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PHOENIX (AP) -- Stephon Marbury made one jump shot all night, and it was the biggest basket of the game.

AP

Marbury's Suns are in an adjustment phase.

Marbury's 22-footer over the outstretched arms of Kenny Anderson with two seconds to play gave the Phoenix Suns an 84-82 victory over the Boston Celtics on Thursday night.

"What do you expect from an All-Star," Boston's Paul Pierce said. "He may not be having a good night, but when they really needed him, he came through."

Pierce, who scored 14 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter, had a 3-pointer from the baseline rattle halfway down the rim then bounce out at the buzzer.

"It felt good coming out of my hand. I thought we were going home with it, but that's the breaks of the game -- in and out," Pierce said.

Shawn Marion scored a season-high 30 points for the Suns, who trailed by as many as 15 in the second quarter and trailed by 12 with 3:12 to go in the third.

Penny Hardaway scored 10 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter and grabbed a season-high 12 rebounds for Phoenix, which split its season series with Boston.

The rebounds were crucial to Hardaway, whose failure to block out Antoine Walker led to a tip-in at the buzzer to force overtime in the Celtics' 109-102 victory in Boston on Dec. 7.

"The last game we played Boston, I was the person that had that rebound tipped in, and I'm not going to go out like that ever again," Hardaway said.

Marbury shot just 2-for-12 and scored seven points a night after scoring 33 in an 87-81 victory at Houston on Wednesday night. Before his game-winner, his only field goal was an uncontested layup at the end of the first half.

Antoine Walker scored 17 for the Celtics, whose two-game losing streak is their second-longest of the season. Walker shot just 7-for-24 from the field, 1-for-8 in the second half.

Both teams were playing their second game in as many nights, and neither shot well -- the Suns 36 percent and the Celtics 34 percent.

"I thought it was a real strong defensive effort," Boston coach Jim O'Brien said. "We put ourselves in a position to beat a good team on the road."

Marion made all five free-throw attempts in an 11-0 run that cut the lead to 62-61 on Hardaway's steal and layup with 28 seconds to go in the third quarter.

Marion's 3-pointer with 1:19 remaining gave Phoenix its first lead since early in the second quarter, 80-79.

But Marion fouled Pierce on a 3-point attempt. Pierce, 12-for-13 at the line, made all three to put Boston ahead for the last time 82-80 with 58.7 seconds to go.

Tom Gugliotta's two free throws with 46 seconds to go tied it at 81.

Anderson missed on a drive for Boston, and Hardaway grabbed the rebound. After a timeout, Marbury got the ball and when nothing inside materialized, pulled up for the jumper that won it.

"Coach told me just to come out and make the play," Marbury said, "whether it was going to be passing the ball or making a shot."

After Boston's timeout, Pierce got loose for an open shot from the corner, but it barely missed and the Suns escaped with the victory.

"If you give him that shot 10 times, he'll probably hit it eight," Anderson said.

The Celtics went on a 15-0 run to take a 39-27 lead with 4:28 to play in the first half. The Suns failed to score on 15 consecutive possessions, going 0-for-12 from the field and committing three turnovers.

Walker scored nine during the outburst, capping the surge with a 3-pointer. Boston led 46-31 before an 8-2 spurt by the Suns in the final 45 seconds cut it to 48-41 at the break.

"We feel good about holding them to a season-low in points," Phoenix coach Scott Skiles said. "We went through a couple of droughts, I guess I'll call them, but we kept at it and made some big shots at the end."

Game notes
Marion had 10 rebounds. ... The Suns placed center Jake Tsakalidis on the injured list with a sprained finger and activated center Daniel Santiago. ... Phoenix was without guard Tony Delk because of a bruised right knee. ... The Celtics are 5-0 at home against Western Conference teams but are 0-2 halfway through their Western trip. ... Phoenix has had at least one 20-point scorer in all 30 of its games.