Spurs snap 6-game skid, eliminate Suns (AP)

SAN ANTONIO (AP)—George Hill(notes) scored 29 points and the San Antonio Spurs
stopped the longest skid of Tim Duncan’s(notes) career, beating up the Phoenix Suns
114-97 Sunday and ending a six-game losing streak.

It was a cathartic rout for San Antonio after going winless for two weeks
and squandering a once-comfortable lead atop the Western Conference. The win
kept the Spurs at least 1 1/2 games ahead of the surging Los Angeles Lakers.

Aaron Brooks(notes) and Channing Frye(notes) had 14 points apiece for the Suns. The loss
guaranteed Phoenix will miss the playoffs for the second time in three seasons.

Matt Bonner(notes) added 16 points and 11 rebounds for San Antonio (58-19), which
remains the NBA’s winningest team but lost its air of dominance during the
longest slide of Duncan’s 14-year career.

It came at a costly time.

San Antonio led the Lakers by seven games following its last win March 21.
What followed was Duncan missing four games with a bum ankle, the Spurs choking
away games late and jeopardizing the No. 1 seed that had looked all but certain.

Steve Nash(notes) stayed in Phoenix to finish getting over the flu. Between the
Suns missing their leading scorer and the Spurs desperate for a win, Phoenix
coach Alvin Gentry had a bad feeling about this blowout even before it started.

“It’s going to be really important that we hang in early, because they’re
going to try and knock you out of the box. They know how important this game
is,” Gentry said.

Phoenix didn’t hang in. And the Spurs knocked them out all right.

The Suns trailed by as many as 31 points, and San Antonio’s 70 first-half
points were two shy of its most in a half this season. Hill scored 24 of those,
tying the most points in a half for a Spurs player all season.

Richard Jefferson(notes) added 12 points and was the only Spurs starter in
double-figures.

Jared Dudley(notes) had 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Vince Carter(notes) also scored 12
for Phoenix.

The Spurs have five games remaining, including three against teams out of
the playoff race (Sacramento, Utah and Phoenix again.) The others are at Atlanta
on Tuesday—and at the Lakers a week later, a game that could decide the No. 1
seed.

Although the loss officially eliminated Phoenix from the playoff chase, the
Suns essentially saw their postseason hopes vanish during a miserable March.
Phoenix went 5-11 last month and has lost 10 of its last 14 games.

It’s been a steep fall for the team that reached the Western Conference
finals last season and took the Lakers to six games. But an overhauled roster
never made a late, long winning surge as did Suns teams in previous years.

“It’s been a tough year,” Gentry said before tipoff. “We haven’t been
able to put together a string of wins like we’ve had the six years. … We were
able to get separation or get back in. But we just haven’t been able to do that
this year.”

Notes: Gentry said Nash could return before Phoenix’s next game at Chicago
on Tuesday. … The longest losing skid for the Spurs previously in the Duncan
era was four games … After the Suns swept the Spurs from the West semifinals
last season, the Spurs will try to sweep this year’s season series April 13 in
the regular-season finale.