Suns Strokes: Phoenix lets winnable game slip away to Sacramento Kings
Nov 8, 2014, 6:20 AM | Updated: 6:40 am
This one is going to sting for the Phoenix Suns.
Everything lined up for a victory on Friday night against the surprising Sacramento Kings at U.S. Airways Center, but they weren’t able to make the necessary plays to pull it out falling 114-112 in double overtime.
Goran Dragic seemed to come out of a season-long slump in the first quarter leading the Suns to 36 points on 68.2 percent shooting and an 11-point lead.
Dragic connected on his first three of the season and finished the opening 12 minutes with 10 points, two rebounds and two assists. From there, as it has many times throughout the first six games, Phoenix’s offense wasn’t there.
“Well you, you know, we move the ball well at times,” said head coach Jeff Hornacek. “We just hit the first open guy and then we get to the point where we have something in our heads already that we’re going to do and we’re not hitting the first open man. We’ll show them the tape again, show them all those situations. But when you come off something and you got someone else stepping to you, the ball should be out of your hands. We hold it too much.”
In the final three quarters and two OTs, the Suns shot 35 percent from the field, missed 19 of 26 three point and had only one more assist (12) than turnovers (11).
DeMarcus Cousins was a monster in the fourth quarter scoring eight points, grabbing seven rebounds and controlling the game on the defensive end. He fouled out on a questionable offensive foul with just under 40 seconds left.
The Suns weren’t able to take advantage.
Phoenix jumped out to a 106-99 lead in the first overtime behind five points from P.J. Tucker and a layup by Eric Bledsoe.
The Suns weren’t able to take advantage.
Rudy Gay played his worst game of the season connecting on only 5-22 shots for 11 points.
The Suns weren’t able to take advantage.
This wasn’t a game the Kings should have won, it was a game Phoenix gave away as they’ve dropped three of their last four after a 2-0 start.
THE GOOD
P.J. Tucker played his butt off. He defended DeMarcus Cousins for a decent stretch in the fourth quarter and made the Kings’ big work harder than at any other point in this game.
Tucker also found his offensive game, knocking down three from behind the arc and finishing with 15 points off the bench.
Hornacek after the game talked about the possibility of bringing him into the games earlier.
THE BAD
Bledsoe played an all around solid game, but his penchant for turnovers continued. He’s now handed the ball to the other team 14 times in the last two games.
STAT OF THE GAME
Miles Plumlee had his first double-double of the season with 15 points and 16 rebounds.
HE SAID IT
Jeff Hornacek on the team’s conditioning:
“Well, I don’t know if we were tired and out of shape or what. There was some talk that maybe we’re not in the best shape. Because their guys in the fourth quarter were walking it up, we were getting caught with the shot clock. We would run a normal play and by the time we got to the second option there was five seconds on the shot clock.”
NOTED
The Kings extended their winning streak to five games, their longest streak since the 2006-2007 season when they also won five in a row.
UP NEXT
The Suns play the third game of a five-game homestand Sunday night against the Golden State Warriors at U.S. Airways Center.
It will be the back end of a back-to-back for the Warriors who face the Houston Rockets on Saturday.
Tip off is scheduled for 6 p.m. with the pregame show starting off 30 minutes before on ESPN Phoenix 620 AM.
