RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
PHOENIX (AP) _ Cliff Robinson shot Phoenix into the lead, and
Tom Gugliotta had six of his nine rebounds in the final five
minutes to help the Suns hold off the Los Angeles Clippers 90-85
Wednesday night. The Suns won despite getting only 10 points from Tony Delk, who
had 53 in an overtime loss at Sacramento the night before. Jason Kidd and Delk finished off the Clippers with two free
throws apiece in the final 14 seconds. Robinson finished with 21 points, and Kidd had 12 points and 11
assists. Lamar Odom scored 24 points and Jeff McInnis had 17 for the
Clippers. Robinson nearly was the goat of the game when he stayed in the
lane too long and turned the ball over with 28 seconds remaining
and the Suns trying to protect an 86-83 lead. But Eric Piatkowski's fallaway in the lane at the other end
bounced to Kidd off the front rim. Sean Rooks fouled Kidd with 14
seconds to go, and he made both free throws. Delk got the next rebound after a miss by Odom, was fouled and
made it 90-83 with 6.7 seconds to go. The lead changed hands six times after Los Angeles took a 63-62
lead with 1:55 left in the third quarter. Odom gave the Clippers their last lead with a 3-pointer 3:03
into the third quarter. But Robinson answered with a layup after a
pass from Kidd 41 seconds later. Kidd made it 75-73 with a technical free throw after Keyon
Dooling complained too much about a hard foul with 7:15 left in the
game. The Clippers tied it at 75 on two free throws by Odom with
7:08 to go, but Robinson's 3-pointer with 5:47 to play gave Phoenix
the bulge it needed, 80-76, to hang on. The Suns led by 16-4 midway through the first quarter, but Los
Angeles caught up at 25 after baskets by reserves Corey Maggette
and Dooling in the first 1:34 of the second. Daniel Santiago broke the tie with a three-point play 22 seconds
later, and Phoenix maintained a narrow lead from then until late in
the third. Notes: The Clippers have a road record of 3-12, 1-1 in Phoenix.
... The Suns have won 16 of the last 19 meetings. ... Clippers
rookie Darius Miles snapped a string of three straight
double-doubles when he finished with eight points and 10 rebounds.
... Gugliotta had 10 points in 25 minutes his first game after
serving a one-game suspension for fighting Toronto's Corliss
Williamson last week.
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