Suns focus on defense after record blowout loss in season opener

PHOENIX — Among the known concerns for the Phoenix Suns heading into the season: Three-point offense, three-point defense, assist-to-turnover ratio and rebounding, the last of which was only because of the team leaning toward smaller lineups.

Every one of those issues cropped up in a 48-point loss to the Portland Trail Blazers during the season opener.

Phoenix can dump the memories of their opening-night loss Friday when it hosts the Los Angeles Lakers and 2017 second overall pick Lonzo Ball at Talking Stick Resort Arena. Asked about Ball, Suns point guard Eric Bledsoe was fairly more concerned about his own team.

“We got a lot to think about now that does not pertain to him,” Bledsoe said. “From what I’ve seen, he’s a great kid. I can’t focus on what he’s got going on when we getting beat by 50.”

Make no mistakes about it: The Suns know they have issues.

Dealing with those one at a time is probably best for a roster young enough to make the case against that debate about whether a talented University of Kentucky team could beat a bad NBA squad.

So Thursday, without revealing the content of a spirited practice, coach Earl Watson did admit that the team’s defense was the biggest concern moving forward.

“I think we can never let our offense dictate our defense,” he said after the Suns allowed Portland to go 14-of-24 from three-point range (58 percent). “As the game started, we were in there defensively, we scored and that fueled our defense. And then we hit stretches when we couldn’t score, and then we kind of relaxed on defense.

“We know we lost the rebounding war, we lost the defending the arc three, and then offensively, that kind of put us in, one person has to try outscore the other team. It doesn’t work that way.”

Portland shot 49 percent overall and held Phoenix to 32 percent shooting as the Suns knocked down 26 percent of their threes and recorded nine assists to 16 turnovers.

Watson said the rebounding deficiency wasn’t due to effort — he admitted it was just about a veteran team outmuscling his young Suns. The surprising small-ball lineup of T.J. Warren and Josh Jackson at forward put the Suns at a disadvantage to begin with.

The Suns grabbed only 61 percent of the Blazers’ misses, giving up 27 second-chance points.

“It’s one of the things we talked about before we even started the game. We just didn’t do it,” the rookie Jackson said of the onus put on the forwards’ rebounding chops.

On offense, Watson added shot selection could improve with his players making the extra pass and not hesitating on three-point attempts that were open. Phoenix’s misses snowballed in transition, where the Blazers piled up trailer threes and free throws, Watson added.

Bledsoe, like he did after the game, put the blame on himself after he went 5-of-18 with 15 points, three assists and five turnovers.

Again, it was less about what happened on offense and more about dictating the feel of the game for a young team whose defense fell off a cliff somewhere in the second quarter.

“Take control and slow the game down,” Bledsoe said of what he could’ve done differently. “I think we jumped on them like 9-5, they got a couple easy baskets where they were just point blank, us just not talking, me not settling guys down. They got a bunch of transition (buckets) where we scored and they still got open layups. I think it had a lot to do with me.”

QUOTABLE

“I watch a lot of guys in this league and the great ones, the really good ones all have their go-to moves, their go-to shots, just spots on the court they feel really comfortable and they feel like they can score, no matter who’s guarding them. I think that’s something I really want to improve on.” — Josh Jackson on finding his offensive identity.

The Suns vs. Lakers on Friday will air on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station
at 7 p.m. with pregame beginning 30 minutes prior.

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