Plum tuckered out

I refuse to soil the silks. The Suns lost their second game in a row and didn’t look great doing it, but I don’t see a trend forming.

After losing Wednesday night, they’re 8-4 in their last 12 games. They compete every night; it doesn’t mean they’re good every night, but they play like the Dogs of War are nipping at their heels every night.

Houston is a good team, 15 games over .500, and they’re playing well. They were playing at home. They had won three in a row coming into Wednesday night and were 7-3 in their last 10 games. They’re a good team.

But there is cause for concern when you think of Miles Plumlee, a guy that has been an integral piece to the Suns’ unforeseen success. Miles has got to step it up. I think he’s getting a little worn down mentally. He’s not moving as well as he did. He’s getting a lot of minutes, minutes he has never had the opportunity to get, previously. He plays hard but needs to push himself even more, not back off and pace himself.

And he doesn’t look as confident as he did earlier in the year. He looks tentative with the ball. Dwight Howard smelled smoke while posting up on Plumlee and it wasn’t coming from his hot hand. Howard rolled Plumlee up and smoked him like a big, fat Cuban and finished with a plus/minus that looked like Wall Street. Plumlee’s plus/minus looked like Sochi.

It’s OK, it happens. I have been there myself, many times. You think you’re giving all you possess but you’re really not and need to dig deeper, prepare harder. I’m sure the coaches are in his ear and expect to see him rebound, literally and figuratively.

The All-Star break should serve him well. But he’s officially on the Suns’ supernova watch.

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