NBA: Brown’s 3-pointers lift Suns over Bobcats
No matter how hard they tried, the Charlotte Bobcats couldn’t stop Shannon Brown Wednesday night.
Shannon Brown scored 24 points and putting on a shooting exhibition in the fourth quarter with six 3-pointers as the Phoenix Suns beat the Charlotte Bobcats 117-110.
Brown, a former Bobcat, came to the rescue after the Suns squandered a 15-point second-half edge and had to pull back away in the final 10 minutes. He was 6 of 8 from 3-point range.
His 3-pointer with 3:09 remaining – his fourth of the period – gave the Suns a 108-101 lead, and then his fifth trey put the Suns up 112-103 with 1:14 remaining. The Bobcats got no closer than four points in the final minute.
The win allowed the Suns (2-3) to salvage the final game in a three-game East Coast trip. The Bobcats (1-2) lost their second straight.
Phoenix also got 23 points and 10 rebounds from Marcin Gortat, 21 points and 15 rebounds from Michael Beasley, 16 points from Goran Dragic, and 10 points each from Jared Dudley and Markieff Morris.
Byron Mullens led Charlotte with 24 points and eight rebounds. Kemba Walker and Ramon Sessions scored 17 each, Ben Gordonscored 12 and Tyrus Thomas scored 10.
The Suns dominated the boards, holding a 50-39 advantage.
Mullens almost single-handedly brought the Bobcats back from a 15-point deficit midway through the third quarter, hitting four 3-pointers in the period as the Bobcats cut the margin to 85-81 after three quarters.
The Bobcats continued the comeback and tied it 85-85 on a jumper by Thomas with 11:02 remaining. But then Brown went to work.
The Suns led 60-46 at halftime.
They came out sizzling, shooting 63.2 percent (12 of 19) from the field in the first quarter in building a 12-point lead at one point. Then after the Bobcats got as close as five late in the second quarter, Phoenix pushed the lead back up to 14 in the final minutes of the half.
Beasley had 16 points and five rebounds at the break, and Gortat had 13 points, including nine in the first quarter.
The Bobcats shot just 33.3 percent (15 of 45) from the field in the first half, and seemed out of sync throughout the half.
Charlotte played without Gerald Henderson, its leading scorer last season. Henderson suffered a sprained left foot last Saturday night at Dallas and will be lost for at least two weeks. His place in the starting lineup was taken by rookie Jeffery Taylor, as coach Mike Dunlap chose to keep Ben Gordonand Ramon Sessions in their roles coming off the bench.
The Suns were without Jermaine O’Neal, who is attending to a personal family issue. They have already declared Channing Frye out for the season with an enlarged heart.
The Bobcats will play at New Orleans on Friday night while the Suns will return home to face Cleveland on Friday.
(The Sports Xchange)
