Suns Waiting On Carter's Arrival Get Ready For Griffin, Clippers

(AP) -- While the Phoenix Suns continue to await the debut of their newly acquired eight-time All-Star, they might not be too concerned about potentially facing the Los Angeles Clippers without him.

With Vince Carter's status still uncertain, the Suns will look for their 10th consecutive victory over the Clippers when the teams meet at Staples Center on Sunday.

Carter, acquired along with Mickael Pietrus and Marcin Gortat in a six-player trade with Orlando last Saturday, has yet to take the court for the Suns due to a sore left knee.

His scoring presence might not be missed Sunday considering Phoenix has won nine straight against the Clippers, winning the last seven by an average of 20.4 points while scoring 126.1 per game on 55.4 percent shooting. The Suns led the lone matchup this season by 25 before winning 116-108 on Nov. 26.

It was a different story for Phoenix (13-15) on Thursday night, getting held to its lowest scoring output of the season in a 95-83 loss to Miami.

The Suns remain surprisingly upbeat despite losing six of eight.

"I think we should be optimistic," Steve Nash said. "We've got to continue to get tougher. Making shots would have helped - we had a lot of great looks. We are going to need a little more time, but I think we are capable of winning games in the meantime."

Pietrus and Gortat each played his first game in a Suns uniform but combined for just six points on 3-of-11 shooting.

Jared Dudley set a career high for a second straight game with 33 points, going 7 of 10 from 3-point range and also grabbing 12 rebounds. He scored 27 three days earlier in a loss at San Antonio.

"Nobody is really thinking about me, (they're) thinking about Steve and Grant (Hill), guys like that, so if I can keep hitting shots like that it will be big for us," said Dudley, who has joined the starting lineup for all three games since the Carter trade.

Nash, who had four points with 18 assists Thursday, has averaged 8.7 points on 6-of-24 shooting in his last three meetings with the Clippers but reached double figures in assists each time.

Los Angeles (8-22) had a season-best three-game winning streak snapped with a 97-92 loss to Houston on Wednesday night despite Blake Griffin's 24 points and 18 rebounds.

Griffin has posted double-doubles in 17 consecutive games, averaging 24.2 points and 13.8 boards.

"He's like (Evander) Holyfield. He's the real deal," Houston's Shane Battier said. "I was impressed. If I could buy stock in Blake Griffin, I would put a fair amount of money into it. He plays fearlessly."

The Clippers shot 40.2 percent from the field against the Rockets and dropped to 1-19 when hitting under 49 percent. Phoenix is letting opponents shoot a Western Conference-worst 48.7 percent.

Eric Gordon ranks among the league leaders with 23.7 points per game and scored 32 in the first meeting with the Suns. He's made nine of his last 15 3-point attempts, but has been held under 20 points in four of the last five games.

Los Angeles has limited opponents to an average of 92.8 points over its last nine games.

The Suns have been held under 100 in five of their last eight, something that happened four times through their first 20 games.