Spurs beat Suns at buzzer
Mason's 3-pointer lifts San Antonio
Roger Mason didn't play at all in the fourth quarter until there were 4.3 seconds left. Then he came in and made the biggest shot of the game.
Mason's 3-pointer from the corner at the buzzer yesterday gave the San Antonio Spurs a 91-90 victory over the Suns in Phoenix.
"As a shooter, you're always prepared," Mason said. "Coach put me in that situation, and I knew if I had it, I was going to shoot it."
The Suns had taken the lead on Grant Hill's layup on an out-of-bounds play with 4.3 seconds to go.
After a timeout, Tony Parker drove toward the basket for San Antonio and threw to Mason, who was wide open because defender Jason Richardson had sagged toward the basket.
"As I beat Grant Hill, Jason Richardson came in," Parker said. "Roger was wide open, and that's his shot. He's been knocking them down all season, so I trusted him."
Parker scored 27 and Tim Duncan had 25 points and 17 rebounds as the Spurs won their fourth straight. Amar'e Stoudemire had 25 points and 13 rebounds and Shaquille O'Neal 23 points and 12 boards for the Suns, who led most of the afternoon but never by more than 8 in the second half.
Despite foul trouble, Duncan stopped Stoudemire on three straight late drives to the basket.
"I thought Timmy down the stretch was absolutely spectacular," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "With five fouls, the defense he played down low when they were going at him - making the stop, getting the rebound, and getting it out - I thought he was just magnificent."
Duncan knew the Suns would go after him "no matter who I was guarding, whether it was Shaq or Amar'e."
"They chose Amar'e," Duncan said. "I was physical with him. I didn't back down or change my defense in any way."
After a timeout, Hill (16 points) inbounded to Stoudemire, than ran to the baseline and toward the basket, where Stoudemire found him for the uncontested layup.
But the Spurs had the last shot. When Parker drove toward the basket, Richardson came in to help on defense. That left Mason, a 48 percent 3-point shooter who hadn't scored since the second quarter, alone for the winner, sending San Antonio to its 10th win in its last 12 games.
"We just had a breakdown," Phoenix coach Terry Porter said. "I mean, Grant did a good job on guarding the guy, the guy in the corner [Richardson] got suckered in too much and allowed Mason to get some space. Give Tony Parker some credit. He found him and Mason hit a wide-open shot."
Cavaliers 93, Wizards 89 - Being home for the holidays was almost a downer for Cleveland.
Down by 8 to Washington, the Cavaliers scored 11 straight points in the final 1:33 to preserve their perfect 15-0 record at home. Mo Williams scored 24 points, and LeBron James and Delonte West had 18 apiece for the Cavaliers, who are the NBA's lone unbeaten team at home.
Cleveland trailed, 89-82, before storming back with three free throws by James, a 3-pointer by Williams, and five more foul shots in the last 26 seconds.
Antawn Jamison scored 28 points, and Mike James had 26 for the Wizards, who dropped their eighth straight.
Magic 88, Hornets 68 - Hedo Turkoglu scored 20 points, and Dwight Howard had 12 points and 15 rebounds as Orlando routed visiting New Orleans for its sixth straight victory.
David West had 13 points for New Orleans. 