Amare Stoudemire scored 26 points and Steve Nash collected 24 points and 15 assists as Phoenix escaped with a 104-98 win over San Antonio, tying their Western Conference semifinal at two games apiece.

Shawn Marion had 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Suns, who outscored the Spurs, 32-18, in the final period, including an 8-0 run to take their first lead of the second half.

"We stuck with it," Nash said. "We could have folded but we hung in there and scrapped a few plays,

"We have got a long way to go. After it is all said and done maybe we can look back at this. But we have so many moments left to go."

Dormant for most of Monday's contest, Phoenix's offence kicked into high gear when it mattered most.

Trailing, 97-92, with 2:13 left, the Suns reeled off four straight quality possessions - capped by Stoudemire's defiant drive to make it 100-97 with 33 seconds left.

But in a series on the verge of spiralling out of control thanks to a pair of ugly injuries, tensions continued to ride high as a result of some perceived dirty play. On Monday, Horry continued the chippy play.

As the Suns were about to secure the victory down the stretch, the veteran forward shoulder checked the much smaller Nash into the scorer's table with 18.2 seconds left, sending him careening to the floor.

"I was seeing stars from the check," said Nash, who got up and shoved Horry before being restrained. "Good one. He just body checked me out of bounds. He's frustrated and it happens. I am sorry it happened to him. He did body check me."

Asked if he considered landing a few haymakers on Horry's mug, the Canadian Nash said, "I have been working on my guns a bit. So a couple of combos might have landed some points to the body."

Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni flew to Nash's side and Suns guard Raja Bell was elbowed in the head by Horry, nearly sparking a bigger fight before the referees cooled tempers.

Stoudemire and Suns forward Boris Diaw took a few steps on the court from the bench before being held back by assistant coach Mark Iavaroni, leaving open the possibility the two key performers could be suspended for the pivotal game five.

Stoudemire defended his decision to go onto the court.

"I was definitely going to check in (to the game) on the foul. I was coming up on it. Then it all happened," Stoudemire said.

It certainly was not the first sign of rising tensions between the two squads in this best-of-seven matchup.

San Antonio's Manu Ginobili was the second player to suffer a battle scar in game three.

The swingman was scraped just beneath his right eye in Saturday's 108-101 victory, leaving him with a nasty bruise.

It marked yet another gruesome injury in this series. Nash suffered a deep cut to his nose in game one.

The two-time MVP's nose bled profusely in the latter stages of the contest, forcing the Suns to keep him off the floor.

The bruises have not just been on the court. After game two, Stoudemire accused Spurs defensive specialist Bruce Bowen of being a dirty player, causing the Spurs and Stoudemire to trade barbs following the contest.

However, the All-Star forward did his talking on the court this time around, shooting nine-of-18 from the floor and eight-of-eight from the line.

James catches Nets

In New Jersey, LeBron James collected 30 points, nine rebounds and seven assists as Cleveland took a commanding 3-1 lead over New Jersey with an 87-85 win in game four of their Eastern Conference semi-final series.

Larry Hughes added 19 and Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who held the Nets without a field goal for the final 6:48 to secure the victory on Monday.

"We did great job putting as many bodies in front of Vince Carter as possible," James said. "We stuck with it, went with our game plan and got a big win."

Cleveland suffered a 96-85 loss in game three on Saturday as the Nets double- and triple-teamed James, which led to a six-of-16 shooting performance and the end of Cleveland's franchise-best six-game postseason winning streak.

James' 18 points was his lowest output of the playoffs and his 16 shots were four less than teammate Larry Hughes hoisted up in the loss.

It was a different story on Monday for James, who looked determined about taking the ball to the basket - shooting nine-of-16 from the field and 10-of-15 from the free-throw line.

But James left the door open in the fourth quarter, shooting just one-of-five from the line in the period and splitting a pair with 10.3 seconds left to give his squad an 87-85 win.

(China Daily via AFP May 16, 2007)