Kings 113, Suns 106
PHOENIX -- Sacramento center DeMarcus Cousins collected his second double-double in as many nights with 19 points and 12 rebounds, and the Kings completed a back-to-back sweep of the Phoenix Suns with a 113-106 victory Wednesday.
Kings forward Jason Thompson scored six points of his 10 points during an 11-0 run early in the third quarter. Guard Isaiah Thomas had a team-high 23 points for the Kings, who won two of their first nine games before beating the Suns 107-104 in Sacramento on Tuesday and duplicating the feat at US Airways Center a night later.
Guard Goran Dragic had a game-high 31 points for the Suns, who played the past two games without their leading scorer, guard Eric Bledsoe, who sat out with a bruised left shin. The Suns collected a season-high 15 3-pointers, but they weren't nearly as good inside the arc (23-for-53).
Phoenix guard Gerald Green made six 3-pointers and finished with 23 points, but he didn't score after hitting a 3-pointer 38 seconds into the third period. After that basket, the Kings went on their game-turning run.
The Suns (5-6) lost their fourth consecutive game and fell under .500 for the first time this season.
The Kings (4-7) led by as many as 20 in the fourth quarter at 88-68, but the Suns rallied with a 20-7 run and moved within 95-88 on forward Marcus Morris' 3-pointer with 3:09 left to play. Dragic cut the lead to 102-96 on a layup with 1:15 left, but he fouled Sacramento guard Greivis Vasquez on a 3-point shot with the shot clock winding down on the next possession. Vasquez hit all three free throws to seal the game.
Neither team led by more than four points in a first quarter that featured seven lead changes. Dragic had 11 points on 5-for-8 shooting, and Cousins had 10 points and four rebounds for Sacramento with six of his points coming from the line.
The Kings opened the second quarter on a 13-4 run, with Thomas' 3-pointer pushing the Sacramento lead to 40-31 with 7:32 left. The Sacramento bench outscored Phoenix's reserves 22-11 in the first half, with Thomas and forward Patrick Patterson combining for 17.
Green scored 14 of Phoenix's final 19 points of the half, shaving a 10-point Kings lead to 55-50 at the half with seven points in the final 1:43. He hit his fifth 3-pointer of the half with 1.9 seconds left.
NOTES: Suns G Eric Bledsoe said his left shin contusion was improved but not enough to play Wednesday. He hopes to play Friday in Charlotte when the Suns open a three-game road trip against the Bobcats. The Suns played without Bledsoe and G Goran Dragic in five of the first 11 games, but G Gerald Green stepped in as the starter and averaged 16.9 points in the past nine games. ... Kings C DeMarcus Cousins suffered a slight dislocation of his left shoulder in Tuesday's game but finished the win over the Suns and was back on the floor Wednesday. ... Phoenix's first five losses this season came by a total of 16 points, including two by three points (San Antonio Spurs and Sacramento), one by two points (Brooklyn Nets) and one by one point (Portland Trail Blazers). ... The Kings committed a season-high 21 turnovers against the Suns on Tuesday, but came into Wednesday's rematch tied for the fewest in the league at 13.1 per game. Sacramento gave the ball away just 11 times in Phoenix.
