PHOENIX, April 5 (Ticker) -- Stephon Marbury scored nine of his 23 points in the third quarter to lead the Phoenix Suns to an important 111-94 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

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The Suns (40-35) moved 1 1/2 games ahead of the Houston Rockets in the race for the eighth and final spot in the Western Conference playoffs and have two fewer losses than the Rockets.

Minnesota (47-30) slipped to a full game behind the Portland Trail Blazers for fourth place in the conference. The Timberwolves and Trail Blazers will likely meet in the first round of the playoffs, and homecourt advantage is very important to Minnesota, which is 31-8 at home.

"We are just not stopping people on defense," Minnesota's Wally Szczerbiak said. "We gave up easy scores and couldn't get it done coming back on the offensive end."

Marbury scored five of his points during a 15-4 run late in the third quarter. He capped the spurt with a three-point play with 1:20 left that gave the Suns an 81-69 lead.

"We came out there with the energy and we stayed aggressive all day," Suns forward Shawn Marion said. "We kept our composure and stayed with what we were doing."

Marion led the Suns with 25 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter, as the Suns cruised to their fourth win in five games. Bo Outlaw came off the bench and had season highs with 19 points and 15 rebounds.

"Bo Outlaw was outstanding with his energy," Phoenix coach Frank Johnson said. "He did it all."

Outlaw added three blocks and five assists. Jake Voskuhl also had a strong performance in a reserve role, scoring eight points and grabbing a season-high 10 rebounds.

"The Phoenix bench had a big game, and that's a big no-no in this league," Timberwolves forward Kevin Garnett said. "We have tot to find a way to come out of this."

A career 52 percent free throw shooter, Outlaw made 7-of-8 foul shots. The two teams combined to shoot 98 percent (43-of-44) from the line, the best performance by two teams in NBA history combining to shoot at least 20 free throws.

Phoenix led 85-73 at the end of the third quarter and kept at least a 10-point lead throughout the fourth.

"They drove the lane and got a lot of layups, which opened up the boards," Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders said. "We can't give up that many points on the road, or we have no chance of winning."

Garnett had 25 points and 17 rebounds to lead the Timberwolves, but it was not enough to keep Minnesota from dropping its third straight road game.

"Whenever you're playing against a guy like Kevin, he causes so much havoc," Marbury said. "You can't really double team him because he passes so well."

Garnett had seven assists, coming just three short of his sixth triple-double of the season.

The Timberwolves have lost 22 of 28 games all-time in Phoenix.