Sacramento Kings Get Burned By Phoenix Suns

The Sacramento Kings dropped their third straight game Wednesday night, falling to the Phoenix Suns by a final of 118-97.

Eric Bledsoe opened up the 1st quarter scoring 10 points and got to wherever he wanted on the floor.

– Following his 17-rebound performance at the Clippers, Tyson Chandler finished with 11 boards, eight on the defensive end. Belinelli scored 15 points off the bench.

Kings: Gay, who entered averaging 18.5 points per game, shot 4 of 13 from the floor….

One week after being blown out at home by the Dallas Mavericks on opening night, the Phoenix Suns feel more like the team they expected to be this season.

While Sactown forced 20 Suns turnovers, they were only able to capitalize with 16 points.

Led by a pair of 3-pointers from Anderson, the Kings pulled even at 55-all on a running layup by Darren Collison with 7:48 left. The difference in the game was the Suns’ 26 points off turnovers.

Eric Bledsoe had his jump shot going early and that allowed him to find a few rhythm. The Kings weren’t doing much to stop his jump shot and Bledsoe is a pretty good shooter when it comes to open looks.

On the season, the Sacramento Kings average 108.5 points, 47.3 rebounds and 21.8 assists per game.

Making a few 3-point shots always helps. Before the season, the Kings were anxious about their transition defense. Bledsoe ended the game with his second four-steal effort. It never felt like the Suns were playing great basketball, but they continued to hold their lead. The Kings need to rely on someone like Marco Belinelli or Rudy Gay to get hot because their offense does not produce much.

– Though he assisted on two made field goals, Knight missed all three of his field goal attempts in the first quarter, including his lone 3-point attempt. That should be the time when we put our foot down and lay it on the line. Alex Len also couldn’t catch a pass under the basket.

Knight wasn’t far behind his backcourt teammate, adding 17 points, seven assists, two rebounds, and a block and steal. Sacramento have allowed more than 100 points in each of their first four games and gave up 69 points in the second half. That includes the start of the game, loosening up and getting into the flow.

P.J. Tucker hit a three at the buzzer and maybe that’s the wakeup call the Suns needed, but their energy walking to the tunnel certainly was not positive. “I guess we got comfortable when we tied the game”. It happened, but it was James Anderson of all people. That’s when Phoenix went on a 16-2 run.

After that, the Suns were finally able to turn it back on after being stuck for around 15 minutes of game time. After deadlocking the game at 55 in the third quarter, Phoenix put the game away with an 11-0 run.

Brandon Knight did not have as much fun early on. In the midst of this stretch, the Suns had more turnovers (three) then field goals (two).

It was a Big Blue reunion in Phoenix as the four former “Cats for the Suns welcomed in the three former ‘Cats on the Kings”.