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Stojakovic burns Suns with last-second heroics

Feb 7, 2008 - 7:16 AM PHOENIX (Ticker) -- In a matchup of Western Conference powers, Peja Stojakovic got the last word.

Stojakovic drained a jumper from just inside the arc at the buzzer to lift the New Orleans Hornets to a 132-130 double-overtime victory over the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday.

Chris Paul poured in 42 points but had just two in the overtimes and Jannero Pargo picked up the slack for Paul, scoring 12 of his 22 points after regulation for the Hornets.

"It was a fun game to play now that we won," Paul said. "We are a team that shows a lot of perseverance. Coach finally made the right call by giving the Peja the last shot instead of me."

Stojakovic added 26 points, his final two deciding the game for New Orleans.

"It was a lucky one," Stojakovic said. "I can't say I knew it was going in. After losing three straight, it was big shot and a big win."

After Leandro Barbosa tied the game, 130-130, with a 3-pointer, New Orleans called a timeout and inbounded the ball at midcourt.

"I thought when Barbosa hit that three, it wasn't for us to win tonight," Paul said.

Stojakovic took the inbounds pass and turned into Amare Stoudemire and launched a fallaway jumper that found the net and ended the Hornets' three-game losing skid.

"It was unbelievable," Hornets coach Byron Scott said. "I told the guys at halftime that you can never relax playing Phoenix and no lead is too big. Luckily for us Peja hit at the end."

Stoudemire scored 26 points and grabbed 20 rebounds and Steve Nash had 32 and 12 assists for Phoenix.

"It was a hard fought game with a lot of big shots down the stretch," Stoudemire said. "They hit the last shot and that was the difference. We played solid defense but didn't shoot really well."

Boris Diaw started in place of the departed Shawn Marion, who was traded to Miami earlier Wednesday along with Marcus Banks for Shaquille O'Neal. Diaw finished with 22 points as did Barbosa.

O'Neal was in attendance and watched the game from a suite. It remains to be seen if he can help tip the balance of power in the West as the Suns appear to need a little help.

"Obviously the offensive rebounds and the second-chance points hurt us," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said. "Hopefully, that will change in the future. That is why are doing what we are doing (trading for O'Neal)."

They dropped to 0-3 against the Hornets this season with two of the losses coming at home.

"I'm not worried about the record against them, especially now the way we changed our team," Nash said. "We have to incorporate Shaquille and figure out how that will work. That kind of wipes out the history of the series."

Hornets starting center Tyson Chandler did not play because of the flu.