Suns rise once again, take 3-0 series lead

Amare Stoudemire scored 30 points, and the Phoenix Suns rolled to a road victory over the Memphis Grizzlies for the franchise's first 3-0 lead in a best-of-seven series.

A victory here Sunday night would give Phoenix a sweep of the opening-round Western Conference series.

Joe Johnson scored 20 points and reserve Jim Jackson added 17 for Phoenix. Shawn Marion added 14 points and 13 rebounds, Steve Nash had 13 points and eight assists.

Lorenzen Wright led Memphis with 14 points. Pau Gasol and Mike Miller had 13 apiece, and Shane Battier and Jason Williams scored 10 each.

The knock on the Suns despite their NBA-leading 62 victories in the regular season was that they couldn't handle physical play from bigger opponents, preferring to sprint up and down the floor.

The Grizzlies felt the time finally had arrived for the franchise's first playoff victory after seven straight losses. They thought they had only themselves to blame in losing Game 2 108-103 on Wednesday night and expected their frenzied fans to provide the edge the team lacked in Phoenix.

What they found out is that the Suns can push back pretty hard when they want without affecting the NBA's best offense.

76ers 115, Pistons 104

Allen Iverson scored 37 points and handed out five of his 15 assists in the fourth quarter to lead the Philadelphia 76ers past the Detroit Pistons 115-104 Friday night.

The Sixers defeated the defending NBA champions for the first time in the best-of-seven series, cutting Detroit's lead to 2-1. Game 4 is Sunday.

Iverson led the way as Philadelphia overcame an early 13-point deficit and then played its best ball in the fourth quarter, keeping the Pistons from getting much offense from anyone other than Ben Wallace.

Detroit's center scored a career-high 29 points and grabbed 16 rebounds, but the Pistons got only two points from their reserves to offset another 50-percent shooting effort from the field -- the third time in the series they've made at least half their shots.

Despite that efficiency, the Pistons couldn't find a way to stop Iverson after holding him to 35-percent shooting in the first two games. He finished 15-for-26 from the field, including 2-for-4 from 3-point range.

Chauncey Billups started as the primary defender on Iverson, and Richard Hamilton took over the job later in the game. But even when the Pistons managed to get the ball out of Iverson's hands, he was able to find open teammates who were able to knock down shots.

Chris Webber scored nine of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, Rodney Rogers added 15 points, Samuel Dalembert had 14 points and 10 rebounds and Andre Iguodala had 13 points and seven steals for Philadelphia, which shot 55 percent.