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INDIANAPOLIS -- Brandon Knight and the Phoenix Suns backups outlasted the Indiana Pacers on Friday night.Knight scored 17 points and helped the bench players combine for an NBA season-best 78 points in the Suns 116-96 victory over the Pacers.Jared Dudley added 16 points, Alan Williams had 15 points, and Devin Booker and Leandro Barbosa 13 each. The Suns improved to 4-9 with their second road victory.Every day is like a blank canvas for us, coach Earl Watson said. The good thing is, were the artists of that blank canvas. The mindset in getting our guys to learn to bring it every night is the process, the journey for us.Myles Turner led the Pacers with 22 points, and Jeff Teague had 21 points and seven assists.We went through the motions. We were on our heels, Indiana coach Nate McMillan said. It was bad out there. The game should fire you up. When they toss the ball up, you should be ready to go and (on Friday) we werent.The Pacers rallied to take their first lead with 7:46 left in the third quarter on Turners basket. But the Suns pulled ahead again, with Knight scoring all 12 points of his points in the period in a 2 1/2-minute stretch. Phoenix outscored Indiana 27-14 in the fourth.Basketball is a game of runs and we were able to get stops eventually, Knight said. They started making a lot of shots and when we got consecutive stops, it led to us getting baskets.Pacers All-Star Paul George did not play for the second time in four games. Hes battling soreness in his left ankle after turning his ankle in Indianas overtime loss at Philadelphia on Nov. 11. Hes scheduled for an MRI on Saturday to assess the severity of the injury.TIP-INS:Phoenix: The game was the fourth back-to-back Phoenix has played through 13 games ... Eric Bledsoe and Alex Len were both called for technical fouls for arguing foul calls with official Dan Crawford. ... Phoenix is 2-1 against the Eastern Conference. ... The Suns have won 16 of the last 22 meetings with the Pacers and nine of the last 12 at Indiana.Indiana: Rodney Stuckey played for the first time since opening night after missing 10 games with strained right hamstring. ... CJ Miles left the game with three minutes left in the first quarter with a left knee injury and did not return to the game ... The contest was the fourth in a stretch for the Pacers that has them playing eight of nine games at home.REMEMBERING HOOSIERS:Hoosiers screenwriter Angelo Pizzo and director David Anspaugh, along with actors who portrayed fictional Hickory High School in the 1986 basketball classic -- including Maris Valainis, who played Jimmy Chitwood -- were in attendance. The Pacers first Hickory Night coincides with the 30th anniversary of the movies release.BLUEGRASS STATE SUPPORTWith four Kentucky products on the roster, the Suns had a contingency of about 75 fans cheering behind their bench Friday. Lexington is roughly 190 miles from Indianapolis, and the Kentucky fans watched solid performances from Knight, Booker, Bledsoe and rookie Tyler Ulis.UP NEXT:Phoenix visits Philadelphia on Saturday in the fourth game of a six-game trip.Indiana is on the road Sunday at Oklahoma City, then hosts defending Western Conference champion Golden State on Monday. Air Force 1 False .Y. -- Sabres forward Drew Stafford has witnessed plenty of turmoil during his eight seasons in Buffalo. Nike Presto x Off White Shop .R. Smith realized how easily basketball can be taken from him, and he wasnt going to take his place in the NBA for granted anymore. http://www.airforce1justdoit.it/sb-scarpe-scontate.html . The phone hearing is scheduled for 4:30pm et/1:30pm pt. Winchester, who was not penalized for the hit, appeared to make contact with Kellys head early in the first period of Thursdays game in Boston. Nike Sb Scarpe . Their experience showed Tuesday as the No. 10 Badgers blunted a Saint Louis surge to win 63-57 and advance to face West Virginia in Wednesdays finals of the Cancun Challenge. Air Force 1 In Saldo . JOHNS, N. With free agency underway, the offseason is about to pick up steam. What are the big questions facing all 30 teams? Weve already covered the AL East, NL East,?AL Central,?NL Central?and AL West, and now were moving on to the National League West.Should they corral expenses or go for it financially?2016 record: 91-71Justin Turner, Kenley Jansen and Rich Hill are free agents, so why dont the big-money Dodgers just sign all of them at top dollar if they like them so much?Its the age-old question.If you really want to win, as some fans believe, you should just throw as much money as you can at the problem until it is solved. Yet if sustained success is the goal, development and nurturing young and talented prospects probably needs to come first. Once those young players show they are ready to deliver, then it would be time to spend money to fill any remaining holes.It is the way the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians are doing it. Both teams have established young cores and then attacked needs around that. The Houston Astros are another organization doing it the same way.All indications suggest the Dodgers are not going to continue to spend freely, and it is not because they dont want to win it all next year. They want to be in a position to win it multiple times for a long stretch.So the idea that Turner, Jansen and Hill all return seems to be a long shot. Its not impossible, but the money that it would take to bring them back does not fit with the strategy that seems to be developing.The challenge is that the Dodgers do not have an obvious replacement at third base, closer and No. 2 starter.Expect the Dodgers to have talented players in those three spots next season, with at least one of those players returning. Yet in developing the 2017 roster, the front office is likely to be more creative about it than just opening up the checkbook. -- Doug PadillaSo whos it going to be, Kenley Jansen or Aroldis Chapman?2016 record: 87-75We all know what happened: After owning the majors best record at the All-Star break -- yes, better than the Cubs -- they plummeted to 30-42 in the second half. The bullpen drew the brunt of the criticism, although the offense declined from 4.71 runs per game to 4.04. The Giants lost 12 games they were leading after seven innings and nine they led