36-9 first quarter dooms Suns in loss to the Kings

Buddy Hield scored 20 points, De’Aaron Fox had 16 points and seven assists and the Sacramento Kings coasted to a 122-105 win over the Suns on Tuesday night.

Seven Kings scored in double figures, including Bogdan Bogdanovic off the bench with 14 points. Sacramento has won two straight after losing its previous three.

Rookie De’Anthony Melton led Phoenix with a career-high 21 points. Trevor Ariza and Josh Jackson scored 14 each for the Suns, who fell behind 36-9 after the first quarter. Phoenix has lost six straight and nine of 10.

Playing without leading scorer Devin Booker, who has missed two of the last three games, and forward TJ Warren, out for the third straight game with right ankle soreness, the Suns couldn’t overcome 3-for-17 shooting in the first 12 minutes.

The Suns missed their first 12 3-point attempts. Sacramento center Willie Cauley-Stein had four steals in the game’s first four minutes.

The Kings ended the period on Bogdanovic’s layup with 1.4 seconds remaining. That brought boos from the crowd as the Suns set a season low for scoring in a quarter.

Fans cheered derisively when the Suns reached double figures at the 9:37 mark of the second period.

Hield’s third 3 of the first half gave the Kings a 46-13 lead at the eight-minute mark. Melton made the Suns’ first 3-pointer of the night with 6:20 left in the second quarter, and when Ariza flew in for a fast-break dunk with 4:42 to go in the half, the score was 53-24.

The Kings took a 68-40 lead into halftime, with Hield’s 18 points leading the way.

Phoenix got as close as 22 points in the third quarter, 81-59, but the Kings responded with an 13-2 run and took a 99-67 lead into the fourth.

Up next

Suns: At the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday.