Suns at Kings
Eric Bledsoe and Devin Booker can score along with any guard tandem in the NBA, the Phoenix Suns just need to figure out how to play a little defense. The Suns will try to snap a five-game slide and start a climb out of the Western Conference basement when they begin a stretch with three of four on the road at the Sacramento Kings on Friday.
Bledsoe set his career high with 41 points in a 123-112 loss to Denver on Saturday and matched that number on Wednesday in a 124-114 home loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, which pushed Phoenix to an average of 120.2 points allowed during the five-game slide. "We have to continue to change our identity defensively," Suns coach Earl Watson told reporters. "And if we need to be creative on defense, we have to be creative." The Kings rank in the bottom third of the league in scoring defense as well and allowed over 100 points in each of the last 11 games, but it was offense that doomed the team in Tuesday's 105-83 setback at Houston. Sacramento wrapped up a 3-5 road trip with that loss and will not leave the state of California again until a trip to Denver on March 5, with the only two road games among the next 13 contests at Golden State and the Los Angeles Lakers.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, FSN Arizona (Phoenix), CSN California (Sacramento)
ABOUT THE SUNS (15-34): Phoenix is 29th in the NBA in scoring defense, allowing an average of 112.3 points, and ended its homestand by letting the Clippers shoot 52.4 percent from the field and attempt 38 free throws. "It's pretty high," veteran power forward P.J. Tucker told the Arizona Republic of the team's frustration level. "But, like I said, we're a young team, man. It's going to be like that. You can't expect guys to know rotations and to know everything. You can just ask guys to go out and play hard, and I can't say these guys aren't playing hard." Booker and Bledsoe combined for 61 points in Wednesday's loss as Booker reached the 20-point plateau for the 14th straight game.
ABOUT THE KINGS (19-30): Sacramento looked like a team at the end of an eight-game road trip and playing its fourth game in five days while shooting 34.9 percent at Houston, and added another injury to the list when guard Garrett Temple went down. An MRI exam on Wednesday revealed a partial tear of the left hamstring, and Temple will miss at least the next two weeks - joining fellow wings Rudy Gay (Achilles) and Omri Casspi (calf) - before being evaluated again around the All-Star break. "G.T.’s a big piece of our team, but I know he’s going to do whatever he can to get back on the court and help us," star center DeMarcus Cousins told the Sacramento Bee. "But that’s where we need the next guy to come in, fill in his space and step in and produce. That’s all we can do."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Sacramento SF Matt Barnes turned himself in to New York City police on Wednesday and was later released after being charged with third-degree assault from an incident at a nightclub in December.
2. Tucker collected 10 points and 14 rebounds on Wednesday for his second double-double of the season.
3. Cousins scored 24 points in a 113-94 home win over Phoenix in the season opener on Oct. 26.