Basketball: Kings fall to Suns

At the US Airways Center, Jason Richardson scored 14 of his game-high 26 points in the second quarter and Phoenix's defense held the Kings to 34 second half points in the 104-88 win. Sacramento led by as many as 10 points in the second quarter and held a three-point advantage at halftime thanks to Beno Udrih's three-pointer with 16.2 seconds left before the half. In the third quarter, the Suns outscored the Kings, 10-4, to take a 67-62 lead with 4:49 left. Phoenix then turned a six-point lead into a 13-point edge to start the fourth quarter. Sacramento managed to trim the Suns' lead down to eight, but the Suns responded and pushed the lead back to double digits. Carl Landry led the Kings with 18 points and Udrih tallied 17 points off the bench. Tyreke Evans and Donte Greene each scored 16 points. Jason Thompson grabbed a team-high nine rebounds. Phoenix's Amar'e Stoudemire (19 points, a game-high 14 boards) and Steve Nash (11 points, 17 assists) each recorded double-doubles. The Kings outshot the Suns from the field, 47.3 to 46.1 percent, but were outrebounded, 36 to 49. The Suns also crashed the offensive glass for 20 rebounds. Phoenix won the season series against the Kings, winning three of the four meetings.