The Season Ends Tonight:

Phoenix Suns (24-57) v Sacramento Kings (31-49)

Tuesday 4/11/2017 7:30pm
Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA
Fox Sports Arizona/NBAtv/Arizona Sports 98.7FM

Season Series – Sacramento leads 2-1
All-Time Series – Phoenix leads 131-90
Last Matchup – March 15, 2017 Sacramento won 107-101
Suns’ Last Game – Win over the Dallas Mavericks 124-111
Kings’ Last Game – Loss to the Houston Rockets 135-128
Suns’ Scoring Averages – PTS/G: 107.7 (9th of 30) Opp PTS/G: 113.1 (30th of 30)
Kings’ Scoring Averages – PTS/G: 102.6 (23rd of 30) Opp PTS/G: 106.6 (19th of 30)

Preview

The Phoenix Suns wrap up their 49th season in the NBA against the Sacramento Kings tonight, finishing up one of the oddest season’s in franchise history.

Finishing the season up against the same team they opened the year with, the Suns went from a veteran-laden team with an amalgamation of rookie and sophomore players sprinkled throughout the rotation, to a full-out tank job that included the benching or trading of most veterans, and shoving the youngsters into the starting or first-off-the-bench rotation. The season peaked with an amazing 70-point performance by Devin Booker, and bottomed-out with a franchise-tying record 13-game losing streak.

A team never expected to make the playoffs, the Suns have found a way to both compete and improve over the final three weeks of the season, losing more than winning, but remaining competitive none-the-less. Suns fans are undoubtedly looking forward to next season based even off of only the past few (exciting) games.

The Suns and Kings wrapup a season series that the Sacramento Kings have generally dominated so far. The only victory for the Suns coming on February 3 when Devin Booker nailed the second of four Phoenix game winning shots at the buzzer this season, one of the most exciting individual moments in years.

Devin Booker had somewhere else to be. #GameOver pic.twitter.com/7WsgFSo9Hy
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) March 12, 2017

The Sacramento Kings entered this season with fringe playoff aspirations and kicked the schedule off with a beat down of the Suns in Phoenix. Unfortunately for Kings fans the team never really turned one individual win into many and are two games away from wrapping up their eleventh consecutive season under .500.

Literally during the All-Star Game post-game press conference superstar center DeMarcus Cousins was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans as the Kings cut ties with the best player they had had on their roster since Chris Webber. Since that trade the Kings are 7-16 for a 30.4% winning percentage, a stark drop-off from the 42.1% they held prior to the blockbuster trade.

Phoenix’s magic number to clinch the worst record in the Western Conference is one.

If the Suns lose to the Kings they will guarantee sole possession of the second worst record in the league ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers. If they defeat the Kings, then the Lakers need to only win one of their final two games to secure the position for Phoenix. If the Suns win and the Lakers lose both of their final two games then the two teams will be tied for the worst record in the West and second worst in the league, splitting the number of ping-pong ball combinations 50/50.

Three Interesting Facts

Phoenix Suns

1. The Suns have had this quirk of the schedule before (beginning and ending a season against the same team) but not since the 2002-03 season against the Seattle SuperSonics, losing both games. They have had this occur on five other occasions, including Seattle in back-to-back seasons, including Golden State in 1984-85 (W/W), San Diego in 1982-83 (W/W) Seattle in 1974-75 (W/L), Seattle in 1973-74 (W/L), and San Diego in 1969-70 (W/W).

2. The Suns are below .500 at 2-3 in their past five seasons on the schedule’s final regular season game. However they are well above .500 at 31-17 all-time.

3. Currently allowing 113.1 points per game on defense, .6 ahead of the Brooklyn Nets all but assuring that they will lead the league in the category. If they finish with a defensive average of at least 113.0 points it will be the first time the franchise has allowed at least 113.0 since 1987-88. In order to avoid a 113 point season average the Suns would have to hold the Kings to 93 points tonight (they have not held a team to 93 points or below since January 3). In the first two seasons in franchise history the Suns allowed over 120 points a game. Since then, their worst defensive scoring average came in 1986-87 when that team allowed 113.5. For this season’s Suns to tie 113.5, they would need to allow Sacramento to score 147 points. To reach 113.6, they would need to allow 152 points. Granted with DeMarcus Cousins, the Kings did hang 142 points on the Suns on January 2 last season.

Sacramento Kings

More from Valley of the Suns

1. As mentioned above, the Sacramento Kings have suffered on the court since the trade of DeMarcus Cousins. More specifically, prior to the trade the Kings scored 103.2 points per game while allowing 105.6 on defense. Since then, however, they have scored 101.6 points per game, while allowing a much higher 108.9.

2. Like Phoenix, in their last five regular season conclusions the Kings are 2-3. Unlike the Suns, since moving to Sacramento from Kansas City in 1985-86, the Kings are 10-21.

3. They might be the Kings of Sacramento, but they are far from basketball royalty. In 69 years in the NBA (including this season), the Kings have been below .500 44 times, 63.7% of the time. The Kings have only had a regular season record at or above 61.0% (50 wins in an 82-game season) 11 times – 5 times in the last 50 years, all from 2000-05.