Game Preview: Suns prepare for major test against balanced Houston Rockets

Who: Phoenix Suns (2-5) vs. Houston Rockets (7-2)

When: 7:00 pm Arizona Time

Where: Mortgage Matchup Center — Phoenix, Arizona

Watch: Suns+, 3TV/AZFS

Listen: KMVP 98.7

The Houston Rockets come to town on Saturday night for the first of two visits to Phoenix this season, with the second scheduled for early February. And they arrive as one of the best teams in the NBA. The statistics are staggering, the production is elite, and the way they’re doing it is something to envy.

Houston is playing connected basketball on both ends of the floor, with Fred VanVleet’s return helping stabilize a team that, despite finishing as the fifth seed in the Western Conference last season, often felt like it was…