The Phoenix Suns are lagging at 9-14, once again on the outside of the Western Conference playoff picture looking in from 12th place. Steve Nash has nevertheless maintained that he’s not seeking a trade — but according to Ken Berger of CBS, the Suns would pursue a deal if Nash wanted it.

“It’s really on him in terms of what he wants to do or not do,” a source told Berger.

Nash said a month ago that he wasn’t interested in a trade, insisting “it’s not my style” when asked. But as the Suns head toward the draft lottery again and Nash inches toward the end of his two-year, $22 million contract in Phoenix, the trade rumors have begun swirling once again.

Nash turns 38 on Tuesday. He’s averaging 14.5 points and 9.9 assists per game for the Suns this season.

In a season of lows, the Suns were about to head underground.

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At home Saturday night, they were on their way to a loss to the Charlotte Bobcats, the NBA’s worst team that came to Phoenix with a 10-game losing streak, their top three scorers out hurt, the NBA’s third-worst offense and the second-worst defense.

Naturally, it would take Steve Nash and Marcin Gortat to save the day, right? Actually, this night saw Michael Redd go from out of the rotation to being the leading scorer and an all-reserve lineup led by Robin Lopez’s play extend the fourth-quarter lead and send the Suns to a 95-89 victory at US Airways Center.

Redd, starting in place of injured guard Jared Dudley (bruised thigh), led the Suns with 17 points, but that all came before the Suns rallied to the lead in the fourth.

Four of the Suns’ 10 3-pointers came consecutively in the second half, putting the Suns back in front for the first time since the second quarter. The final two 3s came from Markieff Morris to tie score at the end of the third quarter and Josh Childress for the Suns’ first second-half lead at 75-72 with 9:25 to play.

“A lot of guys, myself included, were like, ‘There’s no way we can lose this game,’ ” Childress said. “It was a must-win.”

From there, Lopez came out of a funk — which included him being suspended, benched and barely used — to score nine consecutive points for an 84-74 Suns lead with 5:50 remaining. Lopez finished with 13 points and six rebounds in 19 minutes, his third double-digit scoring game of the season.

“I just tried to go out and be aggressive, the hit the boards and play some defense,” Lopez said. “I was just in the right spot at the time right time in some places.”

The Suns’ past two wins have come with rallies from double-digit deficits against the worst team from each conference. The win also snapped Phoenix’s four-game losing streak against Charlotte, which usually gets a big game from Boris Diaw (13 points, three rebounds, three assists, five turnovers) against the Suns.

The entire Suns bench had a big turnaround from the previous night’s loss in Houston, when the Rockets bench was the difference. On Saturday night, the Suns reserves outscored the Bobcats reserves 40-14.

“The energy level was where it should be,” Suns coach Alvin Gentry said. “We did a really good job of picking up the tempo offensively, and I thought we really picked it up defensively.”

Redd missed his first four shots and then made six of his final eight to score 17 in 24 minutes. He sank four of seven 3s.

“To come back, through the tears, through the hurt, through the hours of rehab, training to come back and accomplish this, is maybe the proudest moment of my career,” Redd said.

Gortat’s 12-point, 12-rebound effort gave him 15 consecutive double-digit rebound games, tying Minnesota’s Kevin Love for the longest streak in the NBA season.

The Suns’ typical second-quarter offensive struggles put them in a 48-42 halftime hole, and it worsened to a 54-44 Bobcats lead before Gentry called timeout. The Suns emerged with a 7-0 run, including five by Redd.

“It’s weird how you play a back-to-back (set) and we had better energy tonight than we did last night,” Suns forward Grant Hill said. “Obviously, Houston’s a better team, but I thought we just didn’t come out with the energy in the first half (Friday night). The fourth quarter (Saturday) was just great basketball.”

Suns report

Key player: Suns center Robin Lopez scored all the points in a 9-0 run that gave the Suns an 84-74 lead in the fourth quarter.

Key moment: After a timeout with Charlotte taking a 54-44 lead to start the second half, the Suns got five defensive stops in a row to get back in the game.

Key number: 10. Suns’ 3-pointers, their second-most this season.

View from press row

It made a lot of sense to give Michael Redd the start at shooting guard Saturday night with Jared Dudley out. Alvin Gentry has wanted to give Redd better time. Redd has been a career starter. It kept rotations intact. The Suns already experimented with Ronnie Price there. Redd finished the Dallas and Houston blowouts well. And despite Saturday’s struggles against Charlotte, that is the opponent to try something new against.

