P - The magic which has carried Boomers guard Patty Mills on his NBA hot streak looked to have dried up at the end of a nine-game road trip, as his San Antonio Spurs went down 106-85 in Phoenix on Friday night.
Mills, who has averaged 17.1 points while shooting 48 per cent through 10 games in February, looked every bit as fatigued as his road-weary teammates as the Western Conference heavyweights snapped a four-game winning streak by falling to the high-octane Suns' offence.
The 25-year-old Mills, who had scored 29 and 25 points in back-to-back games against Portland and the LA Clippers respectively, was far from the electric scorer who has sparked the Spurs' during their latest injury-ravaged run.
He scored four points on 14 shots, including 0-6 from three-point range, and tallied three turnovers - including one where he tossed a pass to coach Gregg Popovich, who was standing in front of the Spurs' bench.
Mills' Spurs and Boomers teammate Aaron Baynes, used sparingly in Popovich's rotation, picked up four points and six rebounds in 17 minutes of court time.
Ish Smith sparked Phoenix's win with a 15-point, seven-rebound effort, and was ably supported by Markieff Morris (21 points) and Channing Frye (17).
Meanwhile, Terrence Ross scored 20 points, Jonas Valanciunas had 18 and the Toronto Raptors snapped the Cleveland Cavaliers' six-game winning streak with a 98-91 victory.
Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan each had 14 points as the Atlantic Division-leading Raptors won for the fourth time in five games.
For the Cavaliers, Luol Deng had 21 points and 11 rebounds and Australian-born guard Kyrie Irving scored 17.
Elsewhere, Chicago topped Denver 117-89, Memphis beat the Clippers 102-96, Detroit outlasted Atlanta 115-107, Dallas thumped Philadelphia 124-112, Charlotte won their third straight game since the All-Star break with a 90-87 victory over New Orleans and Orlando downed New York 129-121 in double overtime.
