Suns at Knicks
Coming off their best November in 40 years, the New York Knicks look to keep the momentum going when they host the struggling Phoenix Suns on Sunday afternoon. The Knicks improved to a perfect 6-0 at home after wiping out the Washington Wizards 108-87 on Friday night to cap an 11-4 November - their best record in the month since a 12-win effort in 1972-73 that paved the way for the franchise's last NBA championship. "Our goal was to get at least 10 wins for this month," said star forward Carmelo Anthony, who has a string of nine-straight 20-point games.
The current six-game road trip has been bumpy for the Suns, and the prospects of it improving appear bleak with a visit to league-best Memphis following Sunday's matchup against the Knicks. Phoenix played markedly better in Friday's narrow loss to Toronto after getting torched by 40 points against Detroit, but that was of little solace to the Suns as they absorbed back-to-back setbacks to two of the league's worst teams. ''These last two games hurt just because it's teams you think you can beat,'' swingman Jared Dudley said.
TV: Noon ET, FSN Arizona (Phoenix), MSG (New York)
ABOUT THE SUNS (7-10): Marcin Gortat showed signs of breaking out of his offensive funk in Friday's 101-97 loss at Toronto, scoring 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting to go along with six rebounds and three blocked shots. Gortat scored six points in each of the previous two games and failed to surpass that total in five of his previous seven. His scoring average (11.4) is down four points from last season and he is averaging nearly two fewer rebounds. Friday's contest marked just the third time in 11 games he has shot better than 50 percent from the floor.
ABOUT THE KNICKS (11-4): New York has enjoyed blowout wins in three of the last four games, allowing coach Mike Woodson the luxury of not having to tax his starters. Sixth man J.R. Smith took advantage of the extra minutes to snap out of his shooting slumber against the Wizards. Smith scored 20 points on 9-of-14 shooting and hit 2 of 3 from behind the arc. He had not had more than one 3-pointer in his previous nine games and was 8-of-33 (24.2) overall in his last four games. It was his first 20-point performance since reaching that mark three times in the first five games.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Knicks G Jason Kidd (back spasms) has missed three straight games and is expected to sit out again Sunday.
2. Phoenix has won the last two meetings with New York - both at Madison Square Garden.
3. The Knicks continue to lead the league with an average of 11.7 made 3-pointers - nearly double that of the Suns (6.1).