(The first of many looks back at 40 years of Suns basketball — the most memorable games and characters)

 Nov. 14, 1997 – Suns 140,
Portland 139 (4 OT)

 The Suns have played two triple-overtime games with a lot more fanfare – one each in the 1975 and 1993 NBA Finals – but the longest game in their history celebrated its 10^th anniversary Wednesday. The three-hour, 46-minute game was the eighth in NBA history.

 Both teams put up more than 100 shots. There were 90 free throws and more than 40 3-pointers. Jason Kidd played 56 minutes, and 7-foot-3 Portland center Arvydas Sabonis played 50.

  Danny Manning had 35 points and Rex Chapman had 28, including a patented, off-balanced, well-defended 30-footer right before the end of the second overtime to send the game hurtling toward midnight in Portland.

 “Rex is a freak,” Suns guard Kevin Johnson said after the game. “That’s all I can say. He’s hit some big shots like that for us. We’ve seen him shoot it in practice and in the games time and again.”

 Blazers guard Kenny Anderson could only shake his head. “He’s known to hit off-balance threes, but this was just crazy – running, off-balance, a guy’s in his face … and he hit it.”

 It allowed the Suns to avoid the embarrassment of blowing a nine-point lead in the final two minutes of regulation – and a missed Chapman free throw with eight second left came back to haunt the Suns when Sabonis canned a 25-foot, 3-point bomb to force overtime. But he hit two with 11 seconds left in the fourth overtime to put Phoenix up by four – and when Portland’s Isaiah Rider hit the last 3-pointer seconds later, the Suns had just enough to survive.

By Jerry Brown

Tribune

 The Suns will be without Raja Bell for a second consecutive game when they host the New York Knicks tonight.

 Bell gave his sprained right ankle a test drive at the shootaround this morning, but coach Mike D’Antoni said Bell still reported quite a bit of soreness.

 “We’re going to hold him out. There’s no need to push something like that, they need some time,’ he said. “We’d like to get him back for Thursday (at home against the Bulls) but you don’t want to be in a position where he hurts it again and is out for an extended period.

 But while the Suns are missing one starter tonight, the Knicks have even bigger problems.

 Ex-Sun Quentin Richardson suffered a hyperextended left elbow against
Miami on Sunday and is questionable. If he misses the game, it will be the third year in a row Richardson has missed a chance to make his return to Phoenix following his summer of 2005 trade to New York in the Kurt Thomas deal.

 Zach Randolph missed Sunday’s game to attend his grandmother’s funeral and has not yet returned to the team.

 But the biggest news surrounds another ex-Sun, guard Stephon Marbury. The New York Post reported Tuesday that Stephon Marbury has left the team and returned to New York in a dispute with coach Isiah Thomas over his playing time and role with the team.

 After Marbury failed to attem Tuesday’s team shootaround, Thomas told the Post he wasn’t sure of Marbury has left the Valley.

 “This is an in-house matter,” Thomas said. “He’s not here at the shootaround. We hope he’s at the game. If not, make no mistake about it, we do want him as a member of this basketball team. He is welcome back.”

 The Suns are home this week, but Grant Hill will mix in a road trip.

 Hill will fly to Chicago on Wednesday to appear on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” with his wife, singer Tamia, on a show entitled, “The Greatest Love Stories Ever Told, Live.” The show will air in Phoenix the next day on Channel 3 at 3 p.m.

 Of course if Oprah is not your speed, you can see Grant and his mom, Janet Hill, competing with other NBA stars and their moms on “Family Feud.” The shows run all week on Channel 3 at 1 p.m.

 Grant Hill said he remembers being shocked and pleasantly surprised when, upon his first game back to Detroit after leaving for
Orlando as a free agent, he was given a standing ovation by Pistons fans.

 He doesn’t expect lightning to strike twice tonight, when he returns to Amway Arena in
Orlando where injuries limited him to 200 games in seven seasons after signing a $92 million deal with the Magic.

 “I have no idea what to expect. It will be weird,” Hill said “When you are somewhere for seven years, you get to know everyone – from the security guys to the ushers to the clubhouse guys. Even if it’s hostile, I’ll understand. It’s part of the process.”

 When Hill signed with the Suns for a much smaller salary in the summer, many fans were upset that Hill, now healthy, didn’t stay with the Magic to make up for the games he’s missed.

“I’ll say this,” he said. “I don’t want to rehash things, but I really, truly believe that both sides got what they wanted. I needed to go some place else and they needed to clean the slate from that era.

 “Things happen that you have to try to spin and justify and I understand the business. But I think they wanted a fresh start as much as I did, so we’re even on that score.”

Some notes left over from the game:

 *Two nights after making seven of 10 3-pointers in
Atlanta, Steve Nash made six of seven Friday night and is now shooting an incredible 62 percent (18-for-29) from behind the arc in the first six games of the season. He’s averaging 23.5 points and 8.5 assists, a total that would be a lot higher if the Suns shooters would have had better starts.

 *After a strong first half (16 points, four 3-pointers on eight tries), Leandro Barbosa missed all eight of his second-half shots and produced one free-throw in 16 minutes. “I can’t make any excuses, I just have to be better,” he said.

 *Ex-Sun Penny Hardaway made his first NBA start since Mar. 22, 2004 – about two months after the Suns trade him to New York – when he started for the Knicks against
Atlanta.

 *Marion’s 24 rebounds was the fifth-most ever against a
Miami team and the most team since Tim Duncan had 25 more than four years ago (Feb. 1, 2003).

