On Sunday (18th January 2009) afternoon, the Phoenix Suns defeated Toronto Raptors by a score of 117-113. This was the 9th consecutive triumph of the Suns over the Raptors.
Steve Nash displayed 18 assists which was his season high performance. 31 points were scored by Amare Stoudemire. Matt Barnes and Shaquille O’Neal each managed 16 points. 17 points were contributed by Jason Richardson. Leandro Barbosa had to be satisfied with 14 points. Chris Bosh exhibited 11 rebounds and 20 points. Joey Graham accrued 22 points which was his career best performance. The leading scorer for the Raptors was Anthony Parker who made 26 points.
Initially, Joey Graham quickly scored 7 points and this enabled the Raptors to have a 20-10 lead when the balance time in the first was 6:34. When 1 second was remaining in the first, Matt Barnes scored a 3-pointer and at the end of the first the Suns led by 36-34. In the second, the main contributors were Leandro Barbosa with 10 points and Matt Barnes with 8 points. At the close of the second, the Suns were leading by 71-63. When the balance time in the game was 10:33, Amare Stoudemire successfully completed free throws and the Suns led by 99-89. However, in the next 3.5 minutes, Joey Graham scored on consecutive trips and the score was leveled to 102 all. When 3:18 was the remaining time in the game, the Suns were leading by 114-109.
For this game, Toronto had the availability of only 9 players. Jermaine O’Neal rested his sore knee, Jason Kapono had symptoms similar to flu and Jose Calderon also rested.