Game Preview: Markieff Morris, Phoenix Suns face "no heart" Caldwell-Pope and the struggling Detroit Pistons

Tonight the Phoenix Suns face the Detroit Pistons (7:00 pm AZ time on FoxSports Arizona (TV)and ArizonaSports 98.7 (radio)) in Phoenix at US Airways Center.

At 3-19 on the year, the Pistons are struggling. But then so were Charlotte, Orlando and Miami when they beat the Suns in Phoenix. Charlotte had lost two straight before beating Phoenix 103-95 on an Orange Friday, then proceeded to lose their next 10 straight games. Orlando had lost four straight before beating Phoenix 93-90, then lost two more before pulling out wins against the Jazz and Kings. And most recently, the Miami Heat had lost four straight before beating the Suns 103-97 on Tuesday night, then lost on Wednesday by 20 to Denver.

The Suns are only 6-5 at home counting those ugly losses to under-.500 Charlotte, Orlando and Miami. It hasn't been a banner fall at US Airways Center.

The Pistons

But now the Pistons are absolutely the worst team to visit the Suns all season. At 3-19, riding a 13-game losing streak, the Pistons represent a chance for every NBA team to notch a win in their belts.

If you think it's bad in Phoenix with the Suns going the three-PG route, try Detroit where they are going the three-bigs route where no one is happy and they are playing disjointed and ineffective basketball. While the Suns re-signed Bledsoe, the Pistons had to watch Greg Monroe sign his qualifying offer and become a mercenary waiting for free agency. Now, Monroe is coming off the bench while the underperforming Josh Smith is back to his power forward position in the starting lineup.

The Suns

Isaiah Thomas returns for the Suns tonight after missing eight games where the Suns went 3-5 without him. Check out the practice report by Sean here, where Thomas and Hornacek discuss his return.

"I can help with energy," Thomas said. "That's what I do, that's my game. If I'm not playing with energy then I'm not that good of a basketball player. I think I can help, actually, I know I can help. We've played pretty well but we haven't been able to close games, and I think I can help in that aspect as well."

Suns-Pistons so far

You might remember the Suns eeked out a road win in Detroit on a missed three-pointer by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope at the buzzer. KCP had just made a couple of threes to keep Detroit in the game, but apparently showed he had "no heart" by missing the last one.

The "no heart" comment was made by Markieff Morris in the locker room after the game ended. "KCP got it and you know he doesn't have any heart so we knew he was going to miss it."

He and KCP had had words in the first half and apparently all wasn't hunky dory yet.

KCP's reponse to Morris' comment: "It is what it is."

We'll see how both teams react to this bulletin board material.

How they compare

Lineups

Key Matchup

The Morris brothers against KCP, and anyone else that wants to weigh in on the battle, or whatever it is. Clearly, something is wrong between KCP and the Morrii or Markieff would not have completely dissed him like that after the game. Will that spill over into tonight's game? If KCP does have heart and/or his teammates have his back, then something will escalate. If nothing at all happens, then that says all you need to know about why the Pistons are 3-19.

Out on a limb

Markieff's dog named King has apparently been missing since Thanksgiving, about a week after that Detroit game . I'll go out on a limb and say that these two story lines involving Markieff are NOT related.

Hope that Keef finds his dog, folks!

Final Prediction

I have been a bad luck charm lately. Under my watch at the arena, the Suns have lost to Orlando and Miami in the past week.

Don't make it three bad losses in a row for me, Suns!