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Sunday, Dec. 26 8:00pm ET
Phoenix improves to 5-2 under Skiles | |||||
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 GAME FLOW
PHOENIX (AP) -- Cliff Robinson is nowhere to be found in fan voting for the All-Star game. Yet the Phoenix Suns know just how important he is to them. "He's been playing the best out of anybody on this team," Jason Kidd said, "and he's been doing it for a while." In the latest in a string of high-scoring performances, Robinson scored 25 points in three quarters Sunday night as the Suns routed the Golden State Warriors 108-88. "Cliff's been phenomenal," Phoenix coach Scott Skiles said. "Cliff's a very valuable piece. He can guard five different positions. He can shoot 3s. He can post up. He drives to the basket. He just brings a lot of tools out there." Robinson, counted on heavily for scoring by the short-handed Suns, has averaged 25.6 points in his last nine games. Robinson said he's playing as well now as he did last season, which was considered the best of his 10-year NBA career. He started this season as a backup to rookie Shawn Marion, then moved back into the starting lineup after Marion was hurt. "I got off to a slow start," he said. "It took me awhile to get back to the confidence level I had last year. Working through those first few games and getting adjusted to coming off the bench. Then after that being reinserted to the starting lineup. I just think it all kind of came together after I accepted the fact that I would be coming off the bench ." Kidd added 19 points, seven assists and six rebounds as Phoenix improved to 5-2 since Skiles replaced Danny Ainge as coach, even though the team is without starters Tom Gugliotta, Penny Hardaway and Marion. The Suns shot 58 percent from the field against the Warriors, who have lost three in a row and five of six to fall to 6-21, the second-worst record in the NBA. Antawn Jamison, starting in place of Chris Mills, scored 17 for Golden State. Jason Caffey had 16 points and 10 rebounds, and John Starks scored 14. Robinson, who sat out the fourth quarter, scored 12 and Kidd 11 in the third quarter, when the Suns took control. Jamison said the Warriors will play well for a while, then fall apart. "I don't think we really believed we could come in here and beat Phoenix," he said. After a close first half, the Suns outscored the Warriors 10-5 to start the third and led 60-48 on Robinson's drive to the basket with 8:21 left in the period. Phoenix built it to 67-53 with 6:14 left in the third when Kidd scored on a layup after a Warriors' turnover, then made the free throw after Golden State coach P.J. Carlesimo was called for a technical foul. "We stopped rebounding and defending in the second half," Carlesimo said. The Suns led 81-61 with three seconds left in the third before Jamison made a 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut it to 81-64 entering the final quarter. Phoenix led by as many as 26 in the fourth. The Suns' Rex Chapman drew two quick technical fouls from referee Derek Richardson and was ejected with 2:27 left in the first half. The Warriors had gone on a 6-0 run to take a 44-42 lead on Donyell Marshall's stuff shot. Phoenix scored the last eight points of the half to go up 50-44 at the break and never trailed again. Toby Bailey scored four and had a steal during the spurt. Todd Day had a layup and an assist. In all, four technicals were called. Skiles drew one from Richardson, Skiles' first as coach, with 7:07 left in the third. The Warriors were just 14-for-27 for the foul line. The Suns were almost as bad at 14-for-24. Kidd, however, was 7-for-7.
Game notes | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Golden State Clubhouse Phoenix Clubhouse Report: Suns' Gugliotta took herbal supplement before seizure
RECAPS Washington 103 Houston 92
Phoenix 108
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