:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/photo_images/5507777/138632736.jpg)
The Phoenix Suns are a .500 team at 22-22 and in ninth place in the Western Conference. The team in eighth place is the Houston Rockets (24-21) and they are in town for an important head-to-head meeting. The Rockets beat the Suns in their first two meetings this season and a win Sunday would give them the season series win with two games left.
The Rockets are a formidable team with a strong front court, dangerous wing scorers and solid point guard play with Kyle Lowry and former Sun, Goran Dragic. Lowry is currently out for several weeks with some kind of bacterial infection but Dragic has filled in well. He's averaging 16 points and 9.4 assists per game in seven starts this season.
Phoenix has a number of built-in advantages for this game. Houston is coming off a tough loss to the Clippers on Saturday night where Dragic played 44 minutes. On top of that, Houston may be without Kevin Martin (shoulder), Chandler Parsons (illness) who both missed Saturday's game. Marcus Camby, who was brought over in a trade on Thursday, is expected to make his debut for his new team.
Projected Lineups:
- Point guard: Steve Nash --- Goran Dragic
- Shooting guard: Jared Dudley -- Kevin Martin or Courtney Lee
- Small forward: Grant Hill -- Chase Budinger
- Power forward: Channing Frye -- Luis Scola
- Center: Marcin Gortat -- Samuel Dalembert
- Key subs: Suns (Shannon Brown, Sebastian Telfair, Robin Lopez). Rockets (Chandler Parsons, Marcus Camby, Patrick Patterson, Marcus Morris)
TV broadcast info:
The Suns game tips off at 6:00 p.m. Arizona time on Fox Sports Arizona and Arizona Sports 620 radio. Bright Side of the Sun will have the live game thread.
For the latest AZ sports, follow us on Twitter @SBNArizona and "Like" us on Facebook.