It’s more than just a coincidence that Boris Diaw becomes a different player when Amare Stoudemire is off the floor.

 And it happened again Thursday just in time to save the Suns.

 When Stoudemire went to the bench with five fouls 3:18 into the fourth quarter – picking up four of the fouls in just over two minutes – Diaw had missed four of five shots, committed five turnovers and was on his way to another sloppy and soft performance.

 But as soon as Stoudemire went to the bench, Diaw scored seven points on the next three Phoenix possessions – including a three-point play on a pretty give-and-go with Steve Nash that gave the Suns the lead for good and highlighted a 37-point fourth-quarter outburst.

 For more than a year, the Suns have tried to find a way for Stoudemire and Diaw to co-exist on the court without success. But a foul-prone as Stoudemire is, there appears there will still be time for Diaw to work the middle of the defense himself and produce some offense.Phoenix’s smaller lineup ran away from the Bulls over the final eight minutes, with Nash dishing out seven assists and Shawn Marion scoring 11 of his 21 points. But the Suns don’t want to make a habit of giving back 15-point leads and having to win games twice – something that has haunted them in the past.

 The good news is the Suns again made some defensive stops when they needed them most in the fourth quarter, limiting

Chicago to one contested shot and using their transition game to beat the Bulls down the floor for easy baskets – finishing the game the way they started, with a flourish.

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