Playing with his right eye nearly swollen shut, Phoenix’s Steve Nash helped lead his team to a series-clinching win over the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday and booked a spot in the Western Conference final.
Nash, who took an inadvertent Tim Duncan elbow to the eye during the third quarter, briefly went to the locker room to get stitches for a cut under his eyebrow and reappeared on the court to finish the game.
The Canadian went on to score 10 of his 20 points during the fourth quarter as the Suns, who had suffered season-ending defeats to the Spurs in their last four postseason meetings, eliminated San Antonio by taking the series 4-0.
PHOTO: AFP
Amare Stoudemire scored a game-high 29 points for Phoenix, who now move on to the Western Conference Final where they will face either the Los Angeles Lakers or Utah Jazz.
■EASTERN CONFERENCE
AFP, BOSTON
Rajon Rondo notched the fourth postseason triple-double of his career on Sunday to lead Boston to a 97-87 victory over Cleveland that leveled their NBA Eastern Conference playoff series.
Rondo had 29 points, 18 rebounds and 13 assists as the Celtics knotted the best-of-seven series at two games apiece.
His rebounds were a playoff career high and he matched his best playoff scoring performance. With some of his teammates in foul trouble, Rondo played 47 minutes and fans gleefully chanted “MVP” as he sank a brace of free throws with 17 seconds remaining.
“I think it starts with Rondo. He’s kind of the engine that really gets them going,” Cleveland star LeBron James said. “He does everything for them. His performance was unbelievable. Rondo was definitely the difference maker.”
“He was absolutely sensational tonight,” Boston coach Doc Rivers said of Rondo.
Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett scored 18 points each for Boston, who bounced back from their worst playoff defeat in club history.
They insured they will have at least one more home game in the series, which returns to Cleveland for Game 5 today.
With Pierce and Allen battling foul trouble, Tony Allen came off the bench to play 26 minutes and score a career playoff high 15 points.
James, who earned NBA Most Valuable Player honors for the second straight season, scored 22 points. That was just one more than he had in the first quarter of Cleveland’s game-three blow-out win.
James had scored 30 or more points in 10 of his last 14 games against the Celtics.
Shaquille O’Neal chipped in 17 points, his high for these playoffs, but was on the bench when Boston took control in the final period.
The Celtics reeled off the first 10 points of the fourth quarter to parlay a two-point lead into an 84-72 advantage.
Rondo started the surge, feeding Glen Davis for two baskets.
“I just wanted to continue to attack,” Rondo said. “That’s how we got the lead at first.”
Rivers said better defense by the Celtics allowed them to get their running game going, evidenced by their 23-7 advantage in fast-break points.
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