Crazy game in Phoenix last night. With all the preamble focusing on the Amare Stoudemire/Boris Diaw/Rob Horry suspensions, the Suns came out like they didn’t even know they were short-handed, jumping out to a big lead in the first quarter and looking well on their way to a piecing — only the Spurs wouldn’t go away that easy. It was actually a lot like Game 4, when SA got blindsided at home and lost a game they seemed to have in the bag … Last night, Phoenix was ahead comfortably at halftime. Then Tim Duncan (21 pts, 12 rebs, 5 blks) came out of the locker room on some Project: Destroy Kurt Thomas level, getting SA back in it. Then the Suns ran off to another sizable lead. Then the Spurs came back. And it went like that for the rest of the night. In the fourth quarter the Spurs cut the lead to two, and it seemed like 20 seconds later, they were down eight again. Then they went on an 8-0 run to tie it up … Bruce Bowen (9 pts, 7 rebs, 4 stls) finally gave SA the lead on a corner three with 36 seconds left. After Steve Nash (19 pts, 12 asts) missed a three, Duncan blew a pair of huge free throws that could have all but iced it. The Suns cut it to one on a pair of Nash free throws, but SA held on after some Manu and Mike Finley FTs … The biggest thing we were worried about with Amare being out wasn’t the Duncan factor — since Thomas has been guarding TD a lot during the series anyway — but that STAT and Diaw’s absence meant Mike D’Antoni’s already small rotation would be even smaller and guys would get worn out. You could tell the difference right away, as Pat Burke saw some burn in the first quarter. But after those three minutes, he never saw the court again. The Suns rolled with a six-man rotation (with James Jones as the 6th man), and you just have to hope they have some legs left for Game 6 … Shawn Marion stepped his game up big-time to make up for Amare; his first-half numbers (20 points, 11 boards) were the numbers you expected Duncan to put up. At one point, Marion had 13 points and the Spurs as a team had 13. Matrix only scored a couple buckets in the second half, though, finishing with 24 and 17 boards … What the hell was Barkley talking about at halftime? The Spurs felt “guilty” about the suspensions and were subconsciously not playing hard? Riiiiight. If anything, we’d say SA was overconfident and thought they would just roll on the Suns, but were shell-shocked when Phoenix came out bustin’ their ass … Did you see the two older guys in the Phoenix crowd wearing bright orange shirts and bicycle helmets? They looked like they’d just come in from a triathlon … When the Spurs made their final run, part of it was because of Phoenix leaving their shooters wide open — which is what killed SA in the first half when they left the Suns’ shooters open. Manu, Bowen, Finley and Tony Parker hit the big shots to lead the charge … What’s up with Raja Bell pulling out the worst flop ever — and GETTING AWAY WITH IT?!? On a critical possession in the fourth, Bell pretended to get tripped/smacked by Manu and obviously threw himself on the floor after barely being touched. It was worse than last year when he got Kobe on that phantom-elbow flop. We can’t even respect that one, Raja … The Nets survived for another couple days, albeit in one of the ugliest playoff wins we’ve seen since those mid-90s era Knicks/Heat battles. Jersey was up by 20 in the third quarter, but scored only six points in the fourth and missed a bunch of free throws down the stretch to give Cleveland some hope … Marcus Williams isn’t there yet, but you can see he has “it” and will get there some day. Marcus only played about five minutes total, but there were a couple plays where he showed why he was a steal in the draft for the Nets and will be good down the road. He’s got the vision and plays under control … We know Eddie House has been hurt for a while, but he was out there looking like Vashon Lenard. Real thick-like … Bostjan Nachbar was on fire in the first half. Whatever he’s doing at that Eastern European massage parlor one of our guys saw him stepping out of a couple weeks ago, it’s working. We might go there before our next run and ask for “The Boki” … A few wrap-up thoughts on the Warriors/Jazz series from our Smack readers. Josh from Brooklyn wrote us an e-mail titled “Stephen Jackson has no handles.” In it he said, “Somebody tell S-Jack to STOP POUNDING THE ROCK!!!! He is a catch and shoot guy — not Iverson or Baron.” … Nick from Dubford wrote, “I’m sure there is no official stat for such a thing, but this Warriors-Jazz matchup HAS to be breaking the record for most faux-hawks in one postseason series. I’m counting Matt Barnes, Biedrins, Giricek, Kirilenko, and Araujo. (I would also assume that Memo Okur would go the same route if he were ever ambitious enough to do his hair in the morning.) My personal favorite is Andris Biedrins because it looks like a hairstyle that someone would come up with if they were trying to be funny, though sadly, I doubt he is.” … Finally, reader Mathew offers this bit of randomness: “Can’t you imagine Okur being a gambling (be it poker or pool) shark who wears a zoot suit, a fedora and chews on a toothpick all the time? It must drive the Warriors crazy that a doofus who smacks his gum all game gave them problems.” … Patrick Patterson, the Huntington (W. Va.) High School All-American forward who was the last big catch on the ‘07 recruiting hunt, decided on Kentucky yesterday. That came a couple days after the second-biggest “undecided” — Houston-area All-American PG Jai Lucas, John’s son — decided on Florida … We have to give a shout-out to our girl Naomi, Dime’s unofficial den mother and the new owner of a master’s degree in Sociology and Education from Columbia. (Yeah, the Ivy League one.) Needless to say, Nay-Nay is now officially the smartest person in the office … USA Basketball invited Marcus Camby to join the program this summer. Of course, the Nuggets must be hoping Camby says no. Knowing his history, an injury is always right around the corner … Pat’s e-mail the other day: “Guy on the subway, looks like he’s on his way to a softball game. His jersey says ‘Sex Panthers’ and he’s #69.” … We’re out like Raja’s acting …