FArting
Lopes Up!
Playing at home instead of on the road has made all the difference for the Phoenix Suns over the past two months. The Sacramento Kings have seen that first-hand.
Leading up to a game in which their playoff hopes could hang in the balance, the Suns go for a season-best seventh consecutive home win Friday night as they try to avenge a recent loss to the lowly Kings.
Phoenix (41-34) is four games behind Dallas for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Regardless of how the Suns fare in this game, if the Mavericks win at Memphis on Friday they would wrap up a postseason berth by beating Phoenix on Sunday.That would knock the Suns out of playoff contention because they would be five games behind Dallas with each team having five games remaining, and the Mavs would own the tiebreaker for having won the season series.
"We're not eliminated yet," Suns guard Jason Richardson said. "We're going to continue to play and we still believe we have a chance."The Suns clearly have a better chance for a victory at US Airways Center, where they've won a season-high six in a row -- the last three against teams ahead of them in the West standings.Phoenix is 16-3 at home since the start of February compared to 3-11 on the road. That impressive stretch at US Airways Center began with the most lopsided home win in franchise history and it came against the Kings, 129-81 on Feb. 2.
That was the Suns' sixth straight home win in the series and sixth in a row overall versus the Kings (16-58), but that streak ended Sunday as Phoenix lost 126-118 in Sacramento. The defeat was particularly devastating for the Suns because it capped an 0-3 road trip and came against the team with the NBA's worst record."That one is definitely going to mess with Phoenix's mentality," Kings guard Kevin Martin said after that win. "It's definitely going to be interesting how they approach us in the next game (on Friday)."
Martin is coming off a career-high 50-point performance Wednesday night, but he missed a potential go-ahead jumper with 6 seconds left in overtime and Beno Udrih missed at the buzzer as Sacramento lost 143-141 to Golden State.Martin has been limited to a combined 30 points and 8-of-27 from the field in two games against Phoenix this season despite the Suns being among the league's worst teams defensively, surrendering 107.2 points per game.Sacramento gives up an average of 109.1 to rank second-to-last in the league, having allowed more than 110 in five consecutive games.The Suns have scored an average of 111.7 at home this season while shooting 52.1 percent, tops in the league. They even had a big night on offense against one of the NBA's best defensive teams Wednesday, shooting 54.3 percent in a 114-109 victory over Houston."We had a great performance from a lot of guys," said Steve Nash, who had 25 points and 17 assists. "We wanted it, we worked hard for it and we deserved it tonight -- a lot more spirit about us than Sunday in Sacramento."
Nash had 31 points and 14 assists in that loss while seven Kings scored in double figures.That's one of only two wins in the last 11 games overall for Sacramento, which is a conference-worst 5-32 on the road.
http://espn.go.com/nba/preview?gameId=290403021
