NBA: Suns tame road-weary Pistons 

(MENAFN - The Peninsula) The Phoenix Suns routed the Detroit Pistons 117-91 yesterday to preserve their perfect home record and improve to a joint NBA-best 11-3.

Amare Stoudemire scored 21 points and Steve Nash added 20 as Phoenix tied Orlando and Atlanta for the NBA's best record. Jason Richardson added 17 points and Nash also had nine assists.

Phoenix, a perfect 5-0 at home this season, were never threatened by the Pistons, who lost their fifth game in a row. It was a dismal end to Detroit's four-game road trip.

"It was the last game of this trip for them," Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry told reporters.

"I thought we did a good job of trying to jump on them early and get off to a good start."

The Suns continued their torrid shooting pace and are the only team to score at least 100 points in every game this season. Phoenix shot 58 percent from the field and made 11 of 18 three-point attempts, while missing just three free throws.

Nash sat out the fourth quarter after Phoenix opened up a healthy lead after three.

"We did a good job tonight," Nash said.

"We bounced back after a bad game last time out and really carried the game to them tonight," he added.

Charlie Villanueva and rookie DaJuan Summers each scored 13 for the Pistons (5-9), who were again without the services of Richard Hamilton (ankle) and Tayshaun Prince (back). The duo have played a combined four games this season.

"There's no excuses in this league," Detroit coach John Kuester said."You've got to be ready to go.

"Everybody keeps talking about the last game of the road trip. I think our frame of mind going into it was right. Sometimes you've got to lie to your body and just say: 'Hey, you've got to go.' Unfortunately, tonight we didn't have the juice that we've had."

Meanwhile, Udonis Haslem's jump shot with 15.4 seconds left lifted Miami to a 102-101 NBA victory over New Orleans yesterday.

Haslem finished with 14 points off the bench, including both field goals for Miami in the final minute.

He tied the game at 100 with 45 seconds left, then after Marcus Thornton put the Hornets ahead with a free throw, Haslem won it with a shot from the left side.

Thornton had 24 points and David West added 13 for the Hornets, who are still without injured point guard Chris Paul.

Dwyane Wade scored 31 points for the Heat. Michael Beasley scored 17 points, Jermaine O'Neal added 15 and Mario Chalmers finished with 12 points and nine assists as Miami ended a three-game losing streak.

The play that produced Haslem's game winner didn't unfold according to Miami's plan.

"It was supposed to be a 2-1 pick-and-roll with Dwyane handling it and Mario (Chalmers) setting it, but they trapped and got us out of it well before we even got to that action," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

"It was a broken play and we went from there."

Haslem hit the shot, then helped prevent David West from scoring on the other end.

"That's what UD do. When he's in his spots on the court, he's going to shoot them. We expect him to do that. The shots he hit were big," Wade said.

Elsehwere, Kevin Garnett's jump shot at the buzzer lifted Boston to a 107-105 NBA overtime victory over the New York Knicks yesterday.

Paul Pierce scored a season-high 33 points, and had all of Boston's points in overtime until Garnett's final shot.

The Knicks double-teamed Pierce on the final play, leaving Garnett open to seal the win.

"I knew they were going to sort of follow Paul and he's going to draw a lot of attention," Garnett said, "and I just had to make the shot."

Overall both Garnett and Ray Allen had poor shooting nights, Garnett gooing 4 of 15 for 10 points and Allen 3 of 13 for 13 points.

Despite Garnett's struggles, Pierce suggested the final play, and his faith was justified.

"He's that type of player," Pierce said.

"You're talking about a Hall of Fame player. He's missed millions of shots. He's going to keep playing, going to keep taking shots when he gets an opportunity. He really stepped up big for our team when we needed it."

Rajon Rondo chipped in 14 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds as Boston won for the second time in five games.

The Celtics squandered a big lead in a back-and-forth third quarter, but they rallied to force the overtime.

"I am expecting Pierce to try and make a move and pull up," said David Lee, one of the Knicks defenders who followed Pierce on the final play.

"Good play by them and it's just unfortunate to lose a game like this."