The Phoenix Suns snapped the San Antonio Spurs' 18-game home winning streak in a thrilling overtime victory behind a throwback performance by Jermaine O'Neal off the bench, who scored 22 points and pulled down 13 rebounds.
The Spurs played their first home game after a nine-game road jaunt that spanned 25 days, but could not close out the Suns in the waning seconds of regulation. With the Spurs up 99-97 Manu Ginobili was fouled but missed the second of his two free throws. O'Neal rebounded the missed foul shot and fired a baseball-style pass to Wesley Johnson at the 3-point line, who drained the game-tying trey as the buzzer sounded.
In the overtime period the Spurs, possibly drained from their grueling road trip, missed all ten of their field goals, scoring one lonely point on a free throw. The Suns struggled in overtime too, with both teams shooting a combined 0-of-14 before Marcin Gortat put Phoenix up 102-101 with 1:07 remaining in the game.
O'Neal was the star of the show for the Suns, but he had help from Gortat who snagged 15 rebounds, and Goran Dragic, who logged 40 minutes and scored 13 points and handed out 13 assists.
The Spurs, who led for most of the game, were keyed by point guard Tony Parker who was hearing MVP chants from the crowd and was honored by the Spurs for being named NBA Player of the Month for the month of January. He had 22 points and eight assists in the loss. Tim Duncan posted a double double with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
The Oklahoma City Thunder wiped out the New Orleans Hornets by 44 points behind a triple double from Kevin Durant, cutting the Spurs' lead in the Western Conference standings to two games. The Spurs and Thunder will meet two more times in the regular season.
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