Suns avoid elimination

The Phoenix Suns turned up the defensive pressure and avoided elimination from the play-offs with a crushing 105-86 victory over current champions San Antonio Spurs on Sunday. Game Five is today in San Antonio with the Spurs holding a 3-1 edge in the...

The Phoenix Suns turned up the defensive pressure and avoided elimination from the play-offs with a crushing 105-86 victory over current champions San Antonio Spurs on Sunday. Game Five is today in San Antonio with the Spurs holding a 3-1 edge in the best-of-seven series.

Also on Sunday, the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Washington Wizards 100-97 on Delonte West's three-pointer with five seconds remaining to take a 3-1 series lead. LeBron James led the Cavaliers with 34 points and 12 rebounds.

The Suns, who had lost the first three games of the Western Conference series, held the Spurs to 13 points in the opening quarter to grab a 21-point lead and raced to the home victory.

Forward Boris Diaw, making his first play-off start in almost two years, sparked the Suns with 20 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists and restricted the impact of Spurs' point guard Tony Parker.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.