Suns bully Blazers in huge win

Shawn Marion had 26 points and nine rebounds, and the Phoenix Suns routed the Portland Trail Blazers for the third time this season with a 129-116 victory Saturday night in Phoenix.

Coach Mike D’Antoni rested starters Marion, Amare Stoudemire and Steve Nash for the entire fourth quarter after the Suns went ahead 102-78 after three.

Stoudemire contributed 20 points, but Nash saw his string of 11-assist games snapped at 12. Nash, who finished with eight, was trying to become the first player with 11 or more assists in 13 consecutive games since John Stockton in 1990-91.

Damon Stoudamire had 30 points and Shareef Abdur-Rahim had 25 points and 13 rebounds for the Blazers, who dropped their fourth straight and second under interim coach Kevin Pritchard.

Phoenix beat the Blazers 121-99 on Dec. 5 and 117-98 on Jan. 2 and completed its first sweep of Portland since the 1994-95 season.

Magic 105, Nets 81: At East Rutherford, N.J., Steve Francis scored 26 points and rookie backcourt mate Jameer Nelson added a career-high 22 as Orlando took an early lead and blew out New Jersey.

Kelvin Cato added 16 points for the Magic, who had four players in double figures. Nelson, further entrenched in the Orlando starting lineup after Doug Christie was placed on the injured list before the game, shot 7 of 9 and had three assists.

Bucks 95, Bulls 87: At Milwaukee, Desmond Mason scored 20 points, Maurice Williams and Michael Redd added 16 points each and Milwaukee defeated Chicago in Milwaukee for the 14th consecutive time.

Wizards 86, Bobcats 84: At Charlotte, N.C., Laron Profit tipped in Juan Dixon’s miss with 3.1 seconds to play to give Washington a victory over Charlotte. Brendan Haywood scored 22 points for Washington, which broke its six-game road losing streak.

76ers 98, Hawks 97: At Atlanta, Marc Jackson hit a pair of free throws with 1.2 seconds remaining, and Allen Iverson stole the ensuing inbounds pass as Philadelphia extended Atlanta’s losing streak to 11 games.

Iverson, who hit all 13 of his free throw attempts, scored 33 points but was just 3 for 19 from the floor in the second half.

Nuggets 105, Clippers 89: At Los Angeles, Earl Boykins scored 12 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter as Denver continued a push for the playoffs under new coach George Karl with its sixth straight victory, defeating Los Angeles.