Suns try to hand slumping Knicks seventh straight loss

While the Phoenix Suns are entertaining thoughts of finally winning a long-awaited championship, the New York Knicks could be staring at yet another lost season.

The Suns will go for their NBA-leading 51st victory when they host the skidding Knicks on Friday night in the final game this season between the two teams.

Phoenix will look to build another winning streak after rolling to a 120-90 win over the visiting Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday to end a two-game slide. Meanwhile, the Knicks lost their sixth in a row Wednesday, falling to the host Philadelphia 76ers 123-108.

The win against Portland was equal parts cathartic and resourceful while further establishing the Suns as an NBA Finals contender. Phoenix, whose two-game losing streak Feb. 25-27 marked its first back-to-back losses since Dec. 25-27, cruised to victory despite playing without All-Stars Chris Paul and Devin Booker. Paul hasn’t played since Feb. 16 because of a broken right thumb, while Booker entered the NBA’s health and safety protocol hours before the opening tip Wednesday.

But the Suns’ depth was on display against the Trail Blazers, as reserve Cameron Johnson (20 points) led six players in double figures.

The win was the NBA-best 50th of the season for Phoenix, which entered Thursday with a seven-game lead over the Golden State Warriors and a 7 1/2-game edge on the Memphis Grizzlies in the race for the top seed in the Western Conference. The Suns, who snapped a 10-season playoff drought by advancing to the Finals last summer, are 23-4 since Jan. 1.

«It feels good,» Johnson said. «Fifty (wins) is a big benchmark in this league. But now we want to get to 60.»

A 50-win season seemed to be the next step for New York after it made the playoffs last season for the first time since 2012-13. But the Knicks are 20-36 this season since a 5-1 start, including 16 losses in 19 games following a three-game winning streak from Jan. 10-15. They have dropped into 12th place in the Eastern Conference and entered Thursday 4 1/2 games behind the 10th-place Atlanta Hawks, who occupy the last spot in the play-in tournament.

The Knicks allowed the fewest points in the NBA last season (104.7 points per game), but their tailspin has been defined by porous play on the defensive end. New York has blown double-digit leads in five of the losses in their current streak, including Wednesday, when the 76ers roared back from a 16-point first-half deficit.

The 76ers shot 52 percent on New York and Joel Embiid, James Harden and Tyrese Maxey all scored at least 25 points.

«When you look at who we were last year, we were the best defensive team in the league and prided ourselves on getting stops at critical moments,» power forward Julius Randle said. «We’d string together three, four stops in a row. One of the things our coaching staff shows us after games is how many times we’ve got three stops in a row. We’re not doing that enough.»

–Field Level Media