CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Larry Brown spent yesterday morning watching his 9-year-old grandson play basketball. Final score: 9-8.

Later last night, after the Charlotte Bobcats kept setting records in a 125-99 rout of the Phoenix Suns, the boy put things in perspective for just how far his grandfather's team has come.

"We had 74 (points) at halftime," Brown said. "My grandson reminded me we had 59 against Boston."

That was Charlotte's final point total in the season opener. Nearly three months later, the Bobcats are on one of their best stretches in franchise history, with the transformation coinciding with Stephen Jackson's acquisition.

On a night where the Bobcats (19-19) led by as many as 39 points, set a team record for points in the first quarter (43), first half (74) and reached .500 this late in a season for the first time, Jackson led the way.

He scored 29 to surpass 10,000 career points, Gerald Wallace added 29 points and 13 rebounds and the Bobcats won their fourth straight game while extending their franchise-best home winning streak to seven.

"Stephen Jackson is a heck of a player," said befuddled Suns coach Alvin Gentry. "From the standpoint of isolations and 1-on-1 plays, he's probably as good as anybody in the league."

Jackson toyed with the Suns, who had no energy a night after losing on a buzzer-beater at Atlanta. The only bright spot was Amare Stoudemire, who also reached 10,000 points, finishing with 19.

The Suns are just 10-14 after starting 14-3, with losses in 10 of their past 11 road games.

"We didn't slow them down at all," Gentry said. "I mean they're not a team to score a lot of points. They're averaging 93 points a game. They had that in the middle of the third quarter."