The Phoenix Suns defeated Detroit Pistons by a score of 104-86 on Sunday (16th November 2008) night at US Airways Center. 16th November was the birthday of Amare Stoudemire and he was the topscorer for the Suns with 11 rebounds and 29 points. Another important scorer for the Suns was Steve Nash. He contributed 7 assists and 17 points for his team. His role in the win was significant considering that he was suspended in the previous game. For the Suns, Boris Diaw played well and added 13 points. On Friday night, the Lakers defeated the Pistons in Los Angeles and this was the first loss of the Pistons in this season. The topscorer for the Pistons was Richard Hamilton who added 19 points. Allen Iverson of the Pistons contributed 9 points on 4 for 17 shooting. Out of the initial 19 shots, the Suns were successful in 14 of them and they never looked back during this match.
During the second quarter, Shaquille O’Neal scored 10 points and took his total to 12 points. However, his game ended at this juncture and he was removed from the game for an obvious foul. At this moment, 5:19 were remaining in the first half and the Suns had to loose the services of an important player. It so happened that a layup was attempted by Rodney Stuckey and due to O’Neal he crashed on his chest in the court. The referee Ken Mauer reviewed the foul and upheld it. As per the rules, the flagrant foul two results in automatic ejection. O’Neal did not obey the referee and desired to argue vehemently with him. However, the referee did not pay attention to his arguments and in course of time O’Neal had to leave and he was booed by the spectators.
The lead of the Suns was reduced to 48-35 due to free throws by Stuckey. However, when 3:19 was remnant in the first half, Robin Lopez of the Suns completed two free throws. His team received the next six points and they led by 54-35, which was the largest lead in the first half. Then, the Detroit made a spurt of 9-1 and hence the lead was diminished to 55-44. In the last 29 seconds, Steve Nash managed 2 3-pointers and due to this the lead again rose to 61-46 at the end of the first half. In this half, the Suns recorded 70 percent shooting.
Fourth quarter
After three quarters, the lead was 81-67 in favor of the Suns. The initial five points of the fourth quarter were scored by the Pistons and the lead decreased to 81-72. When the remaining time was 10:26, the ball was taken by Will Bynum from Nash for a layup. Then, Nash sank a 20 footer and further the Pistons could not diminish the lead to single digits. With 7:43 remaining, the Suns led by 93-75 due to good play by Diaw and Stoudemire.