Paul Coro

azcentral sports

Basketball moves fast and Suns coach Earl Watson does too.

The Suns’ season-opening home loss to Sacramento prompted him to declare a new second unit after the 113-94 blowout Wednesday night.

Suns rookies Tyler Ulis and Dragan Bender will replace Leandro Barbosa and P.J. Tucker in the bench unit that will keep Brandon Knight, Marquese Chriss and Alex Len.

“To me, they play with the most heart,” Watson said. “Heart gets rewarded.”

BOX SCORE: Kings 113, Suns 94

Ulis, 20, and Bender, 18, were rare bright spots in a game that the Suns trailed by as much as 26 and lost by 19, the largest season-opening margin of defeat in Suns franchise history.

Ulis was aggressive defensively with ball pressure to be part of a 20-4 run that included eight of Bender’s 10 points in 12 minutes.

“We need that energy,” Watson said. “We need those steals, deflections and we need that purpose. So those guys kind of earned minutes now.”

Ulis entered the game midway through the third quarter. Two seconds later, Kings point guard Garrett Temple had traveled with Ulis unexpectedly pressuring him. He pushed the tempo, disrupted the Kings’ offense, hit a pump-fake jump shot, defended Ty Lawson well and set up teammates.

“I just tried to come in and change the game as much as possible,” Ulis said. “I knew they wanted us to get into guys defensively so I tried to pressure the ball, get steals and making things happen in transition.”

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After training camp and preseason, Bender appeared that he might need to be eased into regular-season action but he looked like a gamer under the big lights Wednesday night with 12 second-half minutes.

Once Bender entered the game, the Suns became the first team in NBA history to play three teenagers in the same season. Devin Booker remains 19 until Sunday and Chriss is also 19.

“Our young guys got us in the game,” Watson said. “So that’s not an excuse. Our veterans have to come. They have to play with the same passion. So that’s what we have to understand.”

Bender made his first three shots with a cutting layup, a transition banked 3-pointer and a more conventional spot-up 3 from the side. He has been working diligently on adding arc to his jump shot.

“We’re young guys and the only thing we need to do is put energy on the floor,” Bender said. “That’s what we did. We put energy in and started changing things on the court.”

Barbosa, signed as a free agent for his third Suns stint, struggled in the preseason with 32.4 percent shooting from the field. He made one of nine 3-point tries and then went scoreless in three minutes with two fouls Wednesday night.

Tucker was cleared for game action after Tuesday’s practice but is not sharp yet and has not had much live basketball conditioning. He played six minutes Wednesday but did not record a stat, except for a 3-second violation.

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Reach Paul Coro atpaul.coro@arizonarepublic.com or (60) 444-2470. Follow him at twitter.com/paulcoro.