PHOENIX SUNS

Suns Strokes: Suns fall to defending champion Heat

Nov 18, 2012, 5:03 AM | Updated: 5:15 am

Sure, you could read the box score and know who won, but we all know that won’t tell you everything that happened in a basketball game. So, we will give you Suns Strokes, providing you with the analysis, quotes and notes from the Suns’ 97-88 loss to the Heat on November 17. Final Score: Heat 97, Suns 88

The Good:

Head coach Alvin Gentry said after the game that something will change with the starting line-up before the next game. That may be a good thing because the Suns can’t seem to avoid falling behind, losing again Saturday against the Heat after trailing in the first quarter.

The Bad:

The Suns are now 4-7 on the season and they missed their first nine shots to go down early once again. The Heat led this game by as many as 15 points at one point. They bounced back and took the lead at one time by as many as nine points.

The Suns also committed 16 turnovers Saturday and allowed the Heat to score 36 points in the paint.

Noted:

• The Suns were playing on the second night of a back-to-back. They arrived from Los Angeles early Saturday morning before turning around to play the World Champion Miami Heat on Saturday night. Shannon Brown, Alvin Gentry and Goran Dragic acknowledged that it is mentally and physically taxing to play games when you are always coming from behind.

He Said It:

“We gotta stop having the starts that we’re having,” Gentry said. “The only way that we can probably deal with that is we are going to have to change the line-up. Probably the next game we play, it won’t be the same line-up you’ve seen.”

Up Next:

The Suns are off until Wednesday when they host the Portland Trailblazers at US Airways Center at 7 p.m.

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