Suns forget they are the ‘try-hard team’ in blowout opening loss

You didn’t get the sense last year that the Phoenix Suns totally loved how they were described as a team that won primarily because of their all-out effort, wanting more credit instead for their overall talent, but Wednesday’s season-opening 124-83 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers was a good reminder of who they have to be.

Portland scored the first 21 points of the game. Phoenix didn’t get on the board until 6:05 had passed, and its first field goal came at the 4:28 mark.

On a night the Suns knew extra juice would be in the building, mostly for Damian Lillard’s return to play, they inexcusably came out with a pulse so weak you’d need technology not yet invented in order to pick it up. There was hardly any movement on offense, and defensive possessions were chalked full of mistakes.

After the tip-off, Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks got momentarily confused on which matchup they were taking. A few seconds later, Miles Bridges paused for a split second defending the ball because he thought the Suns were switching. It was an immediate indicator that their focus was nowhere close to where it needed to be.

Portland continued to ramp things up with offensive rebounds and tons of open 3s, the majority of which came via Phoenix’s own brainfarts. Bridges, who will be held to a higher standard than his counterparts based on what we were told about the quality of defender he will be and his price tag in the trade, had a handful of these. One of them was going to help on a Robert Williams III roll that Oso Ighodaro had covered, and did so to leave Lillard wide open one pass away.

???????? https://t.co/lc8qz2aSYJ

— Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) October 22, 2026

Devin Booker, Green and Brooks were prone to these as well.

Last season was littered with lackadaisical efforts from the Suns in the last two months of the season that showed they were losing sight of what made them a very good team. Whether they like it or not, and you could tell at times they were partially offended by the label, that they are the “try-hard team.”

If they are not consistently outworking their opponent, they will be a painfully mediocre basketball team. Losing sight of that identity to begin the season is not ideal. It is quite the egg-in-the-face moment for the fanbase as well after the Suns preached continuity and culture all offseason.

The Suns were down 31 at the end of the first quarter and then lost the second period by two before the Blazers also held an eight-point edge in the third to put the Suns behind by 41 entering the final frame.

This is not the proper ecosystem to evaluate the offensive flow for first impressions. With that said, it was messy. No one found a rhythm outside of Green. In that first half, the starters combined for two assists and five turnovers.

Booker, who did not attempt a 3-pointer, had major issues finding room inside the line with the lack of shooting out there with him.

Not much shooting out there. https://t.co/vX7RrYnHPI

— Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) October 22, 2026

Against the drop coverage of Portland center Donovan Clingan, Booker was hardly looking for pull-up 3s. It’s a shot he is quite poor at, and at the same time, it is probably going to be the most open shot he will get on a night-to-night basis.

Without those shots and any semblance of ball movement, Phoenix’s 3-point volume will be in real trouble. It took only 18 in the first three quarters. Only two of those were in the corners, the shot everyone wants to create and is always a byproduct of the ball whizzing around.

Booker, Brooks and Bridges were terrible. Just about all of their offense was about self-creation. Green’s was too, and he was the only guy that got his shots to fall with some space. We already covered the defense.

Booker channeled the early years of his career by getting his numbers up during the blowout stages of the game, scoring 13 of his 23 points in the third quarter. Green added 10 on 4-of-12 shooting while it was the same point output for Brooks on 4-for-11. Bridges was 3-of-11 for eight points.

Khaman Maluach surprisingly started at center after the patterns in the preseason indicated it would be Oso Ighodaro. The most important thing this does is maintain the second unit, which will be the biggest strength of the team. The worry is if Maluach is ready for this opportunity, all while among a perimeter foursome that has little to no cohesion.

And it might not matter for the next few games. Ighodaro, who missed a preseason game on Oct. 16 due to right hip soreness, was wincing while grabbing at it near the end of the first half. He went back to the locker room and then did not return.

Before that, Maluach logged shifts of only 4:28 and 4:51. Again, it is totally unfair to judge him off a hot mess of a team performance like this. What we saw, though, was a good amount of mental errors from him that is the largest worry when it comes to starting him. He really struggles with his hands, both in catching passes and grabbing rebounds.

Luke Kennard was out due to left knee tendinopathy. Head coach Jordan Ott was optimistic on Tuesday that Kennard would play, but described him as “close” pregame.

The Blazers looked incredibly prepared and crisp on both ends of the floor. All of the team elements were seamless. Lillard recorded a game-high 25 points with six 3s while Ja Morant added 14 points on eight shots with eight assists in his Blazers debut. It was only one turnover for Morant, and Lillard provided six additional assists with just one lone turnover too. It was a combined 14 assists and two turnovers for those two, while the Suns as a team through the three quarters against that duo combined for 11 assists and 11 turnovers.

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