Phoenix Suns: 5 Positives From Brutal Season Opener

3. Opening Night Flukes

The Suns had plenty of reason to be amped for their season opener, which is probably why every minute leading up to the end result was so excruciating to watch.

A team that seemed committed to defense gave up 111 points to 37-year-old Dirk Nowitzki‘s aging Mavs. A young backcourt that had so much potential was outplayed by Deron Williams and Raymond Felton. A group that was supposed to be better from downtown converted only 25 percent of their threes.

You never want to find out the Kool-Aid you’re drinking came from a cult party, but that’s exactly what the season opener was like for the Phoenix faithful.

But as much as the Suns have a LOT of things to work on before they get to where they thought they were, a lot of Wednesday night’s disappointing performance can be chalked up to a few opening night flukes.

Are Bledsoe and Knight really going to get consistently outplayed by guys like D-Will and Felton over the course of an 82-game season? Are the Suns really going to commit 19 first half fouls that force Hornacek to turn to his bench so early? Will opening night jitters and thoughts of revenge games really bother the Suns to the point of being overaggressive every night?

There’s no question that the Suns were a little antsy to kick off the 2015-16 season. This was a team they were supposed to beat, and it was their chance to show the fan base that all the preseason positivity was warranted. When the Mavs socked them in the jaw, a few missed shots quickly gave way to careless errors, defensive gambles and way too many fouls.

“That first half, we had a lot of opportunities,” Hornacek said. “Part of our aggressiveness was probably taken away by all those fouls they called in the first quarter.”

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T.J. Warren had to sub in for P.J. Tucker three and a half minutes into the first quarter because Tucker had already picked up two fouls. Markieff Morris and Tyson Chandler quickly picked up two fouls and were benched for most of the second quarter when they picked up their third fouls.

Keef played only 11 minutes on the night because he had five fouls in that limited span. Chandler only had three fouls in his 17 minutes, but he was a -23 for the game and finished with a measly three points and six rebounds. Even Alex Len, who replaced Chandler, had to be benched in the first half thanks to two quick fouls.

The Suns’ early foul trouble robbed the starters of any sort of comfort level, which sucked the team dry of its defensive aggression and translated into a 21-5 run for the Mavs to start the third quarter.

Are these things concerning? Yes. But are they unfixable or likely to continue throughout the course of an 82-game season? Definitely not. The Suns’ lack of discipline led to fouls that took them out of their rhythm, but when you add up all the opening night flukes, it’s too early to worry about this game — horrific though it may have been.

“The only positive is when you get smacked in the face like this, you’ve got to address some things,” Tyson Chandler said.

Next: No. 2