• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Suns return home for meeting with Raptors

Feb 27, 2009 - 11:23 AM Toronto (23-36) at Phoenix (32-25) 9:00 p.m. EST

PHOENIX (Ticker) -- A lack of depth punished the Phoenix Suns during their last game. Possibly playing shorthanded again shouldn't matter against one of the worst teams in the East.

The Suns return home on Friday to open a two-game homestand against the lowly Toronto Raptors.

Without the services of point guard Steve Nash and leading-scorer Amare Stoudemire, Phoenix endured a 132-106 rout by the NBA-best Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday.

Nash missed the game with a right ankle injury sustained during the third quarter of Tuesday's triumph over the Charlotte Bobcats and is listed as day-to-day.

The contest was the third without Stoudemire, who will miss the rest of the season after having surgery to repair a partially detached retina in his right eye on Friday.

Regardless of Nash's status, the Suns should be able to overcome the Raptors, who are 14th in the Eastern Conference standings, nine games ahead of the last-place Washington Wizards (13-44).

However, Toronto is coming off back-to-back wins and has won four of its last six games, including a 118-110 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday.