Tonight our beloved Phoenix Suns test a couple of streaks in Sacramento versus the Kings. First is the three game road winning streak featuring victories over Houston, New Orleans, and Denver. The second, is an overall 4 game winning streak. The Suns have not won 4 in a row since November nor have they won 5 in a row this season.
Stringing together some wins has been vital for the Suns in the wake of their ugly January performances that saw them fall out of the top 8 in the Western Conference. At the moment, the Suns are #5, 1.5 games behind Utah and a half game ahead of San Antonio and Portland.
Check out the numbers from the past four games:
|
OPP |
OPP FG% |
RB DIFF |
OPP OFF RB |
SUNS TO |
|
DALLAS |
50 |
37-34 |
8 |
15 |
|
HOUSTON |
37 |
55-46 |
18 |
16 |
|
NEW ORLEANS |
45 |
44-38 |
11 |
15 |
|
DENVER |
44 |
47-39 |
8 |
12 |
In the last 4 games, the Suns have outrebounded their opponents 183-157 and held them to 44% shooting. Dallas was the only opponent to shoot 50% from the field. The Suns turnovers look unimpressive, however they have been sticking to their season average and rank 19th in the NBA in giving the ball away. Not all that good, but certainly not horrible.
The Suns have had some excellent team performances during this stretch, however it's difficult to ignore the play of Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire. Since STAT's 1 rebound performance in Dallas, he's gone for 11, 12, and 17 the past three games, while sticking close to his season ppg average. Kicking in 3, 4, and 9 boards over his season average may not be an extreme increase, but every little bit helps. Nash has been bothered by an abdominal strain, but you'd never know it. In the past 4 games, Steve has totalled 49 assists while committing only 7 turnovers. This includes a 0 (zero ) turnover performance against the Rockets as well as 1 and 3 versus the Hornets and Mavericks respectively.
OK, on to the Kings:
"That's our theme. We let ourselves get down, we're too far out of it, and then we make a late comeback. In the end we come up short."
-Kings Center Spencer Hawes
Works for me, Spencer.
The Kings are on a 4 game slide, losing to the likes of Utah, Denver, Charlotte, and San Antonio. While they haven't been getting obliterated, they've had trouble putting the ball through the hoop. In the past 11 games, the Kings of scored 100 points ot more only twice.
Kevin Martin is healthy but Jason Thompson is out attending a funeral. Expect the infamous Omri Casspi to take his spot in the starting lineup. You may recall Casspi scored a career-high 24 points in the last meeting between the two squads.
Worthy of Bullet Points
- Steve Nash is averaging 30.5 ppg in the last four match ups verus the Kings and shooting 12-21 from beyond the 3 pt arc.
- In the last match up vs. the Kings, the Suns bench was outscored 38-16 as Andres Nocioni dropped in 19 off the pine.
- Tyreke Evans has averaged 24/8/7 against the Suns in two games this season.
- The Kings have lost 17 of their last 20 games
Couch Commentary
It would be easy for the Suns to take the Kings lightly tonight. But losing this one would hurt after playing so well the past four games. The Suns tendency to lose leads plays right into the Kings tendency of getting down early and the making late game comebacks. Of late they haven't been able to turn those comebacks into victories, but they are certainly able with the likes of Evans and Martin.
Heres to hoping Amare continues to bring his gorilla game and Frye, Dudley, Dragic and Co. continue their resurgence off the bench. It would be nice to see Jason Richardson make some early hoops and establish some confidence. If the Suns show up tonight, it shouldn't be difficult to drub these down and out Kings. See y'all on the game thread.
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