DALLAS – The Suns looked like they would have a chance at escaping the likelihood of a scheduling loss Monday night.

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The schedule said the Suns were doomed when they had to face the defending champion Dallas Mavericks after four other road games and 5,000 miles of traveling.

Wishful thinking took over when the Suns got two days off before the game and learned that Dallas was holding out Dirk Nowitzki.

Wishful thinking is no elixir for the Suns’ offensive issues. The Suns shot a season-worst 37.3 percent from the field and committed 19 turnovers to let former Suns forward Shawn Marion’s season-high 29 points undo them in a 93-87 Dallas victory Monday night at American Airlines Center.

The Suns did not begin the game as though they would continue the season’s offensive disappointment.

They scored 24 points in the game’s first 8:05 by making nine of their first 16 shots and playing at a quicker tempo. Dallas scored right with them early and held the Suns to two 19-point quarters in the second and third to stretch the lead to double digits.

“It didn’t feel good out there,” said Nash, who made 2 of 9 shots after shooting 64 percent in his previous 10 games. “It didn’t feel like we had a good rhythm. It’s disappointing. You’d think, after two days off, we’d be well-rested, but sometimes you just feel funky.”

The Mavericks hedged defensively off screens, effectively turning Nash (12 assists) into solely a passer. As long as the Suns continue to struggle from 3-point range, that will be effective.

Last year’s strongest shooters — Nash, Channing Frye and Jared Dudley — went 0 for 7 on 3s.

The 3-point shocker was Marion, who had made 5 of 15 3s this season but went 4 for 6 on 3s Monday night. He also scored off his own activity and familiar flip shots in the lane to match his Mavericks career scoring high, a much-needed boost for an offense that has struggled and was missing Nowitzki and Vince Carter.

“Matrix (Marion) was on fire,” Nash said. “That was kind of the end of it.”

Dallas coach Rick Carlisle discouraged Marion’s 3s last season and admitted it was the wrong thing to do.

“I had to ‘D’ up like I did if we wanted to win a championship, but I’ve always had the 3-pointer in my game,” Marion said. “When you stop doing it, it definitely feels a little weird though.”

Dallas was 2-7 without Nowitzki last season but has won two in a row without him. The Suns helped that out by struggling offensively against the Mavericks’ third-rated scoring defense. Phoenix became the 15th consecutive Dallas opponent to fail to score 100 points.

Suns forward Grant Hill was part of the early spark with a 12-point first quarter and he scored a season-high 19 points but he also committed eight turnovers. It was Hill’s first eight-turnover game since 2000.

The Suns fell behind by as much as 15 points in the third quarter, when Marion scored 14.

The Suns cut the Dallas lead to 91-84 with 8:58 to play but a flagrant foul, penalty two, call on Sebastian Telfair moments later led to a four-point possession for a 88-74 Dallas lead.

Suns center Marcin Gortat had 19 points and a season-high 17 rebounds.

“We’ve got to win this game at home,” Gortat said of tonight’s game against Toronto. “We can’t trip any more at home. Games at home count double for us now.”

Report

Key player

The Mavericks’ Shawn Marion made four of his season’s nine 3-pointers and scored a season-high 29 points.

Key moment

The Suns did not make a field goal for the second half’s first five minutes to fall behind by 11.

Key number

37.3 The Suns’ season-low field-goal percentage from Monday night.

View from press row

Michael Redd did not play for a third consecutive game. He chose the Suns in large part for the rotation opportunity, but a new lineup and his 1-for-12 shooting over his last three games pushed him out. Coach Alvin Gentry said they need Redd’s shooting but adding that Sebastian Telfair squeezed Redd out. “It’s a matter of getting reps and getting the kinks out,” Redd said. “I’m not here to be any disruption. We talked and he said he’d try to fit me in. I said, ‘Coach, don’t worry about me. I’ll be ready whenever you call on me.’ “

DALLAS – Don’t hold your breath waiting for the return of the uptempo, fun-and-gun Suns offense.

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The shot clock might expire if you do.

As much as Suns coach Alvin Gentry has implored his team to run more with the ball, winning the past two games with a total of 170 points for the first time since November 2002 just might say more about who this season’s Suns are as they hit the quarter pole in Dallas Monday night.

Between heavy roster turnover since the 2010 conference finals team and a lockout dragging down the league’s offense, the Suns play at a pace that is below the NBA average and score 12.1 fewer points per game than last season. But with two wins in a row, there is less reason to panic and hit the offense’s fast-forward button.

