PHOENIX — Shareef Abdur-Rahim stayed humble in victory.
The power forward scored Sacramento's final six points and sealed the win with a blocked shot in the final seconds as the Kings beat the Phoenix Suns 118-117 on Sunday night.
Then he acknowledged that he could have been the scapegoat after missing two free throws with the Suns leading 114-112 with 1:16 to play.
"I was just happy that we got back and it didn't hurt us," he said. "We got a stop and were able to come back down and score. I got a couple of chances to redeem myself."
Abdur-Rahim broke a 114-114 tie when he made an 8-footer in the lane with 30 seconds left. Leandro Barbosa answered with a 3-pointer to put the Suns up 117-116. Abdur-Rahim then hit two free throws with 13.3 seconds left for the final margin.
Kurt Thomas fouled out on the play, a call which drew resounding boos while Abdur-Rahim scored the winning points.
"We certainly didn't get any calls," Suns guard Steve Nash said. "But I think the bottom line is that we showed some heart, fought back, and I thought the second unit was great. Leandro had an amazing game."
Abdur-Rahim also blocked a layup by Boris Diaw — Phoenix's last good attempt to pull out the win. With 0.7 seconds left, Jim Jackson inbounded the ball to Brian Grant, but his 16-footer from the side was short, denying coach Mike D'Antoni his 100th victory.
Peja Stojakovic had 33 points to lead the Kings (1-2). Abdur-Rahim had 23 and 12 rebounds and Brad Miller added 17 and 10. Mike Bibby had his best game of the young season with 19 points and Bonzi Wells scored 16 for a big offensive night after the Kings scored 67 and 89 points their first two games.
"We really moved the ball well tonight," Kings coach Rick Adelman said. "We still didn't shoot as well as we can. We had a lot of assists, but they're a hard team to guard. You know they were going to make a run; they always do here."
Barbosa led eight double-figure scorers for the Suns (2-2) with 23. Nash had 18 points and 13 assists, and Shawn Marion had 16 points and 14 rebounds.
Diaw, another reserve, had 11 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds.
Miller came up big for the Kings with two key plays in the 20-second span before Abdur-Rahim's heroics. Miller got a defensive rebound that led to Abdur-Rahim's tip-in that tied it at 114-all with 40 seconds to go.
Seconds later, Miller took a charge from Marion for a turnover, setting up the dramatic finish.
The Suns made up a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter, taking the lead at 111-110 on a three-point play by Marion with 3:06 left to play and regaining it at 113-112 on a three-point play by Barbosa with 1:23 to go after two free throws by Miller.
Stojakovic had 23 points — two off Mitch Richmond's franchise record for a quarter — in the third period, when the Kings overcame an eight-point deficit to lead by as many as 11.
"We couldn't stop them in the third quarter," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said. "They got hot, and Peja wasn't missing anything. Rahim down low was a handful, but we figured it out in the fourth."
"Before the game, I was focused," he said. "I just wanted to be aggressive. The first couple of shots didn't feel right, so I just had to keep playing. I can't get down and be upset. You know, you've got to think about your next shot, not about previous things."
In other games Sunday:
WARRIORS 83, KNICKS 81: At New York, Jason Richardson scored 24 points to lead Golden State over New York, keeping Larry Brown and the Knicks winless.
Golden State guard Baron Davis returned to the starting lineup after missing Friday's loss to Utah with a strained hamstring. He had 16 points and nine assists. Troy Murphy added 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Warriors (2-1).
Stephon Marbury led New York (0-3) with 15 points and six assists. Channing Frye added 12 points and Eddy Curry and Trevor Ariza each had 11.
With Golden State trailing 74-73 with 5:46 left in the game, Richardson hit a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired to give the Warriors the lead for good. Davis added a layup to give Golden State a 78-74 lead. He and Richardson combined to hit five of eight free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.
LAKERS 112, NUGGETS 92: At Los Angeles, Kobe Bryant scored 12 of his 37 points in the fourth quarter and the Lakers pulled away to beat Denver.
The game was a rematch of the season-opener four days earlier in Denver, which the Lakers won 99-97 on Bryant's 20-foot jumper with 0.6 seconds remaining in overtime. Bryant scored 33 points in that game and 39 in a 122-112 loss to Phoenix 24 the following night.
Lamar Odom added 20 and eight rebounds for the Lakers on his 26th birthday. Chris Mihm had 20 points and 13 rebounds and Bryant also had eight rebounds and five assists.
Carmelo Anthony led Denver (1-3) with 21 points and six rebounds. Andre Miller added 20 points and six assists and Kenyon Martin scored 17 points for the Nuggets.
The Lakers shot 51.2 percent and outrebounded the Nuggets 46-32.
Mihm, who totaled 10 points and three rebounds in the season's first two games, had 12 points and seven rebounds in the first period to help the Lakers (2-1) take a 34-20 lead.