Phoenix guard Steve Nash, left, tries to shake San Antonio's Tim Duncan. Nash scored 24 points and dished 15 assists in the Suns' 104-98 victory Monday in San Antonio.

San Antonio ? The Phoenix Suns’ 12-1 run to end Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals gave them a 104-98 victory Monday night that evened the series with the San Antonio Spurs.

The tension that has been building between the teams throughout nearly boiled over with 18 seconds to play.

The Suns, who trailed by as many as 11 points, had taken the lead for the first time in the second half on consecutive behind-the-back feeds from Steve Nash to Amare Stoudemire that made it 100-97 with 32 seconds to play.

As Nash started to bring the ball up the court after Manu Ginobili missed the Spurs’ fourth straight shot, San Antonio’s Robert Horry hit him with a forearm that knocked him into the scorers’ table and had players from both teams rushing to the scene.

Phoenix’s Raja Bell tried to get at Horry as did Nash after he jumped to his feet.

Horry was given a flagrant foul and was ejected. Bell was given a technical foul. A free throw by each team made it 101-98. The Suns kept possession and Nash added another free throw with 16 seconds to go.

“He just body checked me out of bounds,” Nash said. “I understand he’s frustrated, it happens but he did body check me.”

Shawn Marion added two free throws with 7.4 seconds to go.

Game 5 will be Wednesday night in Phoenix, and it’s possible there could be suspensions from the league for players leaving the bench after Horry fouled Nash.

“Simply, we stuck with it. We could’ve folded a lot of times,” Nash said. “They were playing great and made a lot of shots.”

Stoudemire led the Suns with 26 points, while Nash had 24 points and 15 assists.

“We needed to open the floor off Steve some and get that balance,” Suns coach Mike D’Antoni said. “Tonight we were able to go smaller and get away with it.

“We just have to have that desperation and play with the fury we did in the last quarter.”

Tony Parker led the Spurs with 23 points and Tim Duncan had 21 points and 11 rebounds.

Cavaliers 87, Nets 85

East Rutherford, N.J. – LeBron James had 30 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, and Cleveland moved one victory from its first Eastern Conference finals appearance in 15 years.

Larry Hughes added 19 points, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who can wrap up the best-of-seven series at home Wednesday night.

Vince Carter had 25 points, nine rebounds and nine assists for the Nets, but was 6-for-23 from the field. Jason Kidd wasted his career playoff-high 17-rebound performance by shooting 2-for-13 and scoring five points, while Richard Jefferson had 15 points but was only 3-of-12 from the field.

New Jersey had only three field goals in the fourth quarter. Carter lost the ball out of bounds with 1.9 seconds left and the Nets trailing by two.

Mikki Moore had a career playoff-best 25 points for the Nets, who will try to become the ninth NBA team to erase a 3-1 deficit.