“We are a different team,” Suns point guard Steve Nash said. “We aren’t the same players, and collectively we really don’t have the same mentality. It’s easy to say we are going to be a running team, but it’s something that has to be ingrained and understood. We’ve got a lot of new guys. Not just this year, but last year. So the amount of guys we had on this team when we were a running team is few (five carryovers). We’re a different team. We’re better defensively.”

The Suns are holding opponents to 44.2 percent shooting this season, ranking them 16th for opponent field-goal percentage entering Sunday’s games. Monday night, they have a chance to build on that with Dallas star Dirk Nowitzki being held out for conditioning work.

The entire league is suffering offensively from a rushed, belated and shortened preseason. Teams are scoring 5.1 fewer points per game (99.6 last season to 94.5 this season) and shooting less accurately (45.9 percent last season to 44.2 this season). The fall has been more exaggerated with the Suns, whose rapid pace last season accrued the fourth-most offensive possessions in the NBA.

“Maybe the identity is changing a little bit,” Suns forward Grant Hill said. “Maybe it’s just one of those weird years.”

On Friday night, the Suns beat Boston 79-71 and took only 69 shots in the game. The Suns took fewer than 70 shots in a game once last season and had not won a game doing so since January 2009.

The Celtics, missing Rajon Rondo, were more upset about the game’s slow pace than the Suns.

“It’s funny — they’re a running team, but they didn’t want to run it, either,” Boston coach Doc Rivers said. “They used the clock 23 seconds every possession, it felt like. And that slowed the game down. But they were making half their shots. So it turned the game into, I mean, it was a snail pace, really.”

According to 82games.com, the Suns take 38 percent of their shots in the first 10 seconds of the shot clock as opposed to 41 percent over the past two seasons. It has been a steady decline since 2004-05, when the Suns took 48 percent of their shots in the first 10 seconds of possession.

The Suns still want to push the ball more to get easier shots and better 3-point shots in transition. The 3-point shooting percentage of 33.8 percent is far off the club’s recent standard because Channing Frye (33.9 percent), Jared Dudley (34.1), Shannon Brown (29.7) and Hill (5.9) all are converting below expectations.

“We’re definitely still searching for more cohesion,” Nash said. “We didn’t have much time to practice. We got ready the best we could. We weren’t really as ready as we needed to be and now we’re trying to catch up but it’s difficult.

“We’ve got to find a way to run a little bit more and do the other things that we’re doing better.”

BOSTON – If Boston rookie big man Greg Stiemsma had not experienced his welcome-to-the-NBA moment, he probably did not expect it to come against Suns center Marcin Gortat.

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There often is that regrettable yet memorable play for each young player when he discovers what an elite skill level he has entered in the NBA.

On Friday night, Gortat already had scored 12 consecutive Suns first-quarter points when he received the ball on the extended post with Stiemsma on his back. Gortat’s spin move to the baseline froze Stiemsma for a score.

“Polish shake,” Suns forward Grant Hill said in deference to the “Dream Shake” of Hakeem Olajuwon, who taught moves to Gortat for a week in June.

The Suns have lacked a go-to scorer who creates his own shot since last season, but Gortat at least has proven to be a reliable, efficient scorer. Steve Nash is creating more scores than any NBA player, averaging 10.0 assists per game, and leads the Suns in scoring with 14.8 points per game, but his pick-and-roll partner, Gortat, is up to 14.7.

“I know where to put myself in the position to score,” Gortat said. “Having Steve going to the bucket every time hard, then I’m going to be open or the other way around, and I’m going to draw attention on my roll. That’s a pretty good combination. I like that.”

Since a splint was removed from his right thumb, which had sustained a hairline fracture, Gortat has averaged 17.0 points and 11.2 rebounds in nine games. His 59.9 percent shooting leads the NBA.

If the Suns’ record improves, Gortat could be an All-Star candidate in a shallow pool of West centers. It would be a fitting return to Orlando, where he spent 3½ seasons as Dwight Howard’s understudy.

“I don’t really care about that,” Gortat said. “My thoughts are not on All-Star. I’d rather take a rest. I don’t think I’m going to make it. I care if my team is going to win.”

Gortat does not lack for motivation. An acquaintance criticized his play in New York, stirring him into a 24-point, 12-rebound performance Friday night at Boston, his seventh consecutive double-double and third 20-10 game in an eight-day span.

