Knee pain again troubles Amaré

Raja Bell was back on the court practicing with his teammates Monday. But that doesn’t mean the Suns were intact for the end-of-practice scrimmage.

Marion focusing on shooting the ball, not his mouth

Read Jerry Brown's blog, Rim Shots

Amaré Stoudemire again felt stiffness and soreness in his troublesome knee and spent the end of the workout exercising with the trainers while his teammates pressed on.

As with Bell, Stoudemire said he expects to play tonight in the first of back-to-back meetings with the Kings — this one in Sacramento. But having to beg off another practice shows the Suns center is still day-to-day.

“Today I was a little sore but it’s normal. It’s not going to be 100 percent all the time,” he said. “I want to practice and play every day, but I’m going to be smart and cautious about the situation. I couldn’t quite get it going today, so I saw it as a day to exercise and get stronger.”

Phoenix coach Mike D’Antoni was surprised to find Stoudemire struggling. “I didn’t think anything was wrong, then we started and he couldn’t quite get through it,” he said.

Bell said he was “able to do what I wanted” in practice despite his troublesome ankle, but said his status would likely be decided at the morning shootaround. D’Antoni described Bell as “a little out of sorts” but expected him to play — although he might stick with Leandro Barbosa as a starter while Bell recuperates.

“Raja is our starter, he’s going to end up there … so don’t read anything into that,” he said.

PLAYING WITH BLOCKS

The Suns are going to be outrebounded most nights, but they usually have an edge on blocked shots, which along with steals are great catalysts for the Suns’ running game.

Phoenix averages 5.5 blocks per game — seventh in the league and 1.5 more than their opponent. Atlanta leads the league at 6.6 per game.

Stoudemire (17 blocks this season) had six against Chicago, Shawn Marion (15) had four in Houston.

The Suns are also improving at what has become a Phoenix trademark — turning an opponent’s basket around into a fast-break layup. That was evident in the Rockets game, when the Suns nullified a potentially momentum-changing basket in seconds.

“Blocks, steals and loose balls … we have a high rate of conversion when we get those and get moving. As our defense gets better, our blocks will go up,” D’Antoni said. “And the quick baskets psychologically hurt people when they score and they can’t celebrate at all because we’re already laying it up, that’s tough to swallow.”

BONUS SHOTS

D’Antoni said he didn’t mind playing back-to-back games against the same foe as long as the Suns played the road game first.

“I think it’s harder the other way around, but I’ll tell you afterward if I’m right,” he said.

When asked if he expects his team to go on a long winning streak now that some of the early-season kinks have been worked out, D’Antoni said, “I’ll be disappointed if we don’t win every game because we have that ability. We know that’s not possible, but we should be disappointed with losing any game, anywhere. We’re a better team than we have been.”

Suns guard Marcus Banks is dishing out assists for a second straight Thanksgiving. On Wednesday at the Casino Arizona Pavilion, Banks will host his feast and hand out precooked holiday meals to selected Valley families from Phoenix Day — an organization designed to help the less fortunate. Children from the families will receive T-shirts, Suns goodie bags and other treats.