Wizards @ Suns

[Andrew]

The Phoenix Suns are taking advantage of a stretch against weaker opponents, but still haven't made up much ground in the Western Conference. Adding to the frustration is that they'll be without Leandro Barbosa for at least a week.
The Suns look to win four in a row for the first time this season as they host the Washington Wizards on Saturday.

Phoenix (37-31) has won its last three by an average of 15 points, but it hasn't faced tough competition during the stretch, beating Golden State and Oklahoma City -- both already eliminated from the playoff race -- before recording a 126-116 victory over Philadelphia on Wednesday.

The winning streak hasn't helped the Suns' playoff position, however. They are four games behind Dallas for the eighth and final spot in the West and now will have to continue their push for a fifth straight playoff appearance without one of their leading scorers.

Barbosa will miss one to three weeks after hyperextending his left knee in Wednesday's win, according to the Suns' official Web site. An MRI revealed no ligament damage, but a bone bruise will keep him off the court.

"Just looking at the injury when it happened, it could've been a lot worse," Suns athletic trainer Aaron Nelson said.

The loss of Barbosa is a huge blow to the Suns, who were already without leading scorer Amare Stoudemire, who suffered a season-ending eye injury Feb. 18. Barbosa is averaging 14.3 points, but totaled 43 points in wins over the Thunder and Warriors prior to Wednesday.

Despite missing two of their top four scorers, the Suns believe they can still continuing running their offense like usual. Barbosa suffered his injury early in the first quarter, but Phoenix shot 57.6 percent and has averaged 128.7 points during its winning streak.

With Barbosa out, the Suns will turn more to Jason Richardson, who has averaged 28.0 points in the last two games. He had 25 points and seven rebounds in Wednesday's win.

(Coach Alvin Gentry) told me that he wanted me to step up and that's exactly what I did," Richardson said. "I was going out there and trying to be aggressive."

Phoenix has won four straight over Washington (16-54), which has the worst record in the East. The Suns recorded a 103-87 win over the Wizards on Jan. 26 behind 29 points from Shaquille O'Neal.

Washington lost its third straight Friday, falling 116-105 to Denver. Antawn Jamison scored 27 points and JaVale McGee added 13 and 11 rebounds, but with only nine players available because of injuries to Juan Dixon and Caron Butler, the Wizards faded late. They cut the lead to seven early in the fourth but Denver responded with a game-breaking 12-2 run.

"We're used to it by now," Jamison, who is averaging 26.0 points in the last five games, said of the injuries. "The difficult part is not having Juan Dixon able to play and Darius Songaila is really banged up. So we might be shorter than what we are. Nobody will feel sorry for us. We have to play through it. We have a lot of practice at this."

Jamison is averaging 27.5 points and 11.5 rebounds in his last two games against Phoenix.

The Wizards are 5-30 on the road.

www.espn.com

 

[lou_skywalker]

should be a no-brainer. one more game for the players enjoying their strong performances.

 

[Andrew]

Don't take the Wizards lightly, they are still an NBA team and we have to come out and put them away early. No slacking off by anyone until the outcome seems to be certain.

 

[mjb21aztd]

Lets go suns beat the wizards big game for us must keep the win streak going. Just sucks the pacers blew the game vs the Mavricks last night awww well. GO SUNS

 

[lou_skywalker]

Don't take the Wizards lightly, they are still an NBA team and we have to come out and put them away early. No slacking off by anyone until the outcome seems to be certain.

lol sure, just suppose we must have another "strong performance" both on offense and defense.

GO SUNS!!!

 

[dodie53]

go suns!

win this!

 

[Andrew]

good start

 

[Andrew]

Amar'e sighting

 

[Roca Dolla]

Shaq ready to tweet at halftime vs. Wizards

PHOENIX - Halftime "tweets" seem to be the latest NBA fad.
Suns center Shaquille O'Neal posted a note on his Twitter feed before a home game against Washington on Saturday night, suggesting he plans to post to the popular social networking Web site during halftime.
"Attention all twitterers I'm a tweet at halftime and not get fined like vill a new wave a whteva his name is," Shaq wrote.

lol

 

[Andrew]

damn this foreign stream, I cant hear the Amare interview...

 

[Andrew]

another meltdown...

 

[Proteus]

Ugh...Suns only up 4 after being up being 19. Suns 57-53 after the 2nd quarter.It's ridiculous that we're shooting 58% and the Wizards 40% yet we're only up by 4.
These idiots are aware that we have to win this game to keep alive our playoff chances, right?

 

[Andrew]

Shaq twittered lol

 

[Andrew]

Shaq is number five on the all time scoring list

 

[cly2tw]

that's some serious lucky bounce for Barnes

 

[zod]

Jrich with 4 3's in a row.

 

[Andrew]

Barnes with a dunk that was crazy...

 

[zod]

Richardson is on fire.

 

[Andrew]

J Rich is on FIRE

 

[Proteus]

Suns up 90-75 after the 3rd quarter. Suns shooting 55%, Wizards 39%.

 

[Andrew]

I wanna see J Rich go for 50 lol

 

[Proteus]

Good start to the 4th quarter as the Suns go on a 7-0 run. Suns up 97-75 with 10:07 left in the 4th quarter.

 

[Proteus]

Suns up 103-83 with 5:45 left in the 4th quarter.

 

[Lynx280]

that dunk from J Rich was something worth looking up if u didnt watch the game. Also, worth noting, the bench won us this game. Starters dominated early, from there the bench took over. It was when the starters came back in that the wizards were able to come back in. And yes, dragic is coming along nicely in Alvin's system. As one of the commentators said "he;s starting to do some of the little things nash does"

 

[Lynx280]

oh and why did dudley cut his hair? he was so gangsta