Gortat, 27, is far from a perfect center, but he has come so far in his first season as an NBA starter. He is hesitant to dunk for fear of reinjuring the thumb and missing the season. He knows it would help the team if he drew more fouls (2.2 free-throw attempts per game) and made more free throws (63.6 percent shooting from the line). He is a key to improving the defense, which he boosts with 1.6 blocks per game. He is needed to turn around the team’s rebounding issues.

“I still believe I can do better,” Gortat said of his 9.3 rebound average. “Every time I see Dwight Howard and his numbers, those numbers are out the roof. I want to reach 20. Because Coach told me if I have 20, then I’ll be able to shoot 3s. Trust me, I’m aiming for that. If I get 20, the next possession is a 3.”

Offensively, Gortat has shown more offensive variety than being set up for layups. He has a mid-range jumper and made four of four left-handed shots, layups and hooks, in Friday’s first quarter. A strong left hand, engrained in him by European coaches, is what carried him through the frustrating first six games with the splint.

Gortat still is not a player that teams focus on eliminating defensively.

“Some of them know I can play, but they still defend me the way they always defended me,” Gortat said. “They still treat me like an Orlando backup. That’s fine. At the end of the day, I’m going to smile.”

Updated Jan 20, 2012 11:38 PM ET

Gortat finished with 24 points and 12 rebounds, and Steve Nash had 11 points and nine assists to lead Phoenix to a 79-71 victory over Boston on Friday night. The Suns won their second straight road game, having snapped a five-game losing streak by beating the Knicks on Wednesday.

”Steve put on a show, and people found me in the right spots,” Gortat said. ”We have to start winning. We tripped a couple of times at home. Now we need to make it up on the road.”

Gortat, who was one short of his career high in points, helped the Suns jump to a 16-8 lead with 10 of the game’s first 24 points, then he added a pair of layups at the end of the first.

The Celtics took a brief lead, 53-50, midway through the third quarter before Phoenix scored the next 12 points. After Mickael Pietrus hit a 3-pointer from the left corner to make it 76-71, Gortat lumbered down the lane and drew a foul from Kevin Garnett before sinking two free throws to clinch it.

It was Gortat’s seventh consecutive double-double.

Ray Allen had 14 points and six rebounds for the Celtics, who lost for the sixth time in seven games and fell to 0-4 against the Western Conference. Playing without Rajon Rondo, their most consistent starter this year, the Celtics had their lowest-scoring game of the season.

”We should be better than that,” Rivers said. ”It’s on me. If one guy doesn’t play, you should be able to play through it.”

Paul Pierce scored 12 points with six assists and Garnett had 10 points and five rebounds. Avery Bradley scored 10 points with four rebounds and one assist while filling in for Rondo, who was injured Wednesday night when he took a hard foul from Toronto’s Linas Kleiza while going to the basket.

An MRI was negative. Rivers wouldn’t put a timetable on Rondo’s return, though the point guard was hoping to be back for Sunday’s game against the Washington Wizards.

Keyon Dooling missed his fifth straight game with a right knee injury.

The Celtics finished with 20 assists – same as the Suns – but just four from three different players at the point.

”We didn’t have our starting point guard. We didn’t have our backup point guard,” Rivers said, adding that he tried to run plays through Pierce, Garnett and Marquis Daniels. ”I mean, we were just searching.”

The Suns led by 11 at halftime. Boston went on a 14-2 run in the middle of the third quarter, taking a 53-50 lead on Pietrus’ 3-pointer. With Boston still up by 3, the Suns scored 12 straight points to take a 64-55 lead early in the fourth.

Notes: Former Boston College star Jared Dudley scored 12 points in 19 minutes as a reserve for Phoenix. … New England Patriots players Deion Branch and Patrick Chung took in the game from courtside. … Boston C Jermaine O’Neal played in his 900th NBA game. … With Rondo out, Garnett and Brandon Bass are the only Celtics to have played in every game this season. … Boston snapped a five-game slide on Wednesday night. … It was the Suns’ first time winning consecutive road games all season. … Allen had gone three straight games without scoring in double digits.

BOSTON – The Suns just needed to visit some NBA arenas where opponents are allowed to win or the tenants are playing bad basketball.

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The Suns’ five-game losing streak has been followed by a two-game road win streak after the Suns grinded out a win Friday night that would be considered ugly if it was not so rare.

The Suns downed Boston 79-71 at TD Garden, marking the first time they have won a game with fewer than 80 points since November 2002 (75-72 at Denver).

The Celtics (5-9) are struggling like New York, Wednesday’s victim, and were without point guard Rajon Rondo because of a wrist injury.

