PHOENIX (Ticker) -- Even without their defensive stopper, the Indiana Pacers continued to shut down prolific scorers.
With Ron Artest out of the lineup due to back spasms, the Pacers held Stephon Marbury to 14 points as Jermaine O'Neal collected a season-high 32 and 14 rebounds in an 89-82 victory over the Phoenix Suns.
Artest leads an agressive defense that came in allowing a league-best 81.5 points per game and has shut down the likes of Allen Iverson, Allan Houston and Richard Hamilton this season.
With Artest missing his first game of the season, the trend of silencing the opponent's leading scorers continued as Marbury shot 4-of-15 from the field and Shawn Marion scored 15 points on 6-of-15 shooting.
"We're pretty tough (defensively) when we play together as a team, and for the most part we have been doing that all season," O'Neal said. "Without Ron, we had to step it up as a team. Late in the game, I was fortunate to be able to block some shots and get some big rebounds."
"It wasn't about them being tough," Marbury said. "It's that they stopped my dribble penetration. It's just sagging in on me and making me pass the ball to the other players, and it's up to them to beat them."
O'Neal led the charge on both ends. He scored 13 points in the fourth quarter, which featured an 11-2 run that gave Indiana a 72-64 lead with 8:50 to play.
Al Harrington started for Artest and scored 18 points. He scored four points during the run, which also featured one of Reggie Miller's four 3-pointers and an inside shot by O'Neal.
O'Neal also grabbed eight defensive boards and had six of his eight blocked shots in the second half. One of them was against Amare Stoudemire late in the fourth with Indiana holding a 79-73 lead.
After the block, O'Neal ran the floor, sank a fast-break layup and was fouled. He converted the free throw, giving the Pacers a nine-point lead with 2:52 to play.
"Defensively, we are very unselfish," Harrington said. "Guys are stepping it up and we are playing together. We are boxing out guys. It is a beautiful thing out there and a good thing to be a part of.
"Without Ron it shows you how deep our team is. We said that everybody had to step up and for the most part we did that."
The Suns shot just 30 percent (8-of-27) in the fourth quarter.
"They took it to us in the fourth quarter," Suns coach Frank Johnson said. "We were basically a loose ball from tying it, but O'Neal went and got it. Look at his line."
Without Artest, the Pacers held the Suns to 43 percent (34-of-79) from the floor. But the most telling number might have been the 33 percent shooting from Phoenix's starting lineup.
The Pacers rebounded from Sunday's 99-77 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers - which opened a five-game road trip - and improved the NBA's best record to 15-3.
