The Suns had a very clear game plan on both ends of the court. On offense, they ran a series of pick and rolls and pick and pops, either resulting in an open jumper or someone wide open at the basket. On defense, they clogged the paint and pressured our ballhandlers. It was simple and effective. The Kings couldn't get any kind of run going offensively, and couldn't manage to string more than a couple stops together at a time.

There seemed to be a barrier at around the 8-9 point mark tonight that Sacramento couldn't get under. The team would cut the lead to 8 or 9 points, get a couple stops, and either miss their shots on the other end or turn it over, allowing Phoenix time to recover and regroup and hit their own shots.

The closest thing the Kings got to any momentum was in the 3rd quarter when Marcus Thornton hit back-to-back three pointers. Unfortunately, those were sandwiched in between three straight Marcin Gortat layups, as the Kings continued to get killed by the Pick and Roll.

The Kings looked spent tonight and did not play well. The Suns are better than their record, and have played particularly well on the road as of late. One thing that I have begun to notice is that the Kings have done a much better job this year when playing teams that have one or two main scoring threats that they can focus on, but can't seem to beat the teams with no clear cut go-to option, like the Suns.

The team will have a couple days to regroup as they begin a tough 6 game East Coast road trip, starting Valentine's Day in Chicago.