PHOENIX — Roger Mason didn't play at all in the fourth quarter until there were 4.3 seconds left. Then he came in and made the biggest shot of the game.

Mason's 3-pointer from the corner at the buzzer yesterday lifted the San Antonio Spurs to a 91-90 victory over the Phoenix Suns.

"As a shooter, you're always prepared," Mason said. "Coach put me in in that situation, and I knew if I had it, I was going to shoot it."

The Suns had taken the lead on Grant Hill's layup on an out-of-bounds play with 4.3 seconds to go.

After a timeout, Tony Parker drove toward the basket for San Antonio and threw to Mason, who was wide open because defender Jason Richardson had sagged toward the basket.

"As I beat Grant Hill, Jason Richardson came in," Parker said. "Roger was wide open, and that's his shot. He's been knocking them down all season, so I trusted him."

Parker scored 27 and Tim Duncan had 25 points and 17 rebounds as the Spurs won their fourth straight. Amare Stoudemire had 25 points and 13 rebounds, and Shaquille O'Neal 23 points and 12 boards for the Suns, who led most of the afternoon but never by more than eight in the second half.

Despite foul trouble, Duncan stopped Stoudemire on three straight late drives to the basket.

"I thought Timmy down the stretch was absolutely spectacular," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "With five fouls, the defense he played down low when they were going at him — making the stop, getting the rebound and getting it out — I thought he was just magnificent."

Duncan knew the Suns would go after him "no matter who I was guarding, whether it was Shaq or Amare."

"They chose Amare," Duncan said. "I was physical with him. I didn't back down or change my defense in any way."

Hill added 16 for the Suns, the last two coming on the same play Phoenix used to beat Orlando this season. After a timeout, he inbounded to Stoudemire, than ran to the baseline and toward the basket, where Stoudemire found him for the uncontested layup.

But the Spurs had the last shot. When Parker drove toward the basket, Richardson came in to help on defense. That left Mason, a 48 percent 3-point shooter who hadn't scored since the second quarter, alone for the winner, sending San Antonio to its 10th win in its last 12 games.

"We just had a breakdown," Phoenix coach Terry Porter said. "I mean, Grant did a good job on guarding the guy, the guy in the corner (Richardson) got suckered in too much and allowed Mason to get some space. Give Tony Parker some credit. He found him and Mason hit a wide-open shot."

Steve Nash had 13 points for the Suns. His eight assists made him the 13th NBA player to reach 7,000 for his career. Porter is among the other 12.

"We played good enough to win," Stoudemire said. "Every time we play the Spurs some type of big shot ends up happening."

The Suns hit their first five shots to go up 11-0 on O'Neal's dunk and led 23-10 after Richardson made one of two free throws.

MAGIC 88, HORNETS 68

ORLANDO, Fla. — Hedo Turkoglu scored 20 and the Magic led by as many as 31 points in the third quarter and the Hornets did not get closer than 19 points the rest of the game in a matchup of division leaders.

Hornets' guard Chris Paul, the NBA steals leader (3.7 average), saw his league-record string of 108 games with at least one steal stopped.

"Half the time when I got a steal I didn't even know it," said Paul, who was unaware his streak ended until after the game. "It was going to end at some point so why not Christmas?"

CAVS 93, WIZARDS 89

CLEVELAND — Trailing by seven to Washington after Antawn Jamison's 3-pointer with 1:32 left, Cleveland finished the game with an 11-0 run to remain the NBA's lone unbeaten team at home at 15-0

Cleveland trailed 89-82 before storming back with three free throws by LeBron James, a 3-pointer by Mo Williams and five more foul shots in the last 26 seconds. Jamison scored 28 points for the Wizards, who dropped their eighth straight.

"It's tough because we had a chance to win," said Mike James, who added 26 for the Wizards. "We're up eight and the calls didn't go our way, man. But that's the way it goes sometimes."

MAVS 102, BLAZERS 94

PORTLAND, Ore. — Dirk Nowitzki scored 30 points and Jason Terry came off the bench to add 19, including a 3-pointer for a 95-92 lead with 3:54 left, as Dallas surged past Portland for its 15th win in 19 games.

Brandon Roy scored 22 points and Steve Blake 14 for the Trail Blazers, who fell to 10-3 at home.