PHOENIX — A Frenchman put Phoenix on the brink of elimination, another brought the Suns back to life.

Boris Diaw fell two assists shy of a triple-double yesterday and the Suns avoided a first-round sweep at the hands of San Antonio with a 105-86 victory.

Diaw, starting in place of injured Grant Hill, had 20 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in one of the best playoff performances of his career.

"I trust him. I always have," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said. "I think he's a heck of a basketball player. He's been maligned here a little bit, but he can play. He stepped up big."

Diaw also played tough defense on his good friend and fellow Frenchman Tony Parker, who scored 18 points after a career-high 41 in San Antonio's 115-99 win Friday in Game 3.

"I think they kind of relaxed being up 3-0," Diaw said, "but we came out and played, too. We didn't come out like the series was over. We came out fired up."

Phoenix still trails the first-round series 3-1, with Game 5 on tomorrow in San Antonio. No NBA team has come back from 0-3 to win a series, a fact that wasn't lost on the Spurs' Tim Duncan.

"We didn't expect to sweep these guys," Duncan said. "We're excited in the situation we're in, up 3-1. We've got to win one more game, and we get to go home and try to win it there. Those are a lot of things that are in our favor."

SAN ANTONIO 13 30 22 21— 86

PHOENIX 34 31 28 12—105

SAN ANTONIO-Bowen 0-3 0-0 0, Duncan 6-18 2-2 14, Thomas 2-3 0-0 4, Parker 7-17 4-7 18, Finley 2-4 2-2 7, Oberto 0-0 3-4 3, Ginobili 4-8 2-2 10, Horry 2-7 1-2 6, Udoka 2-4 0-0 4, Barry 1-4 2-2 5, Vaughn 2-6 0-0 4, Stoudamire 4-8 2-3 11. Totals 32-82 18-24 86.

PHOENIX-Diaw 10-19 0-0 20, Stoudemire 3-11 1-3 7, O'Neal 4-10 6-10 14, Nash 6-11 2-2 15, Bell 8-11 6-6 27, Barbosa 5-15 3-4 15, Giricek 2-7 2-2 7, Skinner 0-1 0-0 0, Strawberry 0-4 0-0 0, Marks 0-0 0-0 0, Piatkowski 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 38-89 20-27 105.

3-Point Goals—San Antonio 4-11 (Stoudamire 1-1, Finley 1-2, Barry 1-4, Horry 1-4), Phoenix 9-20 (Bell 5-7, Barbosa 2-5, Giricek 1-2, Nash 1-3, Strawberry 0-1, Diaw 0-2). Fouled Out—Diaw. Rebounds—San Antonio 53 (Duncan 10), Phoenix 61 (O'Neal 12). Assists—San Antonio 12 (Parker 3), Phoenix 20 (Diaw 8). Total Fouls—San Antonio 27, Phoenix 23. Technicals—Bowen, Phoenix Coach D'Antoni 2, O'Neal, Stoudemire, Phoenix defensive three second 2. A—18,422 (18,422).

Cavaliers 100, Wizards 97: LeBron James had 34 points and 12 rebounds, and dished the ball to Delonte West for a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 5.4 seconds left, helping visiting Cleveland take a 3-1 lead over Washington in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference playoff series.

After Gilbert Arenas' 8-foot fadeaway with 28 seconds remaining made it 97-all, James dribbled out the clock before finding West.

"Everybody had their eyes on LeBron," West said. "Sometimes guys forget he has great court vision. He made the right play."

CLEVELAND 24 30 26 20—100

WASHINGTON 28 16 29 24— 97

CLEVELAND-James 11-25 9-14 34, Wallace 0-0 0-2 0, Ilgauskas 4-8 1-2 9, West 7-12 2-2 21, Szczerbiak 2-5 2-2 6, Gibson 4-10 0-0 12, Varejao 1-4 0-0 2, Smith 1-6 5-5 7, Brown 2-8 4-6 9. Totals 32-78 23-33 100.

WASHINGTON-Butler 7-14 4-5 19, Jamison 8-17 6-9 23, Haywood 5-10 6-8 16, Arenas 3-8 3-4 10, Stevenson 5-12 1-1 13, Daniels 2-4 2-2 7, Blatche 0-1 0-0 0, Mason 2-4 0-0 5, Songaila 0-0 4-4 4. Totals 32-70 26-33 97.3-Point Goals—Cleveland 13-28 (West 5-8, Gibson 4-7, James 3-8, Brown 1-3, Szczerbiak 0-2), Washington 7-19 (Stevenson 2-7, Mason 1-1, Daniels 1-1, Butler 1-2, Jamison 1-4, Arenas 1-4). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Cleveland 61 (Wallace, James 12), Washington 40 (Jamison 11). Assists—Cleveland 23 (James 7), Washington 18 (Stevenson 5). Total Fouls—Cleveland 27, Washington 24. Technicals—Gibson. Flagrant Fouls—Stevenson. A—20,173 (20,173).

