Magic at Suns
The Phoenix Suns are well out of the playoff race so they have decided to rest standout point guard Eric Bledsoe for the remainder of the season. Bledsoe has been dealing with knee soreness and will be hanging out in street clothes when Phoenix hosts the Orlando Magic on Friday.
Bledsoe, 27, set career bests by averaging 21.1 points and 6.3 assists in a strong bounce-back campaign after playing just 31 games last season when he required season-ending surgery on his left knee. "Bled's been great. He had a great season. He played at a high level," Suns coach Earl Watson told reporters. "He's been dominant all year. He's taken a big leap in the right direction. There's a lot of room for him to grow and he's excited about that." Orlando also is far removed from the playoff race and lost its fourth straight game when it was drilled 122-92 by the host Golden State Warriors on Thursday. The Magic have dropped 14 of their past 17 road games and have lost by 20 or more points seven times during the stretch.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, FSN Florida (Orlando), FSN Arizona
ABOUT THE MAGIC (24-45): Orlando's loss to Golden State was its 11th consecutive defeat against Western Conference foes and it stands just 8-20 against the West this season. Magic coach Frank Vogel was highly disappointed over the subpar performance versus Golden State and strongly criticized his players. "It's unacceptable how we played," Vogel told reporters. "We need to pick ourselves and try to win a game (Friday). ... We didn't come ready to play against the best team in the NBA in their building."
ABOUT THE SUNS (22-46): Rookie point guard Tyler Ulis will get a long look over the final 14 games with Bledsoe out of the mix. Ulis made his first career start in Wednesday's 107-101 loss to the Sacramento Kings and recorded 13 points and a career-best 13 assists but was just 6-of-18 shooting. Phoenix already is checking out backup forward Alan Williams and he is displaying that he has a future with seven double-doubles in eight games this month, averaging 13.5 points and 10.8 rebounds during the stretch.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Suns won six of the past seven meetings, including a 92-87 road victory Nov. 23.
2. Orlando PF Aaron Gordon had just six points on 2-of-7 shooting against Golden State after averaging 16.3 points over the previous nine games.
3. Phoenix SF T.J. Warren scored 24 points on 12-of-16 shooting against the Kings for his 12th straight double-digit outing.