Raja Bell scored 25 points, Shawn Marion added 23 and the Phoenix Suns roared back from a 17-point halftime deficit for a 123-110 road victory over the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night.
Steve Nash had 13 points and 13 assists despite foul trouble for the Suns, who won for just the second time in five games with an impressive 72-point second half. Eight Suns scored at least nine points apiece as they made 71 percent of their shots after halftime to fly past the Kings, who had won six of their previous seven games.
Mike Bibby, Ron Artest and Brad Miller scored 23 points apiece for the Kings, whose awful second-half defense provided a blow to their hopes of a rematch with Phoenix in the first round of the playoffs.
Sacramento (41-38) is in good position for one of the final two playoff spots in the West, but probably would prefer to beat out the Lakers for the No. 7 seed to face second-seeded Phoenix, which has clinched its second straight Pacific Division title.
Sacramento lost at home for just the third time in 19 games since Jan. 8, while Phoenix won on the road for only the third time in nine games. The Suns were the first visiting team to score at least 100 points at Arco Arena in 16 games — and they ended up with the third-most points scored against Sacramento this season.
Bonzi Wells scored 18 points and Shareef Abdur-Rahim had 13 of his 16 in the first half.
Nash picked up three fouls in the game's first 7:47, and Sacramento made 65 percent of its shots in the first half while shooting 24 free throws to Phoenix's three. But after trailing 68-51 at halftime, the Suns tied it at 84 entering the fourth quarter with an impressive roll despite foul trouble for Nash, Marion and Boris Diaw.
Bell and Marion keyed the third-quarter surge, and Leandro Barbosa added a handful of big shots in the fourth as Phoenix pulled away. Bell and Tim Thomas hit three 3-pointers apiece.
Marion scored 17 points in the second half, and Bell had 16. Barbosa scored all 11 of his points after halftime.
HEAT 106, RAPTORS 97: At Miami, Shaquille O'Neal had his second career triple-double, Antoine Walker scored a season-high 32 points, and the Heat overcame Dwyane Wade's absence to beat Toronto and send the Raptors to their ninth straight loss.
O'Neal finished with 15 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, doing so in only 28 minutes because of foul trouble. And Walker, who was shooting only 30 percent and averaging eight points per game in April — as the Heat got off to a 2-4 start — connected on 13 of 26 shots, plus added eight rebounds and five assists.
SPURS 104, SUPERSONICS 95: At San Antonio, Tony Parker had 27 points and nine assists, and San Antonio increased its lead in the Western Conference to one game over Dallas.
San Antonio (60-18) recorded a 60-win season for the third time in franchise history, the last coming when the Spurs won the NBA title in the 2002-03 season.
Parker, who was 7-of-8 from the field in the second quarter, helped the Spurs overcome a tough shooting night by Tim Duncan. Duncan shot 6-for-18 and had 18 points and 14 rebounds.
Seattle (33-44) had won a season-best four straight games and six of the past eight. Ray Allen averaged 31 points and shot 55.4 percent during the winning streak, but was limited to 14 points and shot 5-of-13 from the floor.
GRIZZLIES 92, TIMBERWOLVES 76: At Memphis, Tenn., Pau Gasol had 19 points and 10 rebounds, Chucky Atkins added 17 points, and Memphis beat injury-depleted Minnesota.
Memphis won for the fourth time in five games and moved a half-game ahead of the idle Los Angeles Clippers for the fifth playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Bobby Jackson finished with 16 points for the Grizzlies, Jake Tsakalidis contributed 12, and Mike Miller scored 10. Gasol added six assists.
Minnesota was without leading scorer and rebounder Kevin Garnett; Ricky Davis, second-leading scorer and team leader in assists, and a supporting cast of Anthony Carter and Troy Hudson. Justin Reed led the Timberwolves with 14 points on 7-of-11 from the field.
BULLS 104, NETS 101: At Chicago, Ben Gordon scored 21 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter, leading short-handed Chicago over New Jersey and into a tie with Philadelphia for the Eastern Conference's eighth and final playoff spot.
The Bulls and 76ers trail Milwaukee and Indiana by a game.
New Jersey trails Miami by 3 1/2 games for the second seed in the Eastern Conference. The Nets have five games left and the Heat four.
Vince Carter scored 43 points — his fifth game with 40 or more this season — for a Nets team (47-30) that had won 15 of 16 and is trying to reach the 50-win mark for the second time in its NBA history. The 2001-02 team won 52.
LAKERS 111, WARRIORS 100: At Los Angeles, Kobe Bryant scored 31 points, Lamar Odom had 15 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists, and theLakers beat Golden State, sending the Warriors to their season-high ninth straight loss.