SAN ANTONIO - The Phoenix Suns played their ideal game.

Their uptempo offense was in gear from the opening tip. They got good inside production. They made half of their 3-point attempts.

But even with all that, the Suns had only a one-point lead over San Antonio in the final minute of Game 4 of the Western Conference finals Monday night.

Not known for their defense, the Suns then came up with the defensive play of the night from Amare Stoudemire and held on for a 111-106 victory.

"For our own pride, we weren't going to concede anything," Quentin Richardson said.

With the victory, the Suns avoided a sweep and sent the best-of-seven series back to Phoenix for Game 5 on Wednesday night.

The Spurs would have iced the series if Tim Duncan had shot his free throws the way he did in the first three games. Duncan, 15-of-15 in Game 3 and 33-of-36 in the first three games, was 3-of-12 in Game 4.

A little luck on the rim could have changed a few of Duncan's errant free throws into points, but several in the fourth quarter were beyond help.

With San Antonio down 93-85, he put one up so short that the ball barely grazed the bottom of the net. A minute later, he had two more glance gently off the side of the rim. The Spurs were 3-for-9 in the fourth quarter and 11-for-23 overall.

"It's frustrating because we played so badly, but we still had a chance to win," Duncan said. "They played very well and we played poorly, so the combination of both really gave them the game. We helped them a bunch."

For the first time in the series, the running Suns had more fast-break points (26) than the Spurs (13). Phoenix shot 57 percent from the field and made nine of its 18 3-pointers, while San Antonio shot 44 percent and was 11-for-25 on its 3-point tries.

But five of the Spurs' 3-pointers came in the fourth quarter to help them nearly erase a deficit that swelled to 12 late in the third.

Bruce Bowen's third 3-pointer pulled San Antonio to 107-106 with 1:03 remaining.

Stoudemire made a layup on the Suns' next possession and then showed his defensive strength with a spectacular play. Duncan got the ball inside and lunged toward the basket for a dunk with 35 seconds left, but Stoudemire went up with him for the block and also came away with the rebound.

"Those are plays that needed to happen down the stretch," Stoudemire said. "We needed some stops and I stepped up."

Joe Johnson missed a 15-footer for Phoenix with 12 seconds left, but Stoudemire grabbed the offensive rebound. The Spurs were forced to foul Steve Nash, who made both free throws to round out the scoring.

"He was all over the place," Nash said of Stoudemire. "Obviously the block was incredible. ... And then beyond kind of the spectacular plays he made, it was the loose balls and the rebounds and he was all over the place from one corner to the other."

Stoudemire, who scored 11 points in the fourth and stole a pass from Duncan in the final minutes, finished with 31 points. He's averaging nearly 36 points in the series.

Johnson, in his second game wearing a mask to protect his fractured left eye socket, had 26 points on 10-for-15 shooting, and Nash added 17 points and 12 assists.

Manu Ginobili had 28 points and seven assists for San Antonio. Duncan, Bowen and Robert Horry each scored 15 points, and Duncan also had 16 rebounds.

The Suns routinely used Johnson to help Stoudemire double-team Duncan, who averaged 30.3 points in the first three games.

"He's such a threat offensively, he's tall and he gets great position in the offensive end," Stoudemire said about Duncan. "But Joe is a 6-foot-8, 240-pound guard and that helps a lot."

Duncan, the two-time MVP, scored just four points in the second half. At times, he played so passively that coach Gregg Popovich yelled at him to be tougher.

But Popovich said success at bottling up Duncan doesn't explain the loss.

"We lost the basketball game because of transition (defense), poor free throw shooting overall and they played well," Popovich said. "They deserved to win."

Down 59-52 at halftime, Phoenix made 15 of its 20 shots and scored 35 points in the third quarter while the Spurs shot 36 percent (8-for-22).

Duncan didn't score at all in the third, and Tony Parker too often spun out of control while trying to go inside. Parker was 1-for-6 in the quarter, and finished with 13 points.

A 3-pointer by Shawn Marion gave Phoenix its biggest lead at 83-71 with about 2:30 left in the third, but the Spurs finished the quarter with three inside baskets to pull to 87-80.