The Phoenix Suns have been siting in sunny Phoenix for that past two days waiting for the Golden State Warriors to come to town for tonight's rematch of Monday's win. The Warriors however, had a game last night at home against the Denver Nuggets. The Warriors won that game 116-114 but needed over 40 minutes of play from Monta Ellis, David Lee and Dorell Wright to get it done.
With the tired Warriors coming to town and riding the high of a good win, they are much less likely to be hungry to add a win to their standings in a season where it won't matter. Basically, everything lines up perfectly for a Suns win which would put them back at .500 and one step closer to re-entering a playoff race that is much more competitive at this point then expected.
The game plan for the Suns tonight should look a lot like it did on Monday. Why change what worked?
The Suns will look to use Grant Hill in the post against Monta Ellis and if the Warriors put Ellis on Carter then he'll get the ball. Defensively, the Suns put Hill on Ellis to slow him and then play Carter on Dorell Wright who is a shooter but isn't much of a scoring threat anywhere else.
The Suns will also probably match Warriors smaller lineup instead of trying to over power them with size. That means Channing Frye will likely play big minutes.
"It's hard to play two big guys against these guys (the Warriors) because they play so small. (Valdimir) Radmanovic is really a three man (small forward) that they play as a four (power forward) and five (center). To have two bigs in there and have Robin (Lopez) or Marcin (Gortat) chasing those guys doesn't make sense," Gentry said.
The one player to watch from the Warriors is rookie Ekpe Udoh who missed the first few months of the season due to injury. Udoh is still finding his way in the NBA but has shown flashes of being a very good defender who moves well for his size.
Former Suns Louis Amundson continues to miss games due to a lower back injury. He's questionable for tonight.
Goran Dragic won't play tonight and is questionable for Friday's game in Utah. He still has stitches in his toe that are schedule to come out tomorrow. He's been on the court the last few days getting shots up but still feels pain when he moves laterally. He said he is confident that he will be ready to play on Sunday when the Suns are back home against Sacramento.
The game tips at 7 p.m. local time and will be broadcast on Fox Sports Arizona and Sports 620 KTAR radio. Fans can follow along with other Suns fans at the live game thread at Bright Side of the Sun.