Amaré comes alive in OT as Suns top Kings

SACRAMENTO, Calif  • With their roster down to nine available bodies and Amaré Stoudemire’s recent decline in offensive output continuing, the Suns closed ranks and asked their graybeards to grind out a win.

In a game that featured little beauty, however, age could only take the Suns so far — before Stoudemire finally found his shot and finished the job.

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Raja Bell, Grant Hill and Shaquille O’Neal played 49, 45 and 43 minutes respectively and the trio combined for 65 points. But the Suns needed six points from Stoudemire in overtime, including his game-winning, 18-foot jumper with 4.5 seconds left to survive for a 97-95 overtime win.

Stoudemire was 1-for-7 and scored only six points in regulation. But he opened the overtime with a pair of jumpers to get Phoenix off to a good start before finishing it with a flourish.

Taking the inbounds pass from Hill with 13.9 seconds left, Stoudemire tried to hand off to guard Sean Singletary but couldn’t make a connection. So he whirled, backed down defender Spencer Hawes and drilled a jumper for the winning points.

“That was a designed play, coach (Terry Porter) wanted me on the (isolation),” Stoudemire said. “I wanted to kill more time before I got the ball back, but since there was only 11 seconds left, I kept it myself and went at it.”

The Kings had two chances to tie, but Stoudemire denied both. He got a hand on John Salmons’ drive to the basket before swatting away Hawes’ follow attempt just before the final buzzer sounded.

“I saw Salmons driving and he had a wide-open layup, so I decided to cut that off,” Stoudemire said. “I got a hand on the reverse layup and it went right to Hawes, but I got his jump hook too. Just being at the right place at the right time and being active.”

Playing without Matt Barnes and Steve Nash due to suspension and Leandro Barbosa after the passing of his mother, the Suns rode a strong effort from their three thirtysomething starters:

• Six days after pouring in 29 points at Milwaukee, it was another dose of vintage Shaq against the team that he used to call the “Sacramento Queens” during his prime.

He matched his scoring high as a Sun with 29 again, hit 10 of 15 shots from the field, grabbed 13 rebounds and dished out six assists — four shy of his career high and third career triple-double. And he foiled the “Hack-a-Shaq” tactics of Sacramento coach Reggie Theus by hitting 9-for-13 from the line

“We were short-handed, so I got more shots than I usually take,” O’Neal said. “We had too many turnovers and were messing around and almost gave it away. We need to take care of the ball.”

• After going scoreless in back-to-back games for the first time in his career, Hill started in place of Barnes and poured in a season-high 22 points. He also added nine rebounds, four assists and four steals — along with seven of Phoenix’s 23 turnovers.

“I tried to attack the rim a little more, simplify the game and get to the line,” Hill said. “It could be better — I think I made up for all the turnovers me, Steve, Matt and Leandro usually get combined — but I did some good things too and it felt good.”

• Bell chipped in 14 points, including three 3-pointer and added seven rebounds and four assists playing 49 of the 54 minutes.

The Kings were short-handed as well. Leading scorer Kevin Martin (sprained ankle) and Suns killer Francisco Garcia — a duo that averaged 50 points in four games against the Suns last year — are both out, and it showed in the Sacramento offense.

Despite a short bench, a subpar four quarters from Stoudemire and all the turnovers, the Suns led by 11 early in the fourth quarter before the Kings ran off seven straight points and closed the gap to 74-70 on a Hawes reverse with 7:45 left. Boris Diaw answered with only his second 3-pointer of the season and a reverse layup to move Phoenix out of immediate danger, but the Kings rallied again and finally caught the puffing Suns at 86 on two Quincy Douby free throws with 21.5 seconds left. But after both Hill and Douby missed chances for the winning basket, the game staggered into overtime.

That’s when Stoudemire, who exploded for 49 points against Indiana on Nov. 5 but had scored 26, 24, 18 and 11 points since, finally came alive and pushed the Suns to 5-1 on the road to open the season.