PHOENIX, 10 May 2007 — Amare Stoudemire scored 21 of his 27 points in the second half, and the Phoenix Suns beat the San Antonio Spurs 101-81 on Tuesday night to even the Western Conference semifinals at a game apiece.
Steve Nash — who cut his nose and missed a critical 45 seconds at the end of Game 1 — added 20 points and 16 assists as the Suns beat the Spurs in a playoff game in Phoenix for the first time in five games dating to 2005.
Raja Bell added 18 for the winners. Game 3 is Saturday in San Antonio.
Tim Duncan scored 29 points despite foul trouble for San Antonio. But unlike Game 1, he got little help from his teammates while the Suns spread around the scoring.
New Suns starter Kurt Thomas added 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting in 28 minutes. The Spurs’ Tony Parker managed only 13 on 5-of-14 shooting. Bruce Bowen also scored 13 and Manu Ginobili 11.
Cavaliers 102 Nets 92: At Cleveland, All-Star LeBron James scored 25 of his 36 points in the second half and Cleveland beat New Jersey to open a 2-0 lead in the NBA Eastern Conference semifinals.
James added 12 assists and Sasha Pavlovic scored a career playoff-high 17 points for the Cavaliers, who later this week will head to New Jersey for Game 3 with a commanding lead in the best-of-seven series.
This is unfamiliar territory for Cleveland, which has never been up by two games in the semifinals. But with James around, anything could be possible for the Cavs, who have never been to the NBA finals.
Although the Nets shot well (53 percent), they were outrebounded 49-32.
Vince Carter scored 26 points to lead the Nets, but for the second straight game he struggled from the floor. Carter was just 10-for-26 and missed two key shots in the final two minutes when New Jersey was still close. Richard Jefferson scored 22 and Jason Kidd had 17 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists for the Nets.
Roy Unanimous for
NBA All-Rookie Team
Portland guard Brandon Roy, the NBA Rookie of the Year, was a unanimous choice Tuesday for the league’s all-rookie team.
Roy was joined on the first team by Toronto forward Andrea Bargnani of Italy and Jorge Garbajosa of Spain, Minnesota guard Randy Foye, Memphis forward Rudy Gay, and Portland forward LaMarcus Aldridge. The first team included six players because Garbajosa and Aldridge tied for the final place in a vote by the league’s head coaches.
Roy led all rookies with averages of 16.8 points, 4.0 assists and 35.4 minutes in 57 games. He scored at least 20 points 16 times, despite a heel problem that caused him to miss 20 games early in the season.
Bargnani, the first pick in the 2006 draft, was third among rookies with 11.6 points a game. Foye averaged 10.1 points and 2.7 rebounds in 82 games with the Timberwolves, while Garbajosa finished fifth among rookies in rebounding. Aldridge led all rookies in blocks (1.16 a game), had six double-doubles and was fourth in rebounding. The second team was led by Utah’s Paul Millsap, Charlotte’s Adam Morrison, Chicago’s Tyrus Thomas and Minnesota’s Craig Smith. Boston’s Rajon Rondo, Charlotte’s Walter Hermann and New Jersey’s Marcus Williams were tied for the final spot on the squad.
