54.7 percent from the field against the Cavaliers, who didn't score for 4 1/2 minutes in the fourth quarter.

Cleveland's LeBron James finished with 15 points, well below his season average of 27.3 points coming into the game.

Bulls 106, Pacers 91

Ben Gordon scored 23 points off the bench and Luol Deng added 22 to lift host Chicago.

Indiana starters Jermaine O'Neal, Al Harrington and Stephen Jackson all missed the game. Harrington and reserve Marquis Daniels were held out because of a stomach ailment. O'Neal also was sick, but wouldn't have played anyway because of a hamstring injury. Jamaal Tinsley scored 21 points despite being ill.

Jackson was suspended because of his heated exchange with coach Rick Carlisle, who kicked him off the bench in a lopsided loss to Cleveland during the weekend.

Celtics 97, Knicks 90

At New York, Paul Pierce scored 30 points, and Boston held on after nearly blowing a 30-point lead.

Boston led 68-38 early in the third quarter, but the Celtics went cold in the fourth quarter, allowing the Knicks to close within three points with 1:28 to play.

New York's Eddy Curry scored 30 points, his 10th straight game with 20 or more.