The Phoenix Suns hope to run their winning streak to eight games when they host the Sacramento Kings on Sunday night, but they would prefer not to have to endure yet another heart-stopping finish.
Jusuf Nurkic made a tiebreaking free throw with eight-tenths of a second remaining Friday night, giving Phoenix a 114-113 win over the host Dallas Mavericks.
It not only gave the Suns, leaders of the Pacific Division, their seventh consecutive win, but also their third in a row by three or fewer points. Phoenix’s eight victories this season have come by a total of 37 points.
“It feels like every night it’s been one,” Suns coach Mike Budenholzer observed after his team’s seventh win by six or fewer points. “Winning close games on the road builds confidence, builds toughness.”
Phoenix has worked its close-game magic at home as well. Before heading to Dallas, the Suns went 3-0 on a homestand in which they beat the Portland Trail Blazers by six, the Philadelphia 76ers by two and the Miami Heat by three.
On a team featuring Kevin Durant, who will miss about two weeks with a left calf strain, and Devin Booker, Nurkic has been the Suns’ most productive fourth-quarter player with a team-best plus-21. He leads the team in fourth-quarter field goal percentage (75.0) and offensive rebounds (six), and trails Royce O’Neale 18-17 for the team lead in total rebounds.
He will match up Sunday with Kings star Domantas Sabonis, who recorded his eighth consecutive double-double with 23 points and 12 rebounds in Friday’s 107-98 home loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Sabonis had three consecutive triple-doubles, missing a fourth straight by one assist, when the Kings lost three of five in a rare five-game season series with the Suns last year. Two of the triple-doubles came in losses at Phoenix in January (21 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists) and February (35 points, 18 rebounds, 12 assists).
The big man contributed to one of the Kings’ biggest problems on Friday — 3-point shooting. Sacramento missed 23 of its 26 attempts from deep (11.5 percent), the fifth time in the last six games in which the Kings have made 33.3 percent or less.
Sabonis was 0-for-2. Other than De’Aaron Fox (2-for-5), Sacramento starters went 0-for-13, including Keegan Murray’s six straight misses.
Unfazed by his club’s early-season slump, Kings coach Mike Brown expressed confidence that his guys would come right back firing against the Suns.
“It doesn’t matter who we play. We want to let it fly,” he said. “We feel like we’re a good 3-point shooting team. Although the numbers might not point that direction right now, we have guys who can knock that shot down.
“Any time you touch the paint, especially in today’s NBA, everybody converges. So we want to touch the paint, let that thing fly and hopefully knock down shots.”
At 30.7 percent, the Kings sit near the bottom of the NBA rankings in 3-point field goal percentage this season. The Suns, with O’Neale having made 52.6 percent and Durant 42.9, have been among the best at 38.3 percent.
