Photo: Bill Haber/AP

No Steve Nash. No Shaquille O’Neal. Another loss.

The Phoenix Suns lost their third straight game on Wednesday night, 104-91 at the hands of the New Orleans Hornets. Chris Paul torched Phoenix for 24 points and 15 assists, while Peja Stojakovic hit for 24 and David West contributed 23 points and 14 rebounds.

Nash sat out the game with flu-like symptoms, but is with the team, and is expected to play tonight vs. the Dallas Mavericks. In his 5 seasons with the Suns, Nash has missed a total of 20 games because of injury, illness or suspension. The Suns are 5-15 without him. In 5 years, the team has failed to find a suitable backup point guard for such occasions. They’ve tried Smush Parker, Marcus Banks, Leandro Barbosa, Sean Singletary and Goran Dragic with no success. At this point, no Nash means no chance for the Suns.

Shaquille O’Neal also sat out on Wednesday. Head coach Terry Porter opted to rest Shaq in the first game of back-to-backs, and he should play tonight against Dallas as well. The Suns are 1-2 this year without Shaq, and they certainly could have used him against the Hornets, who outrebounded the Suns 46-30 on Wednesday.

I’m not sure why Porter opted to rest Shaq on the first night of back-to-backs, knowing that Nash was under the weather. Granted, the Suns realistically were seeking a split of the two games, and they match up much better against Dallas, than against New Orleans, who is 6-0 against the Suns since the beginning of last season.

Other notes…

• Even with Steve Nash out, rookie point guard Goran Dragic didn’t get the sweats off on Wednesday night. Leandro Barbosa got the start at the one, and played 39 minutes, while rookie Sean Singletary played 7 minutes off the bench. It’s beginning to look like Dragic could be headed to the Iowa Energy in the D-League when swingman Alando Tucker returns from an injury.
• This is the Suns’ first regular season 3-game losing streak since February of the 2006-07 season. The Suns dropped consecutive games to Atlanta, Chicago and Seattle. Steve Nash missed all three games with injury.

December 4th, 2008 9:23 AM

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