Phoenix Suns vs. Houston Rockets Preseason Game Preview

Phoenix Suns (2-0) vs. Houston Rockets (2-0)

Game information

5PM AZ time, Houston, NBA TV, AZ Sports 98.7 FM

The Suns will be heading into Houston against a thin rotation missing its only two centers on the roster. Dwight Howard is still recovering from a bruised left knee and is not expected to resume play until Tuesday and rookie Clint Capela is going to miss at least another month with a groin injury.

The Rockets went 14 deep in both of their preseason wins with Jeff Adrien getting the start for Howard in the second game. Houston will have a ton of variety off the bench stretching from international forwards like Donatas Motiejunas and Kostas Papanikolaou to former college standouts like forward Tarik Black (10 points and 15 rebounds on Thursday), guard Isaiah Canaan and guard Nick Johnson. The Rockets also have former Suns guard Ish Smith to backup Patrick Beverley and we will likely see new addition Jason Terry back from injury to make his Rockets debut.

For the Suns I'd expect some more starting lineup changes and head coach Jeff Hornacek trying out as many different lineups throughout the game as possible. With no Howard or Capela this could mean less Earl Barron and more T.J. Warren and Marcus Morris. This is an ideal scenario for Hornacek to try out Markieff Morris at the 5 with both centers for Houston out and his brother Marcus or even P.J. Tucker at the 4.

Check back for our gamethread later today for the official lineups.