Portland @ Phoenix preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 12, 2019 ) Phoenix 134, Portland 118

The Phoenix Suns traveled south of the border over the weekend but couldn’t find a way out of their funk while falling for the 10th time in the last 14 games. The Suns will try to get things right when they host the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday.

Phoenix dropped a 121-119 overtime decision to the San Antonio Spurs in Mexico City on Saturday after falling at home to the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday and are starting to feel the pressure of the mounting losses. "We're fighting for something that hasn't been accomplished in a long time in Phoenix," Suns point guard Ricky Rubio told reporters, referring to the team’s playoff drought that stretches back to the 2009-10 season. "The last two games, it felt like, we lost the game." The Trail Blazers are struggling with losses in three of the last four games and dropped the opener of the two-game road trip with a 114-99 setback at Denver on Thursday. "They were very comfortable," Portland guard CJ McCollum told reporters. "They got corner 3s, they got wing 3s, they got catch-and-shoot 3s, they got transition 3s. They got whatever they wanted."

TV: 9 p.m. ET, NBCS Northwest (Portland), FS Arizona (Phoenix)

ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (10-16): Portland center Hassan Whiteside scored a career-high 33 points on 15-of-21 shooting and knocked down his first 3-pointer of the season while adding 11 rebounds and four blocked shots on Thursday. The veteran big man is averaging 20.2 points on 70.3 percent shooting, 12.5 rebounds and 3.2 blocks during a six-game double-double streak. "I've got a coach playing me," Whiteside told reporters of his recent uptick in production. "Coach (has) been ... letting me play out there and my teammates are trusting me."

ABOUT THE SUNS (11-14): Phoenix was without star guard Devin Booker (forearm) on Saturday and will have to get through one more game without center Deandre Ayton, who will serve the final game of a 25-game suspension for violating the league's drug policy on Monday. Booker is day-to-day and Mikal Bridges managed five points on 1-of-3 shooting in 32 minutes while starting in his place on Saturday. Picking up the slack was Rubio, who scored a season-high 25 points against the Spurs while handing out 13 assists for his fourth double-double in the last five games.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Suns F Dario Saric matched a season-high with 17 rebounds and scored 19 points on Saturday.

2. Trail Blazers rookie SF Nassir Little (back) sat out Thursday and is day-to-day.

3. Portland owns a 10-game winning streak in the series.

PREDICTION: Suns 120, Trail Blazers 114