Copycat Suns Figure Out Kings

Shawn Marion believes the secret to defeating the Sacramento Kings is to mimic them on offense and outwork them on defense.

“We rebounded the ball, we pushed the ball. We pretty much got into their style of game, but we played defense,” Marion said.

Marion and Stephon Marbury scored 28 points apiece, and the Phoenix Suns defeated the Kings, 110-101, Saturday night at home for their sixth victory in seven games.

The Suns negating Chris Webber’s first triple-double in nearly two years. Webber finished with 29 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists.

In the last 56 seconds, Marion had a basket and two free throws, a defensive rebound and a steal off an inbounds pass to snuff out Sacramento’s attempt to rally.

After two losses to the division-leading Kings this season, including 95-86 on Tuesday, Coach Frank Johnson stressed the need to stop the fastbreak.

“We made a conscious effort to get back on defense so they wouldn’t get easy baskets,” Johnson said. “A lot of times those are momentum-stoppers.”

Portland 81, Seattle 80 -- Derek Anderson made a three-point basket with 1.4 seconds left to lift the Trail Blazers at home.

Anderson, who had 27 points, scored on a layup with 8.3 seconds left to pull Portland to within 79-78. Rasheed Wallace fouled Vitaly Potapenko with 6.9 seconds left, but Potapenko made only one of his free throws.

After a timeout, Anderson connected from 25 feet.

San Antonio 92, Washington 81 -- Tony Parker scored 21 points for host San Antonio, including consecutive three-point baskets in the final minutes.

The Spurs trailed by 10 points at the half but made 22 of 36 shots after the break to end Washington’s three-game winning streak.

Chicago 110, Indiana 103 -- Jalen Rose scored all but three of his 28 points in the fourth quarter to lift the Bulls at home.

Rose, who threw away his sneakers following the Bulls’ loss at Indiana on Friday, missed his first eight shots for the second consecutive game.

But he scored Chicago’s last 16 points, and his 25 points in the fourth quarter was a United Center record for points in a quarter.

Atlanta 79, Philadelphia 77 -- Shareef Abdur-Rahim scored 28 points at Atlanta, and the Hawks ended a five-game losing streak.

Allen Iverson, who played 48 minutes Friday in an overtime victory over the Lakers, made only six of 28 shots and finished with 13 points.

Boston 89, Cleveland 82 -- Antoine Walker scored 23 points at Cleveland to help the Celtics overcome a 19-point deficit and the ejection of Paul Pierce.

Pierce and the Cavaliers’ Zydrunas Ilgauskas were ejected for fighting with 11:15 remaining.

The Cavaliers did not make a field goal over a 10:07 span of the third and fourth quarters.

Minnesota 98, Houston 86 -- Troy Hudson made five three-point baskets in the first half and teammate Kevin Garnett dominated the second half at Minneapolis.

Garnett had 27 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. He scored 13 of Minnesota’s 21 points in the third quarter.

New Jersey 100, Detroit 92 -- Jason Kidd had 27 points, 12 assists and five steals to help the Nets win their ninth in a row at home and end the Pistons’ season-high six-game winning streak.

New Jersey is 14-1 at home, losing only to Dallas, which has the NBA’s best record.

Ben Wallace had 11 points and 14 rebounds for Detroit, which lost for the first time since Dec. 7. The Pistons committed 23 turnovers.

Milwaukee 94, New York 90 -- Sam Cassell scored 25 points, including two key jump shots in the closing seconds, to lead the host Bucks.

Cassell made a jump shot from the top of the key with 58 seconds left and a three-pointer 35 seconds later.