SLIDESHOW: Utah Jazz vs. Phoenix Suns NBA basketball
PHOENIX -- Amare Stoudemire scored the first 11 points for Phoenix en route to a season-high 44 and the Suns led all the way in a 110-100 victory over Utah on Friday night that pulled them within a game of the Jazz for fourth place in the West.
Stoudemire made 14 of 16 shots and 16 of 18 free throws in his 15th career 40-point performance. He scored 27 points in the second half, 16 in the final quarter, in Phoenix's first victory over the Jazz in three tries this season.
Robin Lopez added 19 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots, and Steve Nash 15 points and 10 assists for the Suns.
Carlos Boozer had 23 points and 16 rebounds for Utah -- 44-25 with 13 games to play.
Phoenix won for the 11th time in 14 games to improve to 43-26. Oklahoma City also is a game back at 42-25.
Utah was without forward Andrei Kirilenko for the third time in four games because of a strained left calf, then Mehmet Okur left with a stomach ailment in the second quarter. Jazz coach Jerry Sloan was ejected with two-tenths of a second to play.
The Suns led by 15 at the half and by 21 in the third quarter.
A 7-2 spurt by Utah cut it to 81-67 after three, a run that rekindled memories of the teams' last meeting. At Phoenix on March 4, the Suns were up by 11 after three quarters, but the Jazz outscored the Suns 41-22 in the fourth to win 116-108.
There would be no such collapse this time.
Leandro Barbosa, in his second game back from wrist surgery, opened the final quarter with a 3-pointer and the Jazz never got closer than the final 10-point margin.
Phoenix shot 53 percent to Utah's 39 percent. The Jazz were 0 for 9 from 3-point range.
Stoudemire was the entire Suns offense -- with a reverse layup, a fast-break layup for a three-point play, a 16-foote, a dunk and two free throws -- as Phoenix took an 11-2 lead.
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