Last update - 00:00 12/10/2006
Basketball / Suns rally to down Mac. TA 119-102
By Vered Cohen, Haaretz Correspondent and Agencies
Leandro Barbosa scored 27 points to help the Phoenix Suns rally to a 119-102 victory yesterday over Maccabi Tel Aviv in the third-place match at the NBA Live tournament in Cologne, Germany, yesterday.
The Philadelphia 76ers won the exhibition tournament with an 85-71 win over Euroleague champion CSKA Moscow.
Barbosa finished 9-of-12 from the field, including 5-for-8 on three-pointers. He also had six assists. Marcus Banks scored 21 points, Shawn Marion had 14 and Steve Nash added 13 points and seven assists. Amare Stoudemire, coming back after missing nearly the entire last season with two knee operations, had 11 points and three rebounds in 25 minutes.
Will Bynum led Maccabi with 20 points, followed by Simas Jasaitis with 18 and Rodney Buford with 16. Lior Eliyahu added 12 points and Sharon Sasson 11.
The Suns trailed by 13 late in the first quarter, but hit seven three-pointers in their last eight baskets in the second quarter, all by Barbosa, Nash and Raja Bell.
Early in the third, a three-pointer by Bell gave the Suns their first lead, 63-62. Maccabi later trailed by six when it went on a 10-0 run to regain the lead.
A three-point play by Stoudemire and a three-pointer by Barbosa gave the Suns an 80-79 lead heading into the fourth quarter. The Suns built their lead and outscored Maccabi 39-23 in the final period.
"Maccabi played really well and gave us a real scare," Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni said. "They are just very disciplined, and it's tough to beat teams like that no matter where they are from. It wasn't always pretty tonight. We had to grind it out tonight."
"We started well, but their third-quarter run really took the wind out of our sails," said Maccabi captain Derrick Sharp. "I guess we're used to playing 40 minutes and not 48."
"We played a lot better than in our previous games," said Maccabi coach Neven Spahija. "We stopped their fast breaks, but we couldn't stop their three-point shooting. To play 48 minutes is too much for us. We knew that we had to start well and that if we would lose it would be in the final quarter."