Phoenix Suns: 5 areas for improvement for youngsters
2. Awful starts
It’s hard to establish chemistry with a starting lineup that’s constantly in flux, but the Phoenix Suns are notorious for getting off to piss-poor starts. Their first quarter point differential of -5.3 is by far the worst mark in the league, with the Utah Jazz coming in second at -2.9. They’ve been outscored by a total of 174 points in 33 first quarters — nearly 100 points more than the next-worst team at -92.
In fact, a breakdown of the Suns’ point differential by quarter is borderline hilarious:
- 1st quarter: -5.3 (30th in the NBA)
- 2nd quarter: -0.7 (18th)
- 3rd quarter: -3.0 (28th)
- 4th quarter: +1.8 (4th)
Sure, that eye-popping number for the fourth quarter has a lot to do with garbage time, but thanks to frequent late-game heroics from Devin Booker and the boon of having actual coaching, the Suns are strangely competent down the stretch when games are actually still close.
After all, the Suns are the only terrible team ranked in the top 10 for fourth quarter point differential. Maybe they simply do capitalize on garbage time better than other tankers, but why are those other bad teams so far behind Phoenix in fourth quarter point differential?
- Sacramento Kings: -0.1, (14th)
- Atlanta Hawks: -0.3 (16th)
- Brooklyn Nets: -0.6 (19th)
- Memphis Grizzlies: -1.0, (23rd)
- Chicago Bulls: -1.3 (26th)
- Dallas Mavericks: -1.4 (27th)
Garbage time alone can’t explain it. The problem is, the Suns — whose nine wins in “clutch” situations rank 12th in the league, per NBA.com — are too often trying to dig themselves out of deep first quarter holes.
In its most recent game against a Los Angeles Clippers team missing Blake Griffin, Danilo Gallinari and Patrick Beverley, Phoenix found itself down eight heading into the second quarter, tying a season-low 15 points in the first quarter.
"“It’s hard to play catch-up for sure,” Triano said. “Yeah, we’ve been getting off to slow starts. I think teams are ramped up at first, and maybe they take their foot off the gas and we’re able to climb back in, but first quarters haven’t been very good.”"
In one memorable home game against the Houston Rockets in mid-November, the Suns realized how far away they are from even sniffing the Western elite, as they were certainly unable to climb back into the contest after being torched for 45 first quarter points.
They trailed by 22 after the first frame, had given up 90 points by halftime and ultimately lost 142-116. Although that was against one of the league’s most high-powered offenses, this young team has a bad habit of being demoralized by opponents hitting tough shots early on.
"“I think what happens halfway through is you get a little bit disappointed, you just kind of go, ‘It doesn’t really matter what we’re going to do here [defensively],'” Triano said."
Whether it’s a bad habit for a young team, lack of proper motivation to start each game, underwhelming fan support at tipoff for home games or some ugly combination of all three, the Suns start off both the first and third half-asleep. When NBA teams smell blood in the water that early, Phoenix has little chance of setting itself up for success.