The Phoenix Suns are mired in a seven-game losing streak as they arrive in Houston for a Thursday night game against a Rockets team fighting for its playoff life.
Houston (38-40) fell 88-86 at Dallas on Wednesday, falling two games behind the seventh-place Mavericks and one behind eighth-place Utah in the Western Conference playoff race. James Harden scored 26 and Dwight Howard had 14 and 16 rebounds for his 37th double-double.
"We all know how difficult it is, how important this game was," Harden said. "It's not rocket science."
They have a favorable remaining schedule consisting solely of losing teams, beginning with Thursday night's game against the Suns (20-58). The game can be seen on FOX Sports Arizona Plus and FOX Sports GO, starting at 4:30 p.m.
The Rockets hold the two-team tiebreaker over the Jazz thanks to a superior conference record, and Utah has difficult contests left with the Los Angeles Clippers and Dallas. If the Jazz falter once, the Rockets can get in by sweeping their final four games against Phoenix, the Los Angeles Lakers, Minnesota and Sacramento.
Houston has taken seven of the last eight meetings with Phoenix, including two this season despite Harden shooting 28.6 percent and totaling 44 points. For the season, he's shooting 43.4 percent and averaging 28.6 points.
The Suns opened a three-game road trip with a 103-90 loss to Atlanta on Tuesday. They built a 12-point halftime lead, only to get outscored 59-34 the rest of the way.
"We were talking a lot, communicating a lot. That stopped in the second half," rookie guard Devin Booker said. "It's something we've been working on all year, trying to put two halves together. But I think we're getting a lot better. I think we're showing a lot of fight."
Booker matched his second-best scoring effort with 34 points.
The Suns are last in the league with 17.1 turnovers per game and are allowing an NBA-worst average of 20.3 points off those miscues. Houston has totaled 67 points off 45 turnovers in the season series, with a 63-31 edge in fast-break points.
