Suns at 76ers
The Phoenix Suns attempt to string together two straight road victories for the first time this season when they visit the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday night. The Suns received 78 points from their bench and had 14 steals in their best defensive effort of the campaign in Friday’s 116-96 triumph at Indiana to end a three-game losing streak.
Phoenix, which stands last in the league in scoring defense, had not allowed fewer than 100 points in their first 12 games before holding the Pacers to 18 in the first quarter and 14 in the fourth to seal the contest. The biggest positive for the Suns was the depth they showed as leading scorer Devin Booker was held to 13 points, second-leading scorer TJ Warren played only nine minutes due to illness and Eric Bledsoe (17.5 points per game) was 3-for-10 from the field. The 76ers have won two of their last five games after losing the first seven of the season, but struggled during a 110-86 setback at Minnesota on Thursday while shooting 37.3 percent from the field and turning the ball over 17 times. Joel Embiid is averaging 17 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.3 blocks while playing in eight of the 12 games for Philadelphia.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FSN Arizona Plus, CSN Philadelphia
ABOUT THE SUNS (4-9): Phoenix was without leading rebounder Tyson Chandler (12.3) on Friday for personal reasons, but power forward Alan Williams stepped in with career highs of 15 points and 15 rebounds. With Bledsoe and Warren not producing much Friday, guard Brandon Knight poured in 17 points and forward Jared Dudley added 16 off the bench as the Suns got eight of their nine 3-pointers from the reserves. Center Alex Len has begun to find his game with three double-doubles in his last five games, including 10 points and 10 boards at Indiana.
ABOUT THE 76ERS (2-10): Aside from Embiid’s strong start to his career, Philadelphia’s offense has been well balanced with five players averaging between nine and 13 points. Ersan Ilyasova, acquired from Oklahoma City a few weeks ago, is scoring 12.7 points per contest in his first nine with the club and Jahlil Okafor is averaging 10.9 as he continues to recover from knee surgery. Rookie Dario Saric is chipping in with 10.5 points a game while guard Nik Stauskas scored in double figures the last five games after averaging 5.3 the previous six outings.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The 76ers won 10 games all of last season and two of them were against the Suns.
2. Booker is 7-for-28 from 3-point range the last six games since he scored 38 and 39 in back-to-back contests early this month.
3. Philadelphia F Nerlens Noel (knee surgery) is beginning to work out with the team after being out since early October.