Suns end preseason with solid win over Thunder

Amaré Stoudemire's left pinkie finger was a perfect metaphor for the Suns preseason, which finally came to an end Thursday night with a 102-93 win over Oklahoma City at US Airways Center.

It was unsightly and painful to look at sometimes, but in the end things are starting to straighten out.

With the exception of too many turnovers and one more Stoudemire preseason injury (and, really, what would a week in October be without one?) this was the most complete effort of a 5-3 preseason and a perfect way to end a long month of rehearsals. Regular-season play starts Wednesday against the Spurs in San Antonio.

Coach Terry Porter played 10 different players between 13 and 34 minutes, playing his projected starting lineup (with Matt Barnes at small forward) for the first time. Eight different Suns scored between eight and 17 points. Seven Suns had at least two assists, led by seven from Barnes - who was setting up Steve Nash (6-for-8, 15 points) for open shots instead of the other way around.

There are still plenty of bugs in the system. The Suns had 20-plus turnovers for the third straight game (23) and a lot of them led to the Thunder's 19 fast-break points. There were plenty of those "was that pass for me?" looks exchanged and blown layups that tend to come when a team is still getting to know each other.

But the Suns look much better than they did two weeks ago, and if that trend continues - especially their penchant to play better defense as the game wears on - they might just have something in a few weeks. The second unit features Grant Hill and Boris Diaw to shoulder the distribution load with a still-shaky Goran Dragic (no points, two assists in 14 minutes) and Leandro Barbosa (15 points) as the finisher.

"The season is around the corner now," said Diaw, who had nine points, eight rebounds and six turnovers - many of which were well-intentioned and slipped through teammates' fingers. "We have everyone healthy now and have four more (practice) days to get everything right ... but we're close."

Stoudemire was very productive with 17 points in 23 minutes before dislocating the pinkie finger of his left hand on the ball with four minutes left in the third quarter.

Trainer Aaron Nelson tried to reset the finger on the bench but it required more work in the locker room to straighten things out.

"I'll be all right," said Stoudemire, who began preseason with an ankle sprain, missed two weeks with a torn iris and finished it with an ice wrap the size of a volleyball on his hand.

"I did it on a spin move, and the contact between the ball and hand ... I guess it hit the finger first. Thank God (preseason is over). I'm ready to put it and all the trouble behind me."