Suns at Spurs
THE STORY: The San Antonio Spurs have been a dominant home club this season and look to add to the success when they host the Phoenix Suns on Sunday. The Spurs are 8-0 at home with an average winning margin of 13.4 points during their best home start since winning 13 in a row to start the 2007-08 campaign. San Antonio routed the Portland Trail Blazers by 16 points on Friday in the middle contest of a three-game homestand that concludes against the Suns. Phoenix has lost three consecutive games, including back-to-back home losses to the Cleveland Cavaliers and New Jersey Nets. Point guard Steve Nash and forward Grant Hill both missed Friday’s loss to the Nets with quadriceps injuries and the Suns are expecting both back in the lineup. The contest against San Antonio begins an arduous five-game road trip in which the Suns also play at Chicago, the New York Knicks, Boston and Dallas before playing their next home game on Jan. 24.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, ESPN, Fox Sports Arizona (Phoenix), Fox Sports Southwest (San Antonio)
ABOUT THE SUNS (4-7): The tough road trip could sink Phoenix’s season before it even gets going. The Suns are just 1-3 away from home and struggling at home against Cleveland and New Jersey isn’t the way to gain momentum before embarking on the longest road trip of the season. The Suns aren’t the prolific scoring force they have been in recent seasons – they are averaging 94.1 points – and the heavier amounts of back-to-back games will be hard on veterans like Nash and Hill.
ABOUT THE SPURS (8-4): Guard Tony Parker has picked up his scoring with Manu Ginobili sidelined and is shooting the basketball much better. Parker has strung together three consecutive 20-point outings – including a season-best 28 against Houston – and shot better than 50 percent in each game. The improvement follows a stretch in which Parker shot below 44 percent in six of seven games. Parker’s responsibilities as the point guard haven’t diminished and they won’t with backup T.J. Ford out for at least a month.
BUZZER BEATERS:
1. San Antonio has won 21 of the last 34 meetings against Phoenix.
2. The Suns are just 10-24 since the 2004-05 campaign when Nash misses a game due to injury.
3. Spurs forward Tim Duncan has 22,805 career points and needs nine to pass Gary Payton for 26th place on the NBA scoring list.