Final
Suns hope to stay afloat with Jazz in town
Apr 4, 2015 - 1:52 PMVideo
The Suns are four games behind Oklahoma City for the eighth spot in the Western Conference with six to play.
Phoenix has dropped five in a row, including three straight at home, which is not a recipe for making the postseason. The Suns play their next four on the road against Atlanta, Dallas, New Orleans and San Antonio, so it'll be tough sledding.
On Thursday, the Suns dropped a heartbreaker to the Golden State Warriors, 107-106, at Oracle Arena.
Harrison Barnes capped a frantic closing minute with a game-winning layup to lift the Warriors to victory.
Klay Thompson's 3-pointer tied the game with 34.7 seconds left, then P.J. Tucker drove the baseline for a layup to push the Suns back in front.
After three offensive rebounds by Andrew Bogut and Barnes on the following possession, Thompson kicked it to Stephen Curry in the corner for a 3-pointer that gave the Warriors a brief lead with 8.3 ticks to go. Eric Bledsoe then converted a reverse layup to keep the back-and-forth affair going.
Coming out of a timeout, Barnes took a pass from Andre Iguodala and muscled his way inside before flicking the ball in with less than a second on the clock. Phoenix attempted a last-ditch heave but it was well off and the Warriors held on.
Eric Bledsoe led the Suns with 18 points and 11 assists, and T.J. Warren's 17- point effort keyed a comeback effort for the Suns. Markieff Morris scored 17 points with 12 rebounds.
The Jazz have won three straight with two of those victories coming in Salt Lake City with one in Minnesota.
On Wednesday, the Jazz toppled the Denver Nuggets, 98-84.
Rudy Gobert had a career-high 20 points with 12 rebounds in Utah's third consecutive win. First-round draft pick Dante Exum dished out a career-high 12 assists for the Jazz and Derrick Favors scored 19 points.
"We played great," said Gobert. "We just have to stay focused until the end of the game."
The Jazz used a 14-2 run in the second quarter to build a seven-point lead. Trey Burke made consecutive 3s and scored the first eight points in the flurry and Utah later stretched its advantage to 13 before going into halftime with a 54-42 lead.
Gordon Hayward scored 12 of his 13 points in the third quarter and the Jazz held Denver under 27 percent shooting to build a 22-point lead entering the fourth. It never dipped below 13 the rest of the way.
The Jazz won two of three meetings this season with the Suns. The two teams split the last four encounters in Phoenix.
- UTAH: 85
PHOENIX: 87
Final
Apr 5 12:39 AM - UTAH: 85
PHOENIX: 87
Final
Apr 5 12:38 AM - UTAH: 85
PHOENIX: 87
Final
Apr 5 12:35 AM - UTAH: 68
PHOENIX: 65
End of 3rd
Apr 4 11:52 PM - UTAH: 37
PHOENIX: 47
Halftime
Apr 4 11:09 PM - UTAH: 18
PHOENIX: 13
End of 1st
Apr 4 10:33 PM - UTAH: 0
PHOENIX: 0
1st Quarter - 12:00
Apr 4 10:11 PM
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