Spurs win the Southwest

Manu Ginobili scored 30 points in 34 minutes and Nazr Mohammed added 14 rebounds -- 12 in the first half -- as the host San Antonio Spurs clinched the Southwest Division title last night with a 95-89 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.

It's the fourth division title in the past five years for the Spurs. San Antonio won the Midwest Division title before the league realigned prior to this season.

Portland has lost 15 of its last 16 games and 21 of its past 23. The Trail Blazers are 3-19 under coach Kevin Pritchard, who replaced the fired Maurice Cheeks March 2.

The Spurs have won five of six games. They are 8-4 without Tim Duncan, who sprained his right ankle and hasn't played since March 20.

San Antonio never trailed and went on a 15-2 run over a 5:54 stretch late in the second quarter to lead, 48-30, at halftime.

Portland cut San Antonio's lead to 7 points with 34 seconds left in the third quarter but could not get any closer until Joel Pryzbilla made an uncontested layup in the game's final second.

Suns 99, Hornets 85 -- Amare Stoudemire scored 27 points, including making 15 of 16 free throws, and host Phoenix snapped out of its lethargy to dominate New Orleans in the fourth quarter.

Jim Jackson, starting in place of injured Quentin Richardson and coming off a season-high 25 points at the Los Angeles Lakers Monday night, was 6 of 7 from 3-point range and scored 20 points.

Shawn Marion added 18 points and 17 rebounds for the Suns, who at 59-19 stayed one game ahead of San Antonio for the best record in the NBA and homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs.

The 59 victories ties the Suns' second-best total in franchise history, accomplished in 1994-95.

J.R. Smith scored 23 points for New Orleans, while Dan Dickau added 13.

The Suns sleepwalked through most of the first three quarters and were down 77-73 after the Hornets scored the first 4 points of the final quarter.

But Phoenix turned it on, outscoring New Orleans, 26-8, the rest of the way.

Clippers 94, Jazz 85 -- Elton Brand had 25 points and 10 rebounds, leading host Los Angeles past Utah. Marko Jaric added 20 points for the Clippers, who beat Utah for only the fifth time in the last 27 meetings and salvaged a split of the four-game season series.

Shaun Livingston had 15 points and 10 assists, the first double-double in 26 NBA games for the Clippers' injury-plagued rookie point guard.

Los Angeles assistant coach Jim Eyen ran the team while Mike Dunleavy was in New York on an indefinite leave of absence, because of a medical emergency involving his seriously ill father.

Maggette's final 22.2 scoring average is a career high, bettering last season's average by 1.5 points. He is the first Clipper to average 20 points in consecutive seasons since Danny Manning in 1993-94.

Raptors 105, Knicks 93 -- Rafer Alston banked in a 3-pointer to start a 13-0 run midway through the fourth quarter, and visiting Toronto sent New York to its 10th loss in 11 games.Stephon Marbury scored all 22 of his points in the second half to lead the Knicks.