by Paul Coro - Apr. 13, 2012 08:06 PM
The Republic | azcentral.com
HOUSTON - In a game they absolutely, undeniably, desperately had to have, the Suns managed to lead for 17 seconds of the first half.
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Then they turned absolute in their resolve, undeniable on offense and desperate on defense to resuscitate their playoff hopes with a 112-105 victory Friday night against Houston at Toyota Center.
The Suns (31-28) pulled to within a game of Houston (32-27) for eighth place and moved back into ninth place with Utah's loss at New Orleans. The Suns victory also split the season series with Houston, leaving a potential tiebreaker between the two to come down to conference records. Phoenix is 21-10 against the West while Houston is now 21-21.
The Suns never got too far behind in the first half until Houston took a 52-44 late in the second quarter but Goran Dragic had picked up a third foul and exited and the Suns tightened Houston's lead to 55-51 by halftime. Houston center Marcus Camby posted 10 points, 18 rebounds and four assists in the first half but Camby did not have another rebound in the game.
Marcin Gortat nearly caught Camby, finishing with 20 points and 15 rebounds for the Suns.
More important, the Suns caught the Rockets quickly in the third quarter. Gortat scored eight of the Suns' first 18 third-quarter points to take the lead and then the defense, keyed by Grant Hill's substitution in his first game back from a knee scope two weeks ago.
Houston was trailing 69-67 before missing nine of their final 10 shots of the third. The Suns took an 81-69 lead to the fourth quarter when Hill made a jumper for his first points and Steve Nash hit a one-footed running jumper reminiscent of the one that beat Utah this month.
The Suns' lead grew to as much as 16 when Gortat scored inside for a 97-81 lead with 5:46 to go.
But as has been the case in many recent fourth quarters on the road, the Suns had trouble finishing off Houston. The Rockets rallied to cut the Suns lead to five twice and had a chance to get loser but Courtney Lee charged into Nash on one trip and missed a 3 on the next.
Jared Dudley, who had scored 11 points in the previous three games, then hit a 3-pointer for a 108-100 lead with 36.2 seconds to go. Dudley finished with 19 points, including three-for-five 3-point shooting.
After a 21-point first quarter, the Suns scored 30, 30 and 31 in the final three quarters. Nash finished with 18 points and 10 assists and the bench was stellar again with 36 points.
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