Suns fall flat in final game of road trip, lose to Nets: By The Numbers
Mar 18, 2014, 2:28 AM | Updated: 6:37 am
Apparently not all good things come in threes.
After two road wins against the Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors, the Phoenix Suns came into the Barclays Center Monday night looking to finish off their three-game road trip a perfect 3-0.
But looking is all they’d do.
The Brooklyn Nets opened the inter-conference showdown with back-to-back 30-point quarters and built a lead as big as 23 en route to a 108-95 victory.
Here’s a look back at the 13-point loss, Phoenix’s only of the trip, by the numbers:
9:
Phoenix whittled its double-digit deficit down to nine with 3:57 remaining in the third quarter. Brooklyn responded, though, with a run of its own, scoring the next 14 points to build its advantage back up to 90-67.
11:
Outside of Friday night’s 87-80 slopfest with the Celtics, the Suns have allowed at least one 30-point quarter in 11 of their last 12 games.
12:
Phoenix’s 20-point first quarter was its lowest since scoring just 16 in a 122-108 loss to the Houston Rockets back on Feb. 5 — a span of 12 games.
20:
Brooklyn came into the night averaging 9.3 fastbreak points per contest, good for second-worst in the NBA. Monday, they had nine in the first quarter alone and finished with 20.
24-10:
Since the first of the year, no Eastern Conference team has been hotter than the Nets. Brooklyn leads the conference with 24 wins in 2014.
54:
Phoenix’s bench had no issues outscoring the starters in Brooklyn. Markieff Morris’ team-high 18 points led the reserves to a 54-point output. By comparison, the Suns’ starting five only mustered 41 points. Only Eric Bledsoe and Goran Dragic reached double figures.
58.6
The Suns came very close to doing something they hadn’t done since the 2008-09 season: allow a team to shoot 60 percent or better. If not for a field goal drought over the final four minutes and seven seconds, the Nets would have hit that mark. Instead, they settled for 58.6 from the field.
63:
Jeff Hornacek’s squad went 63 days between road losses to Eastern Conference teams. Ironically, their last loss also came in the New York metropolitan area, 98-96 in overtime to the Knicks back on Jan. 13.