Pistons 93, 76ers 84: Tayshaun Prince shot 11 for 12 from the field and scored 23 points, and visiting Detroit played with a purpose and dominated the second half to even the best-of-seven Eastern Conference playoff series at 2-2.

The Pistons erased a 14-point, first-half deficit against the upstart 76ers and will host Game 5 tomorrow.

"Everybody knows that we are good under pressure," said guard Chauncey Billups. "I hate that we put ourselves in this position a lot of times."

DETROIT 19 17 34 23—93

PHILADELPHIA 25 21 16 22—84

DETROIT-Prince 11-12 0-0 23, Maxiell 2-6 0-0 4, Wallace 5-12 6-8 20, Billups 4-16 9-10 18, Hamilton 7-22 4-4 18, McDyess 5-8 0-0 10, Stuckey 0-4 0-0 0, Hayes 0-0 0-0 0, Afflalo 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 34-80 19-22 93.

PHILADELPHIA-Iguodala 4-16 4-9 12, Young 5-9 4-4 15, Dalembert 3-5 6-6 12, Miller 6-13 1-2 13, Green 6-12 1-2 13, Williams 3-5 3-4 10, Carney 1-3 0-0 3, Smith 2-2 0-0 4, Evans 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 31-67 19-27 84.

3-Point Goals—Detroit 6-16 (Wallace 4-7, Prince 1-1, Billups 1-7, Hamilton 0-1), Philadelphia 3-9 (Young 1-1, Carney 1-2, Williams 1-2, Miller 0-1, Iguodala 0-3). Fouled Out—Green. Rebounds—Detroit 45 (Wallace 10), Philadelphia 48 (Dalembert 12). Assists—Detroit 24 (Hamilton, Billups 7), Philadelphia 21 (Iguodala 5). Total Fouls—Detroit 23, Philadelphia 21. Technicals—Wallace. A—18,347 (20,444).

Hornets 97, Mavericks 84: David West let out his pent-up frustration over a poor Game 3 with a determined effort in Game 4, scoring 10 of his 24 points in a quick stretch early in the second half to help visiting New Orleans pull away and take a 3-1 lead in the first-round series.

"Everything was stirring up in him," coach Byron Scott said. "He wasn't going to play the way he played in Game 3 (when he shot 6 for 20 from the field). We were banking on that. He was in an aggressive mind-set from the start and he came up big."

The Hornets can eliminate the Mavericks by winning Game 5 tomorrow in New Orleans.

NEW ORLEANS 23 25 28 21—97

DALLAS 30 14 22 18—84

NEW ORLEANS-Stojakovic 6-13 4-4 19, West 10-21 4-4 24, Chandler 1-3 0-0 2, Paul 6-14 4-5 16, Peterson 4-5 2-2 10, Armstrong 1-1 0-0 2, Pargo 4-9 2-4 11, J.Wright 5-6 1-2 11, Wells 1-4 0-0 2, Bowen 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 38-76 17-21 97.

DALLAS-Jo.Howard 3-16 0-0 6, Nowitzki 8-18 4-7 22, Dampier 2-3 0-0 4, Kidd 1-6 0-0 3, Terry 6-16 6-7 20, Bass 5-12 2-2 12, George 2-7 0-0 4, Stackhouse 1-5 0-0 2, Barea 3-4 0-0 8, Jones 1-2 0-0 3, Allen 0-0 0-0 0, Ju.Howard 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 32-89 12-16 84.

3-Point Goals—New Orleans 4-10 (Stojakovic 3-4, Pargo 1-2, J.Wright 0-1, Peterson 0-1, Paul 0-2), Dallas 8-25 (Barea 2-2, Nowitzki 2-4, Terry 2-7, Jones 1-2, Kidd 1-4, Stackhouse 0-1, Jo.Howard 0-2, George 0-3). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—New Orleans 49 (West 9), Dallas 54 (Nowitzki 13). Assists—New Orleans 12 (Paul 8), Dallas 12 (Kidd, Nowitzki, Terry 3). Total Fouls—New Orleans 18, Dallas 19. Technicals—West. Flagrant Fouls—Kidd. Ejected—Kidd. A—20,644 (20,468).