The Suns (6-9) started this daunting five-game trip with losses at San Antonio and Chicago, which entered Friday night undefeated at home, but held New York to 37.2 percent shooting Wednesday and allowed 40.5 percent shooting to Boston. The Suns needed every Celtics miss, as they committed a season-high 23 turnovers.

“Our defense, I know it almost makes you guys pass out when I say Phoenix Suns and defense, but we have gotten a lot better defensively, and the reason we can stay in games now is because of our defense,” Suns coach Alvin Gentry said.

Boston’s “Big 3″ of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen made 14 of 35 shots, with Allen, the leading scorer, taking only eight shots against a defense that began with Ronnie Price guarding him.

The Suns jumped ahead early with NBA field-goal percentage leader Marcin Gortat scoring their final 14 points of the first quarter, a total that matched Allen’s team-high 14 for the game. Suns point guard Steve Nash spoon-fed center Gortat baskets when Boston’s attention was on Nash coming off screens. Still, Gortat also made tough shots, including two hooks and a spin move that would have made his summer tutor, Hakeem Olajuwon, proud.

“I was aggressive,” Gortat said. “Those points aren’t only because of me. My teammates had great position. They spread the floor for me. Steve hit me on the rolls. At the end of the game, maybe I had one or two putbacks. That’s the only thing I did by myself. They helped me to score. Next time, somebody else will score.”

Gortat finished with 24 points, one shy of his career high, on 10-of-18 shooting and added 12 rebounds.

Gortat has recorded seven consecutive double-doubles and posted three 20-point, 10-rebound games in the past five contests.

Jared Dudley (12 points) and Nash (11) were the only other Suns in double figures, and both hit clutch perimeter shots down the stretch. Nash added nine assists.

“He (Nash) is the motor that drives the car,” Gentry said. “He’s everything for us.”

The Suns’ second unit made 12 of 26 shots, helping the Suns stretch the lead to double figures in the second quarter.

The Suns lost their lead in the third quarter when they managed only four points for the first 8½ minutes. Boston had momentum, but the Suns showed resolve, going on a 12-0 run that bridged the end of the third quarter and the start of the fourth.

The run included blocked shots from Gortat and Nash and steals by Grant Hill, Sebastian Telfair (twice) and Robin Lopez.

Report

Key player

Suns center Marcin Gortat had 24 points and 12 rebounds, his seventh consecutive double-double.

Key moment

After surrendering the lead in the third quarter, the Suns went on a 14-0 run over six minutes and included two blocks and four steals.

Key number

+14: The Suns’ rebound differential Friday night after entering the game with a league-worst minus-4.9 differential seventh consecutive double-double included average.

View from press row

This probably was why Alvin Gentry was hesitant to throw rookie Markieff Morris into the starting lineup. Morris has been the most impressive rookie big man in the NBA this season but had done it against a lot of second-stringers. His propensity for bad passes continued Friday night. He also did not make a shot, but he gets a pass after coming off a stomach virus and being a rookie. He has proven to be a smart player and will figure things out.

By Brian Mahoney, Associated Press

NEW YORK — Steve Nash provided the beautiful point guard play that once made Mike D’Antoni’s offense hum and now is sorely lacking.

Then, Shannon Brown crushed the Knicks with a 3-pointer that nearly bounced over the basket before bouncing in, a shot as ugly as this game.

“Probably about par for the course,” Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry said.

Nash had 26 points and 11 assists, and the Suns snapped a five-game losing streak with a 91-88 victory over the Knicks on Wednesday night.

Brown and Grant Hill each scored 14 points for the Suns, who bounced back from an embarrassing 118-97 loss to a Chicago team without Derrick Rose a night earlier.

They got help with a lucky bounce on Brown’s 3-pointer from the corner that bounced off the rim, then the top of the center of the basket before falling in to give them a five-point lead with 35 seconds left. Nash made it stand up with six free throws in the last 16 seconds.

Gentry said Nash, who shot 9 of 12, is playing as well as he did in his MVP seasons under D’Antoni. Nash said playing his former coach and teammate Amare Stoudemire, in the city where he lives in the summer, was “a homecoming in some ways” but denied any extra significance in beating them.

“Right now, we could have beat anybody and it’d be sweet,” Nash said. “It’s been a tough year, we’ve had a tough stretch, so for us, any win is a huge relief and hopefully will give us some confidence and maybe get us going a little bit.”

Stoudemire scored 23 points for the Knicks, who have lost four straight and can’t find answers for their offensive struggles.

