Jeff Hornacek scored 20 points and five of his teammates were in double figures Friday night as the Phoenix Suns won their fifth straight game, 117-91 over the Washington Bullets.
The Suns also extended their road winning streak to five games, and gained their seventh straight victory over an Eastern Conference team. Five of those seven have come on the road.The Bullets have lost their last eight games, their last five home contests and their last seven meetings with Western Conference opponents. The home losing streak is Washington's longest since a similar skid from January 28-February 23, 1982.
Phoenix took control in the closing minutes of the first quarter, going on a 10-3 run over the final 2:26 to take a 36-28 lead. Hornacek keyed the spurt, hitting a pair of 3-pointers and another jumper from just inside the 3-point line.
Andrew Lang of the Suns scored the first four points of the second quarter, on two free throws and a dunk, and Washington got no closer than seven points the rest of the half. Phoenix led 60-50 at halftime.
The Bullets were able to close within six points twice in the third quarter, the last time with 5:19 remaining in the period. Phoenix closed the quarter with a 16-6 run, getting points from seven different players, and took an 88-72 lead into the fourth period.
Bernard King, who did not play in the fourth quarter, had 26 points for Washington. Pervis Ellison, getting his second consecutive start in place of the injured Harvey Grant, had 19 points and 12 rebounds before leaving midway through the final quarter.
Tom Chambers, who had 11 points in the first quarter, finished with 17 for Phoenix. Kevin Johnson, who scored eight in the third period, also had 17. Cedric Ceballos scored 10 of his 20 and Dan Majerle six of his 12 in the fourth quarter.
Magic 129, Nuggets 113
At Orlando, Fla., Dennis Scott scored a career-high 40 points to lead the Orlando Magic to a victory over the Denver Nuggets.
The rookie forward hit 16 of 22 shots, including 4 of 5 3-pointers, as the Magic improved to 7-6 since the All-Star break.
The Nuggets led only twice, both times in the first 10 minutes of the first quarter.
Scott Skiles had 20 points and 20 assists for the Magic, while Jeff Turner scored 20.
Hawks 102, Heat 96
At Miami, Duane Ferrell came off the bench to score all eight of his points during an 18-6 second-half run that propelled the Atlanta Hawks to a win over the Miami Heat.
Trailing 78-76, the Hawks scored seven straight points, five by Ferrell, before a basket and a free throw by Miami's Bimbo Coles closed out the third quarter with the Hawks leading 83-81.
Ferrell added three more points and Spud Webb contributed four as Atlanta completed the run by outscoring the Heat 11-3 to open the final period.
Miami did not score its first field goal of the fourth quarter until the 5:39 mark, but climbed back into the game with an 8-2 run that featured six of Sherman Douglas' 18 points.