Phoenix Suns: 5 Problem Areas That Must Be Addressed
1. Holding Leads And Late-Game Execution
Whether it’s because of Jeff Hornacek’s laid-back coaching style, the younger makeup of this team or some combination of the two, the Phoenix Suns have rapidly become notorious for blowing double-digit leads. We’re only going to go back to the Suns’ six-game road trip that began Nov. 29, and you can still see how often this team has built a lead only to completely waste it away.
“You look at it: good teams close quarters, finish games,” P.J. Tucker said. “We just haven’t done that.”
Against the lowly Nets on the second game of that road trip, Phoenix led by nine with 10:41 to play and wound up losing by three. On the third game of the trip, the Suns were up by 16 on the Detroit Pistons with 8:25 to play. They also led by two and had the ball with 30 seconds to play before Knight’s bad pass was intercepted by Marcus Morris. Detroit won in overtime by five.
During the first 4 games of the Suns road trip they've been winning for 126 minutes, tied for 17 & losing for 54. Phoenix is 1-3.
— EmpireOfTheSuns (@EmpireOfTheSuns) December 5, 2015
In the fourth game of the road trip, the Suns were up on the Washington Wizards by 10 with 11:12 to play and wound up losing by three in a contest where Knight could have tied the game with eight seconds left, but went 1-for-3 from the foul line.
On the fifth game of the road trip, the Suns didn’t have much of a fourth quarter lead, but they did have the ball with 2.1 seconds left with the game tied at 93. Knight turned the ball over off the inbounds pass, giving the Grizzlies the ball back with 0.8 seconds left. It took them exactly 0.3 seconds to do this:
Eric Bledsoe missed a desperation game-winner on the next play and the Suns lost — completely negating a put-back from Alex Len that tied the game and a block from Len that gave the Suns the ball back with 2.1 seconds remaining in the first place.
Hell, even in their unspeakably bad road loss to the Warriors last week, the Suns were up four with six minutes left in the first half before the Dubs closed the second quarter out on a monstrous 23-6 run.
It;s not just on the road where Phoenix fails to hold leads though, since they’ve done the same at home. In their recent win over the Orlando Magic, Phoenix led by 10 with 4:31 to play and barely held on to win after Len blocked Evan Fournier‘s desperation three on the last play of the game that could have sent it to overtime.
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In a loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, Phoenix led by four heading into the fourth quarter, but gave up a 13-0 run midway through the period and wound up losing by 10. They were outscored 28-14 in that fourth quarter overall.
Even in a feel-good win against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Suns watched their 19-point lead chopped down to nine halfway through the fourth quarter before having just enough juice left to hold them off.
And then there’s the recent home disaster against Milwaukee, where the Suns led by 15 in the third until they gave up a big 13-0 run that cut it down to one heading into the fourth quarter. Phoenix led by nine with 7:18 left in that game, but the Suns were outscored 8-0 in the final 1:31 of the game after a pair of turnovers sealed the deal on the last two possessions.
“They didn’t panic,” Tucker said. “I think teams know that now: just keep it close and they’ll do something dumb to let you win it.”
In games decided by three points, the Suns’ 2-3 record doesn’t seem so bad. But according to NBA.com, the Suns are 6-11 in games involving “clutch” situations — the third-worst win percentage in the NBA in those situations, ahead of only the Sixers and Lakers. Here’s a quick and ugly breakdown of how the Suns perform in those clutch situations:
- Point Differential: -2.4 (28th)
- FG%: 36.6% (23rd)
- 3P%: 20.0% (27th)
- FT%: 73.2% (23rd)
- Offensive Rating: 95.2 (29th)
- Defensive Rating: 121.2 (26th)
What’s scary about these numbers is that the Suns have played 64 minutes of these “clutch situations,” which was the ninth most in the NBA heading into Tuesday night’s action.
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Whether it’s due to the Suns getting too lackadaisical on offense, being lazy on defense, growing comfortable with the lead or just not having the killer instinct to extend a double-digit lead rather than try to sustain it, Phoenix’s late-game execution has been poor by every measure. Until that changes, they won’t be able to finish off games they need to win.