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Artest, Kings aim to cool off red-hot Suns

Dec 16, 2006 - 5:40 PM Phoenix (16-6) at Sacramento (10-11) 10:00 pm EST

SACRAMENTO, California (Ticker) -- The Sacramento Kings have struggled of late. No one can say that about that Phoenix Suns.

Defensive specialist Ron Artest and the Kings will try to slow down the Suns and put an end to their season-high 13-game winning streak on Saturday.

Boris Diaw recorded his fifth career triple-double and Amare Stoudemire had 25 points and 10 rebounds for Phoenix in Friday's 105-101 victory over the Golden State Warriors.

With another win, Phoenix will establish a new franchise record for consecutive wins. The last time the Suns captured 14 straight victories was during the 1992-93 campaign, which concluded with a trip to the NBA Finals.

"I think it was more we don't want to lose regardless of the streak," Stoudemire said. "The streak is great but you don't want to lose and that is our main focus now, to win as many games as we can."

Shareef Abdur-Rahim scored 21 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer inside the final minute, as Sacramento rallied for a 98-97 victory over the Utah Jazz on Friday. Mike Bibby scored 19 points in the win.

The win was just the second in the last eight games for the Kings.

Sacramento has won 10 of the last 12 meetings in the series here.