(Sports Network) – The Phoenix Suns hope to salvage the finale of a three-game homestand tonight when they welcome the lowly Minnesota Timberwolves to the desert.
The Suns dropped their third straight overall last Friday when Brandon Roy’s game-high 26 points led a balanced Portland offense to a 101-94 win over Phoenix.
Steve Nash led the Suns with 24 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Grant Hill finished with 17 points for Phoenix, which has lost three straight. Hakim Warrick supplied 14 points and six rebounds off the bench and Channing Frye contributed 12 points in the loss.
“Bottom line is that we didn’t have enough stops,” said Suns head coach Alvin Gentry. “At the end of the night they forced their will on us from a pace standpoint.”
Phoenix, which is 6-5 overall as the host, hasn’t lost three in a row at US Airways Center since Jan. 16-31, 2009
The Wolves, meanwhile, fell to 0-2 on a lengthy six-game road trip and a miserable 1-13 overall as the visitor on Tuesday in Oakland when Monta Ellis scored 34 points to help the Golden State Warriors snap out of their funk with a 108-99 victory over Minnesota.
Darko Milicic paced Minnesota with a career-high 25 points and 11 rebounds, but the Wolves fell to their 10th loss in 12 games overall. Michael Beasley had 19 points, while Kevin Love had 13 to go with 14 boards in defeat.
“Our team needs to learn that if they don’t play hard every night, we are not going to win,” Timberwolves coach Kurt Rambis said. “We did not give a maximum effort. We gave them too many second chance opportunities and turned the ball over too many times.”
Minnesota, which has dropped 25 of 26 as the visitor dating back to last season, will also face Portland, Denver and the LA Clippers on its current trek.
The Suns have won five straight over Minnesota by an average of 18.0 points and have won seven of the past eight meetings in the series held in Phoenix.