By Jerry Brown
Tribiune
 MIAMI — As expected, Amare Stoudemire will be in the starting lineup tonight against the Heat after missing the last three games with swelling and soreness in the right knee.
 Stoudemire was able to give the knee a good test in Thursday’s practice and felt fine at Friday morning’s shootaround. He had artroscopic surgery on the knee Oct. 2 and was back on the court three weeks later, but had trouble with the knee in a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers a week ago and hasn’t been able to play since.
 The Heat remains with guard Dwyane Wade, who hasn’t played yet this season with shoulder and knee problems.

 Erring on the side of caution, Amare Stoudemire will miss his third straight game tonight against the Hawks and give his right knee a few more days of rest.

 After going through some agility drills on the court with
Phoenix trainers, Stoudemire huddled with coach Mike D’Antoni about an hour before tip-off and decided to put off his return to the lineup.

 “We’ll go one more day. That way he can get a practice in, get some shooting and be ready to go (Friday against
Miami),” D’Antoni said. “I want him to be 100 percent and totally sure. The worst thing is he plays, and then he doesn’t play and then he comes back … we don’t want him sputtering. Let’s get him completely well and to the point where he can keep playing.”

 Stoudemire will have missed a week if he plays against the Heat. He played only 24 minutes against the Lakers on Nov. 4 and felt stiff and sore during and after the game. Stoudemire’s knee, which underwent arthroscopic surgery on Oct. 2, had some swelling but that has almost completely subsided.

As if you needed me to tell you this, Team Marketing Report released its annual NBA ticket survey this weeks and it’s getting more expensive to be a fan by the tune of about 3.6 percent over last year.

The Suns’ average ticket price of $58.26 is well over the league average of $48.83 and ranks as the ninth highest in the league – which makes sense since their payroll in the top five, but doesn’t make it any easier for Joe Fan and his family to deal with.

 The Lakers have the leagues priciest tickets at an average of a whopping $89.24 per seat, followed in order by New York, Boston, Chicago, New Jersey, Dallas, Sacramento,
Miami. And Phoenix – all the big cities, plus a Sacramento team that has to deal with a small building – again, it figures.

 When it comes to the “Fan Cost Index” – the price it would take for you to take the wife/husband and two kids to a game (four average tickets, two small beers, four small sodas, four hot dogs, parking, two programs and two hats), the Suns ranked 13^th in the league at a cost of $302.04 for the night. The Lakers ($453.95), Knicks ($394.52), Celtics ($358.72), Mavericks ($339.23) and Heat ($339.20), make up the top five here, and the Suns are again above the league average of $281.90 by at least two hats.

 
CHARLOTTE – Amare Stoudemire will sit out his second straight game tonight with a sore right knee. Boris Diaw will again make the start at center against the Bobcats.

 Stoudemire said he felt he would be ready to go Wednesday, when the Suns are in
Atlanta to face the Hawks.

 “I feel much better, but I want to give it just one more day to make sure I feel better consistently,” Stoudemire said after putting in a stint in the weight room at Bobcats Arena. “Tonight would have been a good day to come back and test myself, but I feel like I should give it one more day and try again tomorrow.

 “I feel a lot better about playing tomorrow because I feel good today.”

 Stoudemire wants to make sure that when he comes back, he won’t have any more setbacks with the knee. He underwent arthroscopic surgery on Oct. 2 and was back on the court three weeks later. But he started to feel discomfort in the knee in Friday’s loss to the Lakers and hasn’t gone full tilt since.

CHARLOTTE — Amare Stoudemire remains a game-time decision after testing his sore right knee at Tuesday’s shootaround in preparation for tonight’s game with the Charlotte Bobcats. “I’ll know when I do my pregame stuff, when I test it and see how it feels,” Stoudemire said. “It’s feeling better, better today than yesterday. But I don’t want to be on and off from one day to the other. I want to get it right, I want to create some consistency. If that’s tonight, I’ll go.” Stoudemire missed Sunday’s win over Cleveland and said his knee “wasn’t right” during Friday’s loss loss to the Lakers. Stoudemire said he felt the Suns’ hectic schedule just as he returned from his Oct. 2 arthroscopic surgery – back-to-back games to end the preseason and begin the regular season, with high-tempo practices in between, contributed to the soreness. The Suns might be inclined to give Stoudemire a break tonight against the Bobcats, who are 2-0 but have never beaten Phoenix and don’t have an imposing front line.

 Suns center Amare Stoudemire will sit out tonight’s game against Cleveland because of stiffness and swelling in his right knee – which underwent arthroscopic surgery a little more than a month ago.

 Boris Diaw will start at center against the Cavaliers

 Stoudemire played only 24 minutes in Friday’s 119-98 loss to the Lakers and complained about not being able to get the knee loose during the game. He took part in the shooting portion of practice on Saturday but didn’t feel any better today.

 The Suns had four hard days of practice leading up to opening of the season, then played back-to-back in Seattle Thursday and home against the Lakers Friday.

 ”His knee is bothering him and it’s not getting any better. So he’s not going to go,” Suns coach Mike D’Antoni said. “He didn’t have any pop on Friday and there has been a little swelling, so we’re going to back off.”

 This is the first game Stoudemire has missed due to injury since undergoing microfracture surgery on the same knee in November of 2005 – which cost him all but three games of the 2005-06 season. Stoudemire played in all 82 regular season games last year and missed only one playoff game – he was suspended for Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinals against
San Antonio for leaving the bench in the final seconds of Game 4.