Rockets at Suns
The road-weary Houston Rockets look to snap a three-game slide Sunday, when they visit the struggling Phoenix Suns for their fourth contest in six days. The Rockets dropped the first two contests of their three-game road trip, including a 107-98 setback against league-best Golden State on Friday in which they scored just 13 points in the fourth quarter.
“We didn’t have a whole lot of juice,” Houston coach Mike D’Antoni told reporters. “We kind of ran out. We had it right at the rim. We just didn’t use force to put it in. This is a back-to-back and we’re out of steam.” The Rockets are comfortably holding down third place in the Western Conference, and two of the three losses in their mini-slump came against the Warriors, but they have some injury concerns while All-Star James Harden is just 20-for-68 shooting over the last three games. Phoenix has dropped 11 straight contests after falling 130-117 to Portland on Saturday - the fifth time in six games it has allowed at least 120 points. Devin Booker, who scored 70 points against Boston on March 24, has poured in a total of 64 in the last two games for the Suns.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, ROOT (Houston), FSN Arizona (Phoenix)
ABOUT THE ROCKETS (51-25): Harden ended up two assists shy of a triple-double Friday but continued his 3-point shooting woes (2-of-9), and when reporters asked about his sore left wrist, he replied, “I’ll be all right.” Harden leads the team in scoring (29.2 points) and Eric Gordon (16.3) ranks second but is just 13-of-33 during the losing streak. Ryan Anderson (ankle), who is averaging 13.5 points, is expected to miss his fifth straight game while Patrick Beverley (9.3 points, 5.6 rebounds) turned his ankle in Friday’s contest and his status is uncertain.
ABOUT THE SUNS (22-55): Phoenix shot 52.4 percent against Portland but turned over the ball 17 times and allowed the Trail Blazers to drain 15 attempts from 3-point range. Forward TJ Warren scored 25 points on Saturday and is averaging 21 over his last four contests while rookie Marquese Chriss added 19 and is 16-of-23 in his last two games after going 2-of-11 against Atlanta. Alex Len scored 12 points versus Portland and is averaging 11 over his last six contests while shooting 23-of-35 during that stretch.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Houston SG Lou Williams is averaging 14.9 points in 18 games since being acquired from the Los Angeles Lakers but has shot under 37 percent in five of his last six contests.
2. Phoenix G Leandro Barbosa, who is averaging 6.3 points, has missed the last four games due to a hamstring injury and is questionable for Sunday.
3. The Rockets have averaged 129.7 points in beating the Suns three times this season and have won five of the last six meetings.