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MILWAUKEE, January 22 (AP) -- Steve Nash scored 15 of his season-high 37 points in the fourth quarter, leading the Phoenix Suns past the Milwaukee Bucks 114-105 on Tuesday night.
The Suns (30-12), who have the NBA's second-best record behind Boston (33-6), became the first Western Conference team to notch 30 victories.
Amare Stoudemire added 19 points, including 10 in the final period, and grabbed 12 rebounds, while Raja Bell scored eight of his 19 points in the final quarter.
Grant Hill was also back in the Suns' starting lineup, less than two weeks after undergoing an appendectomy. He had eight points in 27 minutes after missing seven games recovering from the surgery Jan. 9.
Redd led the Bucks with 28 points, but scored only two in the fourth quarter when he missed all three of his shots for Milwaukee. Andrew Bogut added 19 points and 13 rebounds, and Bobby Simmons added 15 points for the Bucks who have lost six of seven.
Full AP recap
Postgame News and Notes
Andrew Bogut recorded his 20th double-double of the season tonight and his seventh consecutive double-double. Over those seven games he’s averaging 20 points, 11.4 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.6 blocks. He’s shooting 59 percent from the field over that time.
Bogut was just one rebound short of that double-double after two quarters (11 points, 9 rebounds at the half).
Steve Nash scored a season high 37 points tonight, surpassing his previous high of 34 (11/7/07 at Atlanta).
Shawn Marion needs 10 more points to tie Dick Van Arsdale for fourth place on the Suns all-time scoring list. Marion scored 14 tonight.
Despite tonight’s loss, Milwaukee is still 11-7 at the Bradley Center this season. It’s their best mark at home after 18 games since 2003-04 when they were 14-4.
The Suns improved to 16-2 against the Eastern Conference tonight and are 8-1 on the road vs. the East.
The Suns swept the season series from the Bucks for the second consecutive season and the 13th time in the last 17 seasons. The win also evens the all-time series at 60 games apiece.
The Bucks fell to 1-7 in games when surrendering 30 or more points in the 1st quarter. Phoenix scored exactly 30 points in the opening frame.
Charlie Villanueva scored 10+ points for the fourth time in the last six games. Charlie V. finished with 14 points.
A 9-0 run late in the 2nd quarter gave the Bucks a 57-48 lead.
The Bucks scored 61 points in the first half tonight, the second time this season they have scored 60+ in the first two quarters against the Suns this season. In their previous meeting, the Bucks scored a season high 68 points in the first half (1/12/08 at Phoenix. Milwaukee lost both games.
The Bucks are now 2-21 when allowing their opponent to surpass 100 points. Phoenix has broken that threshold twice against Milwaukee this season.
Michael Redd scored 13 of his team-leading 28 points in the 3rd quarter.
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GAMEDAY ARCHIVE
Click "play" on the video player to the right to watch video from Larry Krystkowiak's post-game press conference. Or use the links below to watch and listen to archived video and audio.
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Post-game: Coach K
Game highlights
Shoot-around: Coach K
Larry Krystkowiak
(On tonight’s game…)
“They have a couple of all-star type players that made some plays. Steve Nash came up huge. We turned the ball over in critical times. It’s a tough one to swallow. Our guys really played hard. I thought it was a solid basketball game. I’m not much into sugar coating it or trying to win a consolation prize, by any means, but we aren’t giving in. Our coaches aren’t going to give in and our players aren’t going to give in.”
(On defending the pick-and-roll down the stretch...)
“In the fourth quarter with five minutes to go the game was tied up, so nothing really was going wrong. The difference is they had players that made plays. Their pick-and-roll game is one of the best in the league between Nash and (Amare) Stoudemire and Nash and (Shawn) Marion. Those are some of the top players in each of those positions and the pick-and-roll is really difficult with that team. You have to pick a way to play it.”
“It was a great quarter of basketball. We played really hard and made some breaks for ourselves. We got out in transition and made as many plays as we’ve made in a while and made shots. We came out with a significant edge in rebounding.”
Michael Redd
(On the offense in tonight’s game…)
“We were rolling. We just let it get away, that’s all I can say. We were playing extremely well. Everybody was unselfish and moving it, playing well. Give them credit, Steve Nash made some great shots. We couldn’t adjust to the pick-and-roll.”
(On tonight’s game…)
“I like the way we played tonight. That was a good style for us. If we can continue playing like that, we’ll be ok. We played a great team tonight.”
Andrew Bogut
(On defending Steve Nash…)
“It’s frustrating but at the same time Steve Nash plays his best basketball when he’s getting 25 assists in a game. We can’t afford to let him do that. We thought we’d be closer in the game if he’s scoring 30 (points) and the other guys are around 10.”
Photos by Gary Dineen (NBAE/Getty Images)
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