Phoenix Suns to be without key pieces against Pelicans

The Phoenix Suns will face off against the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night, in their first game since their dominant win over the Los Angeles Lakers earlier in the week.

Although it is a ways away from now, the Suns are heading into this matchup at 16-13. The seventh seed, which would be suitable for the play-in tournament, has started the season proving doubters wrong largely thanks to the addition of Dillon Brooks, notable returners in All-Star Devin Booker and Grayson Allen, and the team's resilience playing without injured guard Jalen Green.

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However, the team will have to keep the train rolling, but will be without two of those four guys mentioned, as Allen and, of course, Green have both officially been ruled out of this matchup.

For Allen, this will be the fourth straight game he has missed due to a right knee injury, and he has had difficulty being available overall, with this being his 12th missed game of the season.

When Allen has been out there for Phoenix, he is averaging 16 points per game on 43 percent shooting from the field while dishing out four assists per game.

Availability has also been a huge problem for Green, with the guard having only 30 minutes played all season, thanks to a right hamstring strain that kept him out of the preseason and the first eight games before he made his debut against the Clippers.

In that game, the young guard had 29 points, knocking in six threes, before re-aggravating the injury in the very next game versus the Clippers two days later.

The team also received the unfortunate news earlier this week that Green is expected to miss another two to three weeks due to the injury.

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