PHOENIX (Ticker) -- Stephon Marbury made two free throws with six seconds left, enabling the Phoenix Suns to hold off the Miami Heat, 100-98.
A jumper by Lamar Odom got Miami within 98-97 with 23 seconds left, but Marbury sealed the Suns' third straight win from the line.
"This is our third win in a row and I think we are turning that corner," Marbury said. "We are back to a .500 record. I think our next few games are going to be big for us."
Amare Stoudemire led six players in double figures with 24 points for Phoenix. Joe Johnson had 17 and Marbury added 11 and 10 assists.
After tying a team record by failing to score at least 100 points in the first 11 games of the season, the Suns finally reached the plateau. They improved to 5-3 at home.
"This was a big win for us," Suns coach Frank Johnson said. "It kind of keeps things going, keeps the streak going. I think we shot the ball extremely well.
Phoenix shot 53 percent (38-of-71), going 6-of-13 from 3-point range.
"We were very good in terms of when to shoot those threes," Frank Johnson said. "Shawn Marion did and Joe hit some timely threes."
Rookie Dwyane Wade had a season-high 27 points for Miami, which has dropped three straight and fell to 1-9 on the road.
"It shows a lot of character coming off a bad night and shooting and then come back and have three guys shooting the ball really well," Wade said. "We didn't get the win, but we can learn from this game and hopefully build on it going against the East."
Odom added 24 points and Eddie Jones had 22 for the Heat. But Miami shot just 38 percent (31-of-82).
After Marbury's late free throws, Miami decided to go for the tie without using a timeout and Odom missed a potential tying 3-pointer.
"I had a last shot at the top of the key and I thought it was going to go," Odom said. "It was a long shot, but I got to take it."
"When both teams had opportunities down the stretch, they made shots and we didn't," Heat coach Stan Van Gundy said. "And the lack of timeouts down the stretch really hurt us. With our team, we're not a real experienced team and we need to have some timeouts."
The Heat misfired on a few tip shots after Odom's miss and Brian Grant was fouled with seven-tenths of a second remaining. He made 1-of-2 free throws, but Miami was unable to foul Marbury before the final buzzer.
