The Phoenix Suns (21-18, 8th in Western Conference) play host to the Sacramento Kings (23-16, 5th in Western Conference) tonight for their third of five matchups this season. The Kings are 2-0 against the Suns this season and have a four-game winning streak over Phoenix dating back to last season. The Suns enter tonight on a two-game winning streak after defeating a short-handed Portland Trail Blazers team 127-116 Sunday night. That same night, the Kings lost their second-straight game to the Milwaukee Bucks 143-142 after a Damian Lillard game-winner. The Suns will be without Bol Bol (foot), Yuta Watanabe (illness) and Damion lee (knee) tonight. The Kings have a completely clean injury report, as Keegan Murray (hip) was upgraded from questionable to available.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Local Game Information
Start Time: 7:00 p.m. MST
Location:Â Footprint Center
TV Channel: 3TV/AZ Family
Radio:Â Arizona Sports 98.7 FM, La Mejor 106.5 FM
Stream:Â Suns Live (click for more info)
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) January 16, 2024
Betting Odds
Line: PHX -4.5
O/U:Â 243.5
Injury Report
Phoenix Suns: Bol Bol (right foot soreness) OUT | Yuta Watanabe (illness) OUT | Damion Lee (right meniscus surgery) OUT
Sacramento Kings: Keegan Murray (right hip irritation) AVAILABLE
Starters (Projected)
Phoenix Suns: Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, Grayson Allen, Kevin Durant, Jusuf Nurkić
Sacramento Kings:Â De’Aaron Fox, Kevin Huerter, Harrison Barnes, Keegan Murray, Domantas Sabonis
Five Keys to Game for Suns
- Don’t get sucked into Kings’ pace
- Limiting De’Aaron Fox
- Playing full 48 minutes
- Don’t allow huge runs
- Not giving open looks to Kings from deep
Prediction
Kings 120 – Suns 115
Coming off a game where Portland made 20 threes (the second-most the Suns have allowed this season), this matchup does not bode well for the Suns to correct that problem. The Kings are third in the NBA with 15.0 three-point makes per game. However, the Suns need to find momentum and could look at this game as a perfect opportunity to do that against a good team, while at nearly full strength and at home. Phoenix needs to let up its guard at all tonight because the Kings are very capable of going on huge runs, which is not good for a Suns team that usually goes through a ton of lulls throughout the course of games. It will be interesting to see how tonight plays out given all these factors.
Last Time Out
The Phoenix Suns (21-18) escaped Portland with a 127-116 victory Sunday night over a struggling Trailblazers (10-29) team to cap off a three-game road trip. Entering the game, the Blazers had been outscored by a combined 112 points over their last three contests, yet jumped out to an early seven-point lead in the first quarter. The Suns stormed back and looked like they would cruise to victory after a 40-28 second quarter, winning by as much as 17 in the third period. However, a 15-5 run to start the fourth quarter by the Blazers cut the deficit to four. The Suns responded with a 14-7 run to close and ultimately pull out the win. The Suns were led by Devin Booker’s 34 points, seven assists and six rebounds. Bradley Beal, coming off a season-high 37 points and career-high eight threes, finished with 23 points, five assists, four rebounds, two steals and four turnovers for Phoenix. Kevin Durant added 21 points and six assists.
In a game that featured a Mike brown ejection and ended with a Damian Lillard game-winning three, the Sacramento Kings (23-16) fell 143-142 in OT to the Milwaukee Bucks (28-12) Sunday night. De’Aaron Fox scored 32 points and had five assists to lead Sacramento. Domantas Sabonis posted a 21-point, 15-assist, 13-rebound triple double, while Malik Monk had 28 points, seven rebounds and seven assists off the bench. The Kings fought back from a 12-point fourth quarter deficit to tie the game and take it to overtime even after Mike Brown was ejected with 9:27 left in the fourth due to disagreement with the officials. This game was the Kings’ fifth of their sixth game road trip, in which they have now gone 2-3 entering tonight’s final game.
Flashback: Last Meeting (Dec. 22, 2023)
Team Matchup Notes
Here are some stats, notes and everything else to know about the Suns and Kings before their third matchup of the season (via Suns):
Each team’s stats (via Suns):
Preview: Team injury reports
Preview: Bradley Beal says Suns took step back in win over Blazers
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Brendan Mau is a senior writer covering the Phoenix Suns and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @Brendan_Mau
