Suns take victory over Spurs in stride

SAN ANTONIO – Nobody on the Phoenix Suns was talking about revenge on Monday night.

After all, it’s still early in the regular season and their 100-95 victory over the San Antonio Spurs may not mean much come playoff time.

But their first meeting of the season came with plenty of baggage, and despite winning, not to mention handing the Spurs their first home loss of this season, the Suns mostly resisted talk about the controversial and disappointing end to last season.

“Obviously this is a big win for us,” Suns Coach Mike D’Antoni said. “It’s a good one to take home with us.”

Grant Hill scored 22 points for the Suns, who scored the final six points to overcome Tim Duncan’s season-high 36 points and 17 rebounds. The Spurs played their third straight game without Tony Parker (ankle).

Hill, in his first year with the Suns, didn’t quite follow the company line, saying, “I wasn’t worried about our effort tonight, considering all the history and last year. I knew we would be ready to play and I knew they would be ready to play.”

The Suns’ elimination in six games by the Spurs in last season’s Western Conference semifinals was marked by nasty words and nastier fouls.

Among other things, there was Amare Stoudemire’s accusation that the Spurs were a “dirty team” and most notably the incident at the close of Game 4 in which the Spurs’ Robert Horry bumped Steve Nash into the scorer’s table. Horry was suspended two games and Stoudemire and Boris Diaw each got a one-game suspension for leaving the bench in the ensuing altercation before the pivotal Game 5 at Phoenix in a series that was tied 2-2.