Suns at Rockets
The Houston Rockets are spiraling downward at the worst time and will
attempt to turn things around when they host the Phoenix Suns on
Thursday. Houston has dropped six of its last nine games and fell to
ninth place in the Western Conference when it suffered a devastating
88-86 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday.
The Rockets are one game behind the eighth-place Utah Jazz and two games behind the seventh-place Mavericks with just four games remaining. Standout guard James Harden had 26 points against Dallas but committed his sixth and most costly turnover in the final seconds of the setback. "We all know how difficult it is, how important this game was," Harden said afterward. "It's not rocket science." The lowly Suns have lost seven games in a row after Tuesday's 103-90 loss to the Atlanta Hawks and need to win three of their final four games to avoid the second 60-loss campaign in team annals.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FSN Arizona-Plus (Phoenix), ROOT (Houston)
ABOUT THE SUNS (20-58): Rookie Devin Booker scored 34 points in the loss to Atlanta, falling one point shy of a season high as he continues to display that he's the club's shooting guard of the future. Booker has scored 30 or more points in five of the past 19 games and has scored in double digits in 20 of the last 21 games. Point guard Brandon Knight (sports hernia) is done for the season and journeyman Ronnie Price had 14 points against the Hawks as the fill-in starter after making just 2-of-13 shots during the previous two games.
ABOUT THE ROCKETS (38-40): Houston's position may be dire but the schedule certainly rates as a positive as all four remaining games are against teams with losing records. After the contest with the Suns, the Rockets host the Los Angeles Lakers, visit the Minnesota Timberwolves and host Sacramento with the Kings already having announced that All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins won't play in any more road games this season. The loss to Dallas continued a season-long trend when Houston fails to reach 100 points as it fell to 2-17 in such games.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Rockets are 3-0 against the Suns this season and have won seven of the past eight meetings.
2. Phoenix C Tyson Chandler has posted four straight double-doubles and is averaging 13.8 points and 14.8 rebounds during the stretch.
3. Houston F Corey Brewer was 1-of-9 shooting against Dallas and is 8-of-40 during the past five games.