“I know we’re 6-8, I know we’re in a little bit of a crisis here,” D’Antoni said. “But we’re playing hard, playing good defense. There’s some good things we’re doing. We’ve just got to figure out the one part and that’s the part that should be easiest. It’s become a problem, and if we solve it, we’ll be pretty good. We just have to do it sooner rather than later.”

Iman Shumpert added 20 points and Landry Fields had 17, but Carmelo Anthony, perhaps still bothered by a sore left wrist, shot just 5 of 22 while finishing with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Anthony did not speak to the media. A Knicks spokesman said he left because of a family issue.

Hill hit jumpers for the Suns’ last three baskets of the third quarter, giving them a 64-61 edge. The Knicks then managed just two field goals in the first six minutes of the fourth, and Phoenix finally got some room when a 10-4 run, ending with consecutive baskets by Brown, made it 78-71.

Shumpert’s 3-pointer cut it to 82-80 before Brown answered with his 3 from the corner that had to be reviewed.

NEW YORK – For the past six years, watching a meeting between the Suns and New York Knicks was like riding an amusement-park ride.

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It was fast, frenetic and fun. The Suns will settle for fun right now. Wednesday night’s meeting of familiar faces and offenses was more like one slow climb on the log ride but at least the Suns finally got the big splash of a victory with a 91-88 win at a sold-out Madison Square Garden.

In the teams’ past 11 meetings, the Suns had averaged 114.3 points and the Knicks had averaged 110.9. Both teams scored about 23 fewer points this time around but Steve Nash was still brilliant on a 26-point, 11-assist night and the early-season defensive improvement resurfaced to shut down New York stars Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire.

Anthony and Stoudemire made 12 of 44 shots combined, and the Suns (5-9) remained 5-0 when leading at halftime, thanks to nine Shannon Brown points in the game’s final 4:03 and six consecutive game-clinching free throws by Nash in the final 21 seconds.

“I don’t think they’re putting it in a can and sending it to Springfield,” Gentry said. “It was not a very well-played game. I think we couldn’t have done any better job on Melo and Amar’e.”

Coming off a defensive debacle Tuesday night at Chicago, the Suns — and the Knicks themselves — held New York to 37.2 percent shooting with 17 turnovers. Grant Hill led the effort against Anthony, who went 5 for 22 from the field with a sore right ankle and sore left wrist continuing to hamper his poor shooting season.

“I just tried to make him work and stay in his face and tried to keep him off the free-throw line and tried to keep him out of the paint,” Hill said.

“We played with a sense of desperation. … We fought and competed. We didn’t feel sorry for ourselves. We showed some character coming back after last night and also after struggling for the last week or so.”

The Suns went with a new starting lineup, putting Ronnie Price in the backcourt with Nash and giving rookie Markieff Morris his first pro start in place of Channing Frye. Morris, plagued by a stomach bug before the game, picked up two quick fouls and went to the locker room to receive an IV and did not return.

Nash’s shooting got the Suns off to a good start and the Suns maintained a lead until a third-quarter five-minute scoreless drought that Brown ended with a 3-pointer. New York was still within three until Brown scored nine of 11 Suns points during a stretch that kept the Knicks at bay in the fourth quarter.

It was an 82-80 lead when Brown had a corner 3-pointer fall by going from rim to backboard to net.

“It was soft enough,” Brown said.

New York looks desperate for a point guard and Nash was a reminder of who would fit Mike D’Antoni’s desires best. Nash made only three turnovers and hit 9 of 12 shots, including 2 of 3 3-pointers, to prompt Gentry to say he is playing at his MVP years’ level.

“Boring as this may be for you guys, I’m really not thinking about it,” Nash said of speculation about New York’s summer free agency interest in him.

“I’m still with the Suns and happily with the Suns. I’ve put everything I have into trying to turn this thing around and see if we can get back into contention. With this condensed season, I’ve put all my focus into playing every day. … “

Report

Key player

Suns guard Shannon Brown scored nine of his 14 points in the game’s final 4:03.

Key moment

The Suns held New York without a field goal for five minutes early in the fourth quarter to maintain a narrow lead while Steve Nash was out.

Key number

32: Shots that New York’s Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire missed on 44 attempts.

View from press row

As goofy as the bounce was, there was no bigger shot than the Shannon Brown 3-pointer for a five-point lead with 35 seconds to go. That shot’s importance was displayed by the man who came over for the mid-air body slam celebration with Brown — Steve Nash. Nash’s outward emotion is reserved for select moments. Brown’s nine points in the final 4:03 deserved it.