The Suns Gorilla and Verve Sol Patrol put on a dunking display during a timeout in the US Airways Center.

The Phoenix Suns and a healthy Penny Hardaway along with newly aquired Stephon Marbury set foot in the great north to face Vinsanity and the Toronto Raptors. Jerome Williams left the back door open and Penny Hardaway went right through it. Hardaway’s reverse layup off an inbounds play at the buzzer gave the Phoenix Suns a 91-90 victory over the Toronto Raptors, who wasted another huge game by Vince Carter. Carter followed in his own miss with three seconds remaining to give him 42 points and Toronto its first lead of the fourth quarter. Phoenix called timeout and set up a play with Hardaway inbounding from the right sideline. Williams was defending the pass, which Hardaway lobbed into Rodney Rogers in the low post. When Williams inexplicably moved to the top of the circle, Hardaway cut to the basket, took the return pass from Rogers, went underneath the rim and flipped in a lefthanded layup as the horn sounded. “I know he is going to kick himself for overplaying that play at the end,” Hardaway said. “I figured once I threw the ball to Rodney, he (Williams) was going to turn his head and that is when I went back-door and it was there. Rodney made a great pass to lead me to the basket.” “In three seconds you can go from a high to a low really fast,” Williams said. “What we were trying to do did not work. It was my job to jump out on Stephon (Marbury); I did. They made a quick pass to Rodney and Penny just back cut and took me out of the play. He (Rogers) made a good pass …

Ron Artest Game Winner vs Suns in the Western Conference Finals in HD! Visit www.theballersnation.com for more videos and news! Visit www.theballersnation.com to Watch Live Sports (NBA, ESPN, MLB, Soccer, NFL and more!

PORTLAND, Ore., March 26,2009(AP) — LaMarcus Aldridge is steadily getting to where he – and Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan – believe he can be. Aldridge scored a season-high 29 points and added 12 rebounds to help Portland snap the Phoenix Suns’ six-game winning streak with a 129-109 victory Thursday night. McMillan thinks that Aldridge, who is in his third season, is well on his way to consistent double-doubles. He leads the team with 18 this season. “He’s still learning to take advantage of what he can do, and I think he can be a dominant force on both ends of the floor,” McMillan said. Aldridge admits it’s getting easier. “I don’t want to jinx myself, but as you play the game longer, you see things better,” he said. Aldridge and the Blazers are sitting at sixth in the Western Conference, in a tangle of teams jockeying for position behind the leading Los Angeles Lakers. Phoenix, making a late push for the playoffs, is ninth in the Western Conference – 3 1/2 games behind Dallas. “We cut ourselves into a deep hole with too many mistakes, and they capitalized on out mistakes,” said Shaquille O’Neal, who had 20 points for the Suns. “We left their shooters open way too much and they knocked down the shots. They had a lot of energy.” Portland led 100-79 after three quarters, following Rudy Fernandez’s jumper and buzzer-beating 3-pointer from 25 feet. The Suns sat their starters most of the rest of the way. Fernandez came off the bench to score 23 points. The rookie …

Wisconsin guard Alando Tucker made two visits to Phoenix before the Suns selected him with the 29th overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft.