Deron Williams scored 11 of his 21 points in the last seven-plus minutes to lead Utah Jazz to recover for a 104-99 overtime victory over the Suns, whose playoff hopes took a crushing blow.
It was a demoralizing defeat for the Suns, who erased a 21-point deficit in the second half but squandered a pair of late leads.
Phoenix (40-33) fell 3 1/2 games behind Dallas (43-29) in the race for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Even if the Suns win their last nine games, they would need the Mavericks to go 5-5 in their final 10 contests.
Meanwhile, the Jazz (45-27) won their 14th straight home game and remained two games behind first-place Denver in the race for the Northwest Division title.
The Suns trailed, 58-37, early in the third quarter rallied behind Jared Dudley, who scored 14 of his 15 points in an eight-minute span before a layup by Grant Hill gave Phoenix its first lead at 78-77with 5:07 left in the fourth quarter.
Eight points from Shaquille O'Neal built the bulge to 88-81 with2:11 left before Williams rallied the Jazz. He sank two foul shots, found Turkey's Mehmet Okur for a three-pointer and made a pair of jumpers to forge a 90-90 tie with 13 seconds to play.
Baskets by O'Neal and Jason Richardson opened overtime, but Okur hit a pair from the line and Williams converted a three-point play.
After Nash made a jumper, Russia's Andrei Kirilenko buried a three-pointer as he was fouled by Hill.
Kirilenko's free throw made it 99-96 with 2:19 left, and Williams hit four clutch free throws in the final minute to offset Nash's three-pointer.
Okur had 26 points and 11 rebounds, Carlos Boozer added 14 and 10 and Williams had 13 assists for the Jazz, who avenged Wednesday's118-114 loss at Phoenix.
Nash scored 20 points, Hill added 19 and O'Neal 16 with 10 rebounds for the Suns, who have dropped seven of their last eight road games.
(Xinhua News Agency March 30, 2009)
