Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Phoenix Suns Watch FREE Streaming Live Online NBA Basketball from Phoenix at 10:00 PM ET
A brutal four-game stretch has Phoenix on the outside of the playoff picture, and a road-heavy slate over the final five weeks makes it imperative that the Suns take advantage of their few remaining home dates.
Having Eric Bledsoe back could provide a major boost.
Bledsoe is expected to play for the first time in 2014 on Wednesday night when the Suns host a fading Cavs team that's beginning its own daunting stretch.
Phoenix (36-27) went 16-8 with Bledsoe in the lineup -- and 3-3 without him -- through the season's first two months, and it won 10 of its final 12 games of 2013 but lost him to a knee injury Dec. 30.
He had surgery Jan. 10 and began a two-month rehab process that saw him return to five-on-five scrimmages in early March. He targeted Wednesday's game against the Cavaliers (24-40) to return, and while coach Jeff Hornacek expects him to come off the bench initially, Bledsoe doesn't expect to be working his way into game shape.
"Full throttle when I come back," said Bledsoe, who was averaging 18.0 points and combined with Goran Dragic to form one of the NBA's highest-scoring backcourts. "I'm going to stay aggressive, stay in that same mindset I had at the start of the season."
Phoenix could certainly use a spark after going 3-6 in its previous nine games to fall from sixth in the Western Conference and behind eighth-place Memphis, which holds the tiebreaker over the Suns. They trailed by as many as 25 in the third quarter Monday against the Clippers in a 112-105 loss, their second to the Pacific Division leaders in a four-game stretch that also saw them face Oklahoma City and Golden State.
Only seven of the Suns' final 19 games are at US Airways Center, but their first opponent is in an even worse slump -- and it's not about to get any easier. Cleveland's 107-97 home loss to New York on Saturday was its seventh in nine games.
The Cavaliers are five games behind eighth-place Atlanta in the loss column and now begin a six-game stretch that starts on the road against Phoenix, Golden State and the Clippers before they return home to face Miami, Oklahoma City and Houston.
"We need to play well, obviously, with where we're sitting," coach Mike Brown said to the team website. "So it'll be good to get out and get on the road and try to come together and get some wins. I'm looking forward to it; I think the guys are too."
The game will be live streaming free online at nbalivestreamfree.net/
