Sacramento Kings vs Phoenix Suns Match Player Stats On Oct 23, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Oct 24, 2017

PHOENIX -- Marquese Chriss scored 19 points, and Mike James put the Suns ahead to stay on a basket with 14.1 seconds left as Phoenix overcame two tumultuous days to hang on for its first win, 117-115 over the Sacramento Kings on Monday.

The Suns led by as many as 22 points and were up by 11 with 3:08 to play in the game. However, five 3-pointers in the fourth quarter by Sacramento's Garrett Temple keyed a 14-3 run, and Kings rookie De'Aaron Fox tied the game at 112 on an 8-foot floater with 58 seconds left.

James, who had 18 points and seven assists in his first start in place of the departing Eric Bledsoe, hit a 5-foot bank shot to give the Suns the lead for good.

Temple had a chance to tie the game with 9.7 seconds left but missed the first of two free throws. He also missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer that would have won it.

Temple had 23 points, 16 of them in the fourth quarter. Fox had 19 and Skal Labissiere added 17 for the Kings (1-3), who fell down 22 points in the first quarter against the inspired Suns but fought their way back.

A day after Earl Watson was fired as head coach and hours after Bledsoe was sent home after tweeting that he no longer wanted to play for the Suns, Phoenix interim coach Jay Triano mixed lineups and found a spark from a team that started 0-3 with two losses of at least 40 points.

Devin Booker led the Suns (1-3) with 22 points. Both Chriss and James made their first starts of the year.

The Suns made 14 of their first 20 shots and outscored the Kings 32-10 over the first 10 minutes. Chriss, who had 14 points and 11 fouls in the first three games, had with 10 points and no fouls in his eight minutes Monday.

NOTES: Suns G Eric Bledsoe was sent home after a meeting general manager Ryan McDonough before Monday's shootaround. McDonough said it was likely Bledsoe had played his last game in Phoenix. Bledsoe tweeted "I Don't wanna be here" a few hours before the Suns fired coach Earl Watson on Sunday. ... The Kings had won six of the past seven games against the Suns. The lone Phoenix win came thanks to a buzzer-beater by Phoenix G Devin Booker on Feb. 3, 2017. ... The Sacramento bench outscored the Phoenix bench 78-45.