Stoudemire gets Suns past Spurs

The Phoenix Suns squared their Western Conference semifinal series with a bandage on Steve Nash’s nose, a second big man in the starting lineup and a blowout of the San Antonio Spurs.

With most of the crowd wearing nose bandages in honor of Nash, the Suns dominated the fourth quarter to beat the Spurs, 101-81, Tuesday night and tie the best-of-seven series, 1-1.

Amare Stoudemire scored 21 of his 27 points in the second half to lead Phoenix. Nash -- who cut his nose and sat out a crucial 45 seconds at the end of Game 1 -- had 20 points and 16 assists as the Suns beat the Spurs in a playoff game in Phoenix for the first time in five games dating to 2005.

Game 3 is Saturday in San Antonio.

Tim Duncan scored 29 points for San Antonio despite foul trouble. But unlike Game 1, he got little help from his teammates while the Suns spread around the scoring.

Coach Mike D’Antoni’s decision to start Kurt Thomas and have him defend Duncan freed up Stoudemire to concentrate on offense. As a result, the Phoenix big man had plenty of energy to counter Duncan’s one-man show in the third quarter.

Stoudemire and Duncan each scored 15 points in the quarter, but the Spurs’ star drew his fourth foul and left with 2 minutes 56 seconds to play.

Thomas had 12 points on six-for-seven shooting in 28 minutes. Leandro Barbosa scored 13 points as five Suns reached double figures.

The Suns took the lead for good midway through the second quarter and were up by 12 points early in the fourth. The decisive blow was an 11-2 surge that began with a no-look, over-the-head pass from Boris Diaw to Stoudemire for a layup and ended with Thomas’ inside basket on a feed from Nash that put Phoenix ahead, 84-68, with 8:07 left.

Even though Duncan was back, the Spurs never threatened seriously again.

The game didn’t start out that well for the home team, though.

Phoenix shot 26% (six for 23) in the opening quarter. Duncan, meanwhile, had 10 points and seven rebounds in the quarter, but only two points and two rebounds in his foul-plagued second quarter.

The Spurs were misfiring, too, going one for nine during an 11-2 Suns run to start the second quarter. Stoudemire’s dunk, the Suns’ first this series, capped the spurt and put Phoenix ahead, 30-27, with 7:12 left in the half.

Cleveland 102, New Jersey 92 -- LeBron James scored 25 of his 36 points in the second half and the host Cavaliers opened a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series.

James had 12 assists and Sasha Pavlovic scored a career playoff-high 17 points for the Cavaliers.

The Cavaliers have never been up by two games in a semifinal series and have never been to the NBA Finals.

Game 3 is Saturday in New Jersey.

Vince Carter scored 26 points to lead the Nets, Richard Jefferson scored 22 and Jason Kidd had 17 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists and eight turnovers.

The Nets had only three offensive rebounds.

James’ basket with 5:41 left put the Cavaliers ahead, 89-85, and on Cleveland’s next possession, he whipped a pass in the lane to a cutting Drew Gooden, whose two-handed slam put the Cavaliers up by six points. Gooden finished with 10 points and 14 rebounds.

Carter, begging for the ball every time the Nets had it, was able to get the Nets within 93-89 on a basket with 2:40 left. The Nets had a chance to cut it further, but Carter missed a fadeaway on the baseline and fell to the court with cramp as the Cavaliers pushed the ball up the court.

Carter missed a shot with 1:43 left and James made the Nets pay with a 15-footer to make it 96-89 with 1:19 left.