After lengthy road trip, Suns look for bright spot vs. Bucks
Close games are becoming commonplace for the Phoenix Suns, who begin a four-game homestand against the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday.
The Suns (39-31) dropped their fourth straight game on Thursday after Victor Wembanyama hit a last-second jumper to give the San Antonio Spurs a 101-100 home victory.
Phoenix ended its six-game trip with a 2-4 record, losing its last four games by an average of seven points.
"How could we not be proud of that group?" Suns coach Jordan Ott said after Thursday's loss. "Six-game road trip. Tough games every single night. Bodies down. Young guys getting playing time there at the end of the game. We're going to be better for it. Super proud."
The Suns are in seventh in the Western Conference standings and returning home to face Milwaukee (28-41), which is coming off a demoralizing 128-96 road loss to the Utah Jazz on Thursday.
The Bucks are playing without star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is sitting out with a hyperextended left knee and will be re-evaluated next week.
Milwaukee has lost 10 of its last 12 games and reportedly would like to shut Antetokounmpo down for the season, but the two-time MVP would prefer to return if possible.
Milwaukee is 7 1/2 games behind the Charlotte Hornets (36-34) in the race for the final play-in spot with just 13 games left for the Bucks. The team hit a new low point for the season in the loss to Utah, which had just eight players available and led for the entire second half.
"I'm not overdoing one game, honestly," Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. "I thought we played great against Cleveland (a 123-116 loss on Tuesday). We competed against Atlanta (a 122-99 loss last Saturday). So I'm not going to overdo this game. But, this was the game you really wanted to win on this road trip. They took out everybody to help us, you know? And we still didn't take advantage of it."
Ryan Rollins scored 15 points against Utah to lead the Bucks, while Cam Thomas added 14 and Ousmane Dieng had 13.
"Obviously, (Thursday) was super disappointing and you never want to lose a game like that, right?" Bucks forward Bobby Portis Jr. said. "We play every other day the rest of the year, so there's plenty of opportunities to go out there and keep guys locked in and keep building. It's been an up-and-down year, a lot going on, but I'm in the fight though, so I ain't laying down."
Milwaukee is hoping to regroup against Phoenix, which remained positive following another close loss on Thursday. Collin Gillespie scored 24 points against the Spurs and Devin Booker added 22 for the Suns.
"It hurt," Phoenix guard Jordan Goodwin said. "All the losses right now hurt bad, but I still like our fight, how we competed. Still in these games. We've just got to find a way."
The Suns are monitoring the status of Royce O'Neale (left knee soreness), Grayson Allen (left knee soreness) and Amir Coffey, who missed the second half of Thursday's game with a left ankle sprain.
Phoenix is seeking a series sweep of the Bucks after winning 129-114 in Milwaukee on March 10.