Suns Looking For Another Win To Recalibrate NBA Season On Saturday

Deandre Ayton will have to muscle his way anew for the Suns to get another win at home on Saturday, Jan. 21.
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KEY POINTS

The Suns will try to pound on struggling Pacers for their second win in a row on Saturday
The Suns and the Pacers face each other for the first time in the NBA regular season
Pacers hope to see an end to their five-game losing streak against the Suns

The Phoenix Suns are looking for another win on Saturday, Jan. 21, when they host the visiting Indiana Pacers at the Talking Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona.

The Suns are coming off a 117-112 over the Brooklyn Nets and will try to get another to start a streak.

In that win, Phoenix was led by Mikal Bridges with 28 points and nine assists. Backing him up was Deandre Ayton who had a double-double performance of 24 points and 14 rebounds.

The game also marked the return of Cam Johnson. He came off the bench in the first quarter and made his presence felt by dropping 19 markers.

It was Johnson’s first game after missing 37 games due to a knee injury.

“I just thought he brought a level of juice to the arena that we hadn’t felt in a while,” Suns coach Monty Williams said about Johnson. “He got up off the bench and you could feel the fans, the community — ‘That’s our guy.'”

The Suns are averaging 112.7 points per game, 19th in the league. They carry an offensive rating of 113.8, 13th in the league.

Defensively, Phoenix is giving up 112.2 points per game, 9th in the league. They are 12th in the league as far as a defensive rating with 113.

For the Pacers, they need to push themselves even more if they want to get a win.

In their latest loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, 106-126, their offense visibly struggled.

Andre Nembhard led the way with 18 points, seven assists and five rebounds while Bennedict Mathurin and Trevelin Queen chipped in 13 points each.

“We allowed them to do too many things they wanted to do in the first five minutes, and you get down 19-1 or whatever it was, playing out of that kind of hole on the road is almost impossible,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said after their latest loss.

The Pacers are averaging 115.3 points per game which is 12th in the league. They own an offensive rating of 112.6, 21st in the NBA.

Indiana is also giving up 116.5 points per game, 22nd in the league. The Pacers tote a defensive rating of 114, 22nd overall in the NBA.

The Suns are -5.5 favorites to prevail over the Pacers who are at +5.5. The Moneyline set is -230 for Phoenix and +195 for Indiana.

The Suns will try to draw first blood in their regular season series against the Pacers at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona with tip-off set at 9:00 p.m. E.T. The game will be telecast over NBA League Pass with live streaming also available via fuboTV.