SB Nation 2011-12 Phoenix Suns
+1
The Phoenix Suns had the Houston Rockets where they wanted them: coming off a road game the night before. It didn't help as the Rockets won the bench scoring and rebound battle.
The Phoenix Suns (11-14) are on a three-game winning streak with a chance to extend that to four (FOUR) games on Thursday night when the Houston Rockets (15-11) come to the U.S. Airways Center. The Rockets, you might recall, put a hurting on the Suns just six days ago in what had to be one of the worst performances of the season for Alvin Gentry's team.
"I don't think we played well at all," Gentry said about the road loss to the Rockets last week. "I thought dribble penetration hurt us. I thought our energy level wasn't what where it was in the last two games. We gave up too many easy baskets, had turnovers for baskets, so I think it needs to be a total transformation (from that last game)."
The Suns will have a couple of things working in their favor. The Rockets played a game last night in Portland and could be without starting point guard Kyle Lowry. Lowry left the game with a hyper-extended elbow, and according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle, will be a game time decision.
If Lowry can't go, former Suns guard Goran Dragic will get the start against this old friend and mentor, Steve Nash.
"If Goran happens to start, he poses very many problems for us as well, we'll have to be ready for him and hopefully we can do a good job limited his opportunities," Nash said. "It would be great to go up against him, but he's a handful so I'll have my work cut out for me."
Helping the Suns even more, maybe, is Kevin Martin's little slump. Martin is averaging 18.7 ppg but only 2, 8 and 4 over his last three games.
Projected Lineups:
TV broadcast info:
The Suns game tips off at 7:00 p.m. Arizona time on Fox Sports Arizona. Arizona Sports 620 radio.Bright Side of the Sun will have the live game thread.
Phoenix Suns vs. Houston Rockets Game Preview: A Measuring Stick - Bright Side Of The Sun
As I mentioned in a weekly recap last month, it's tough to find any of the top 8 teams in the West who look like they won't be playoff teams. Thunder, Clippers, Spurs, Lakers, Mavs, Nuggets are a given. Blazers, Rockets and Jazz can be seen as vulnerable and passable in the standings but the Suns need to start making that push right now by beating the Rockets tonight.
For the latest AZ sports, follow us on Twitter @SBNArizona and "Like" us on Facebook.
Sizzling Rockets Shoot, Rebound Past Suns
The Houston Rockets are quite the road warriors these days in the NBA, and they made the Phoenix Suns another victim in their own building with a 96-89 win Thursday night at US Airways Center.
The Rockets snapped a three-game Suns winning streak and won their third straight on the road, not showing much effects from a win in Portland Wednesday night. The Suns figured to have the advantage with more rest, and jumped out to a nine-point lead in the first quarter.
The Rockets erased that in a hurry with a huge second quarter in which they scored 28 points to the Suns 15, and Houston led by as many as 14 points in the quarter. Phoenix trailed by 10 at halftime, but exploded in the third quarter.
Perhaps the 32-point effort took a lot out of them, or maybe the Rockets are just feeling it. But the Suns tied the score at 57 when Steve Nash hit a short transition jumper with 8:16 left in the third. Things looked even brighter when Jared Dudley swished a three from the top of the arc with 7:25 left to put the Suns up 60-57, as the Suns hit their first six shots of the quarter and made six 3-pointers in the quarter alone.
But the Suns made just 9 of 27 threes for the game.
The big keys were rebounding -- the Rockets dominated on the boards 44-31 -- and bench production. Houston got double figures in scoring from all five reserves, including 10 from former Arizona Wildcat Jordan Hill and 14 from another 'Cat, Chase Budinger.
"We changed up that very last five minutes to switching on him (Nash) so he couldn't make those pocket passes and find the open guys. That was the difference," Budinger said after the game.
Goran Dragic, once Nash's backup at the point in Phoenix, had a double-double with 11 points and 11 assists.
Dragic hit a three with 4:15 to play in the game to give the Rockets a 90-85 lead, after what had been a back-and-forth fourth quarter. That shot seemed to give the Rockets a large-enough lead to hang on, and indeed they did.
The Suns (11-15) got 14 points and 13 assists from All-Star reserve Nash and 21 points with 10 boards from Frye. The Rockets look like a playoff team after improving to 16-11.
Feb 09 9:42p by Jose Romero