Cleveland continues a five-game Western Conference road swing on Friday at Phoenix in a rare position with three consecutive losses.
The Eastern Conference-leading Cavaliers (56-13) dropped the first two games of this tour on back-to-back nights, falling to the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday, 132-119, and Sacramento Kings on Wednesday, 123-119.
Coupled with a 108-103 home loss last Sunday to Orlando, Cleveland has matched its longest losing streak of the season. The skid has not put too much of a dent in the Cavaliers’ edge in the East, though. With three straight wins, the reigning NBA champion Boston Celtics have pulled to within six games.
Cleveland has, however, fallen a game behind West-leading Oklahoma City for the best record in the league and potential home-court advantage in a hypothetical Finals matchup.
“We’ve been having slippage on the defensive side,” Evan Mobley said following Wednesday’s loss. The 132 points Cleveland surrendered on Tuesday is tied for the Cavaliers’ fifth-highest yield this season, while on Wednesday, Sacramento put up 76 second-half points.
“We just get complacent when we get up these last few games. I feel like we’ve got to do a better job of honing in and getting a bigger lead,” Mobley added, saying Cleveland needs to stop “thinking we can outscore everyone.”
The Cavaliers boast the NBA’s highest-scoring offense at 122.4 points per game, and rank 11th in scoring defense at 112 points allowed per contest. They played without second-leading scorer Darius Garland (20.9 ppg) on Wednesday for planned rest.
Cleveland should be at full strength against Phoenix, which has started a critical five-game homestand on the right foot.
The Suns (33-37) won their third game in the last four and second straight to open their homestand with a 127-121 defeat of Chicago. Phoenix’s recent surge — and ongoing struggles for Dallas — moved the Suns into a tie with the Mavericks for 10th place in the West and the conference’s last play-in spot.
Cleveland is the first of three significant challenges for Phoenix against Eastern opponents, with Milwaukee and Boston visiting the Valley of the Sun next week.
Devin Booker scored 41 points in Wednesday’s win — his fourth game of 40-plus points this season. Collin Gillespie scored just four points, but the guard is starting while on a two-way contract and is quickly finding an integral role in the Phoenix lineup since working his way into the rotation over the past week, coach Mike Budenholzer said.
“We’re always talking about different combinations, different ways to use guys,” Budenholzer told the Arizona Republic of utilizing Gillespie more down the stretch. “He’s pesky, he gets up in, he picks up full court, gets on the boards.”
Gillespie finished with seven assists, five rebounds and a steal in Wednesday’s win. He is integrating into a backcourt rotation with Tyus Jones, who is averaging 10.4 points and 5.7 assists per game, and scoring spark plug Grayson Allen, who is putting up 10.7 points per game coming off the bench.
Phoenix aims to tighten up its perimeter defense in response to allowing 115.8 points per game, ninth-most in the NBA. Against Cleveland, the Suns’ guards face a backcourt with 24.1-point per game scorer Donovan Mitchell and a variety of capable complementary options.
Among them is Ty Jerome, who has scored in double figures in the last four straight contests.
