PHOENIX Marbury's 43 points propel Suns past San Antonio 94-87

He scored 26 in the fourth quarter to rally Phoenix.
KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
PHOENIX -- Stephon Marbury gave the type of performance Friday night to indicate he's capable of being a franchise player.
Marbury scored a season-high 43 points, including 26 in the fourth quarter, to rally the Suns to a 94-87 victory over the San Antonio Spurs at America West Arena.
The total is Marbury's highest as a Sun and the most he has scored since his career-high 50 against the Los Angeles Lakers on Feb. 13, 2001, when he was playing for the New Jersey Nets.
Just as impressive, Marbury finished with no turnovers.
"I was scoring," Marbury said.
And accurately, too. Marbury was 18-of-34 from the field despite making just three of 12 shots in the first half.
"I just keep playing," Marbury said. "Whenever I'm shooting bad, I don't ever really worry about it or hesitate. I keep on being aggressive.
"You've got to try to get yourself back in the flow."
Suns coach Frank Johnson said this was Marbury's best game in a Phoenix uniform.
"He was awesome tonight," Johnson said.
So was the Suns' hustle. Despite shooting only 30 percent from the field (15-of-50) in the first half while the Spurs shot 52.9 percent (18-of-34), Phoenix trailed just 42-37 at intermission. The Suns stayed in the game because they had 14 offensive rebounds compared to the Spurs' three.
Suns forced 12 turnovers
Phoenix also forced 12 turnovers, and San Antonio, the NBA's most accurate 3-point shooting team (39.1 percent) made just one of seven shots from beyond the arc.
That trend continued in the second half as the Suns turned a total of 25 offensive rebounds into 24 points. Phoenix finished with a season-high 98 shot attempts.
"I was happy about that," Johnson said. "It was a good hustle night for us."
After falling behind by as many as 15 points in the first half, Phoenix needed it.
Johnson went with a small lineup filled with long-range shooters to stretch San Antonio's defense on two occasions. That tactic sparked a 9-0 run toward the end of the second quarter that cut the Spurs' advantage to 38-32. It also played a big part in the second half.
"In the first half we had 17 layup attempts, and we only made six," Johnson said. "That's what they wanted us to do, making us play their half-court game. We went with (Shawn) Marion at forward, Dan Langhi, Casey (Jacobson) and Penny (Hardaway) and that got us energized. And that carried us on into the second half."
Scott Williams' performance against All-Stars David Robinson and Tim Duncan was key as well. Williams finished with his second straight double-double (11 points, 11 rebounds) while playing tough defense.
Marion also had 11 points and 11 rebounds, including eight offensive, while rookie Amare Stoudemire finished with eight points and 10 boards.
"Tonight, it was just a team effort," Marbury said. "Everybody came out, played hard, smart and together, rebounded the ball. That was the key tonight."