Suns end lengthy road skid, fight off slumping Kings

By Jimmy Spencer, for NBA.com
Posted Wednesday January 6, 2010 1:58AM

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (NBA.com exclusive) -- There's no column in the standings for moral victories.

If there were, last season's league-worst Kings would at least have something to show for their closely fought losses.

But after Sacramento's valiant comeback effort fell short in a 113-109 loss to Phoenix on Tuesday night, the youthful Kings can only chalk another one up in the feel-good loss column.

"This 'close but no cigar' is going to end," Kings head coach Paul Westphal said. "I don't know when, but it's going to end."

Playing on their home court, the Kings wiped away a 20-point deficit to tie the game in the final minutes, only to end up losing for the sixth time in their last seven games.

So does Westphal believe moral victories exist?

"You're going to have to ask a theologian about that," Westphal said.

"If we would have won all of these close games we wouldn't have been that good. The fact that we have lost all of them doesn't make us that bad. We keep going in the direction we're going, then we're going to win."

Despite obvious improvement from last year's 17-win season, Sacramento (14-20) has fell victim to a number of recent heartbreaks.

The Kings are in the midst of a 10-game stretch that includes eight opponents with winning percentages of .600 and higher, six of which are division leaders.

The stretch began with a home overtime loss to the Cavaliers, followed by a double-overtime loss at home to the Lakers.

The Kings' strong play was finally rewarded with a home win against the Nuggets but soon forgotten after a home loss to the 76ers. The rough stretch continued with a road loss to the Lakers on Kobe Bryant's buzzer-beater and a home loss against Dallas.

"Is it upsetting? Yes," Westphal said. "We will not be discouraged and we will start winning these games. And for whatever reasons we're having a string of getting our hearts pulled out of our chest."

The first-year Kings coach said after the game that he told his team in its first meeting that, "This league will knock you on your back, you're going to have to keep getting up."

Sacramento's stretch of tough opponents takes a breather on the road against bottom-dwelling Golden State on Friday before it concludes with Denver and Orlando at home.

While continuing a trend of not closing out wins comfortably, the Suns are glad to break a seven-game road losing streak with the win. The last time Phoenix won on the road came on Nov. 29 at Toronto.

"It would be better if we could hold teams off but we're doing just fine," said Nash, who finished with 30 points and 12 assists. "We were picked to not make the playoffs so for us to have 20-plus wins at this point we should all be satisfied and just keep building and not put too much pressure on ourselves."

If the Kings are collecting moral victories, so are the Suns -- only Phoenix's wins count in the standings.

"When the expectations and the pressure rise, it can become a burden and it can become unrealistic," Nash said. "Teams like Memphis, Oklahoma City, we're not really more talented than them. We're marginally more talented than Sacramento I think."

The game was tied at 103-103 with 1:44 remaining in the contest. The Suns reclaimed the lead on a pair of Amar'e Stoudemire free throws, and after the Kings missed on multiple offensive putbacks in the next possession, Nash's perimeter jumper gave the Suns a 107-103 lead. The teams traded baskets in the final moments, but Nash ended the game on 4-of-4 free throws to seal Phoenix's victory.

Three rookies -- Tyreke Evans, Omri Casspi and John Brockman -- played the majority of the minutes in the fourth quarter.

Evans, in his second game back since missing three consecutive games with a right ankle injury, left the game in the third quarter limping with a sprained right ankle. After a trip to the locker room, Evans returned to start the fourth quarter.

Evans, who took home Rookie of the Month honors for the Western Conference for the month of December, finished with 27 points, seven assists and 11 rebounds in 38 minutes. Evans leads all rookies in scoring and minutes, and is second among first-year players in assists.

The Suns opened a perfect 5-for-5 from the field to open the game and seemed to be on a fast break for most of the first half, shooting 55 percent from the field and scoring 22 points in transition.

Phoenix led 60-40 late in the first half but after a good third quarter, Sacramento closed the lead to 88-81 headed into the final period. The Kings opened up on a 7-0 run and tied the game in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter.

Sacramento tied the game multiple times in the final quarter but never led.

Boise State cornerback Brandyn Thompson sat courtside at the Kings game. The local Franklin High School product won defensive MVP of the Fiesta Bowl on Monday night.

• Suns: Griffin
• Kings: Garcia, Martin

• Suns: --
• Kings: --

• Lead Changes: 0
• Times Tied: 5

• Arena: ARCO Arena, Sacramento, CA
• Officials: #18 Mark Wunderlich, #38 Michael Smith, #66 Haywoode Workman
• Attendance: 13630
• Duration: 2:26