after eight, and we all know what happened in the ninth inning of Game 4 of the NL Division Series.The longtime trio of Santiago Casilla, Sergio Romo and Javier Lopez enters free agency, clearing up $20.5 million in payroll. Angel Pagan and Jake Peavy also come off the books, although other players are due increases. Still, the Giants should have $20-plus million to spend.Obviously, signing Jansen would have double value: Adding an elite closer while subtracting him from your division rival. But he and Chapman could end up getting close to $20 million per season, and the Giants may want to spend some of that money on an outfielder instead (Yoenis Cespedes would look nice in left field). Mark Melancon would be a cheaper option, although without the same dominance and more of a risk. -- David SchoenfieldAre they ready to make a push for contention?2016 record: 75-87The Rockies went 75-87, which for them qualifies as a good season. It was their best record since 2010, but also a sixth straight losing campaign. They actually got a game over .500 in early August before a late fade resulted in general manager Jeff Bridich firing Walt Weiss and hiring former Padres skipper Bud Black as the new manager.Black has a good reputation in baseball circles, but in nine seasons with the Padres he finished over .500 just twice and never made the playoffs, so its hard to even argue that he got the most out of the talent on hand. The one thing he was consistently pretty good at was building bullpens, and thats where the Rockies need a lot of help after finishing with an MLB-worst 5.13 bullpen ERA.Now, some of the advanced metrics say the pen wasnt as bad as the 5.13 ERA indicates -- it had a 4.35 FIP and ranked 21st in FanGraphs WAR. Still, its been a long time since the Rockies had a good pen, and because their starters rarely compile a lot of innings, they need a deep core of relievers.Id like to see the Rockies find a real first baseman. Theyve basically been faking the position for a decade now. Here is their annual ranking among the 30 teams in wins above average at first base.dddddddddddd Other than 2014, when Justin Morneau won a batting title, its been a sorry lot for the most part:2016: 24 2015: 26 2014: 8 2013: 28 2012: 23 2011: 11 2010: 25 2009: 14 2008: 19 2007: 4Theres been talk of Carlos Gonzalez playing first base, but that just opens up a gaping hole in the outfield (let alone if they shop Charlie Blackmon for pitching help). The Rockies always overrate their offense. How about adding Edwin Encarnacion?in Coors Field? -- David SchoenfieldHow much of a difference will the return of A.J. Pollock make?2016 record: 69-93Lets offer one kind word to the old regime of Tony La Russa and Dave Stewart -- if A.J. Pollock doesnt fracture his elbow in spring training, Mike Hazen might not be the general manager this winter. Losing Pollock hurt the Snakes offense last year, but it may well have killed the D-backs on defense. From 2015 to 2016, Arizona dropped from plus-60 defensive runs saved to minus-18 -- a nearly eight-win swing on defensive value alone.Maybe putting all of that on Pollocks absence is a stretch, but were talking about losing a premium glove (plus-14 DRS in 2015, which helped him earn a Gold Glove) on a team saddled with dubious defenders like Yasmany Tomas and Jake Lamb. The D-backs delivered a .665 defensive efficiency, which wasnt just the worst in the NL last year, but among the worst team marks in MLB in any year since 1969. Robbie Rays NL-worst .355 BABIP or Shelby Millers career-worst .343 BABIP werent functions of bad luck on balls in play -- theyre symptoms of a porous defense in an already tough park for pitchers.Now Hazen has to determine how much a fully functioning Pollock might change the outlook on everything else hes inherited. A stronger defense will help make Ray, Miller, Archie Bradley and Patrick Corbin look good lined up behind Zack Greinke in the rotation. That might leave Hazen to ponder simpler winter shopping needs, like picking up a closer, and deciding whether or not moving Jean Segura back to shortstop would free them to pursue moving infield parts like Justin Turner or Luis Valbuena, or even go after a bat-first second baseman like Neil Walker. If those sound like the moves a contender might make, dont be shocked -- getting Pollock back as one of the best players in the league could help Hazen look very good, very fast. -- Christina KahrlCan they conjure up a starting rotation?2016 record: 68-94Thats the nuts-and-bolts issue for the Padres to sort out over the winter. Sure, you could also say they need a better closer than Brandon Maurer or somebody who can play shortstop, but sure-thing solutions are rare, expensive and probably outside the Padres reach, even with their considerable payroll flexibility. They could use a starting outfielder, but they may end up picking from among their current crew of Hunter Renfroe, Manuel Margot, Oswaldo Arcia, Travis Jankowski and Alex Dickerson.The other problem is that to stock their staff after their slow-motion teardown, they dont have much left to trade with -- assuming theres any trust left in the industry after general manager A.J. Preller got caught dealing damaged goods to both the Red Sox and Marlins last season, earning a rare front-office suspension.The best starter they have left, Tyson Ross, will have to show hes recovered from an Oct. 13 surgery on his shoulder to alleviate thoracic outlet syndrome after effectively losing the 2016 season to the injury. Hes only Padres property for one more year before free agency, and should they shop him, you can expect any interested party to be wary. After that, you get into hoping Colin Rea and Jarred Cosart are healthy, and wondering if theyll send Luis Perdomo down after letting last winters Rule 5 find take a beating in the big leagues.The one thing the Padres should have after trading away almost everyone of note is some money, plus Petcos reputation as a great place to pitch. So you can expect a number of veterans ready to accept a short-term deal equally receptive to any offer the Padres might make. This winters market is overstocked on middling starters looking for a new lease on life. A guy like Scott Feldman?might fit that profile; you might even get Jake Peavy or Andrew Cashner back in San Diego. -- Christina Kahrl ' ' '