Suns’ comeback prevented by defensive shortcomings vs. Nuggets

PHOENIX — Entering Saturday night’s matchup with the Denver Nuggets, the Phoenix Suns won five of their last eight games through high-level energy, particularly on defense.

As if someone snapped their fingers to make it go away, that consistency all but vanished through three quarters.

Through enough spurts to keep the game within reach, though, another snap of the fingers brought back the Suns team of the last two weeks in the fourth quarter.

And while a comeback effort late came up short, the Suns’ spark to get back in the game was a positive in a 122-118 loss.

Down 22 with just over nine minutes to play, the Suns battled back and rode the momentum at home to make it just a three-point game with 1:51 to play.

The margin of error, however, was so slim that a following 4-0 run by Denver sealed the loss.

“Credit to (our) team that we never give up on a game,” head coach Igor Kokoskov said. “We were competing and we were looking for a chance.”

The Nuggets (23-11) were not the right team for this to happen against, either. Even having Denver shorthanded without Will Barton and Gary Harris, its strong execution tore the Suns’ (9-28) defense to shreds. They had 31 assists on 42 made baskets, further proving they are one of the best teams in the Western Conference.

Jamal Murray was spectacular, scoring 46 points and hitting nine of his 11 three-point attempts. Denver shot 18-of-35 from 3-point range and most of ’em were open looks.

The Suns were lethargic to start. Denver outscored the Suns 36-16 through one quarter, a flashback to some of the awful starts the team had earlier in the season.

“When you start a game that way, it’s hard,” Kokoskov said.

It was also deja vu from the night prior when the Oklahoma City Thunder won the fourth quarter 37-18 in a Suns loss.

“I think we’ve won six of eight quarters and have two losses,” Devin Booker said of the two-day run.

There at least was a response from the Suns in the second and it all came from Ayton. He played the entire second quarter and scored 24 of his 25 first-half points.

Deandre Ayton scores 24 PTS for the @Suns in the 2nd quarter on #NBA League Pass! #NBARooks #TimeToRise pic.twitter.com/zevR56aIMM

— NBA (@NBA) December 30, 2018

The 24 points set a new franchise record for most points in a quarter by a rookie. Ayton finished with a career-high 33 points and 14 rebounds.

With any run that special by an individual, that team should make quite the comeback.

But when Ayton scored 18 straight of the Suns’ points, the deficit actually grew by a point because of their defensive shortcomings.

That energy did eventually bring on a 15-7 run to cut the Nuggets lead down to 13 at halftime.

More bad defense extended the Denver advantage back to 23, but another Suns barrage of 16-5 made it only a 12-point game entering the fourth.

When the Suns provide the Nuggets that type of insurance and a microwave scorer like Murray a freebie hot start, Murray starts to drain some seemingly impossible shots in the fourth and that was just enough to hold off the Suns’ comeback.

In the second quarter, Booker took a charge and came up moving half-speed while holding his lower back. A lower back contusion had him questionable to return, but he started the second half, albeit still clutching at that spot occasionally.

Through ice wraps on his back and other devices being used on his back during spots of rest, Booker bounced back from a brutal first quarter and finished with 27 points and eight assists on 11-of-18 shooting. He scored 12 of those points during the fourth quarter comeback, doing what all great players do in finishing strong and being unaffected by a poor opening 12 minutes.

Booker said after the game the contusion avoided his tailbone.

“Just adrenaline, honestly, I’m not sure how I’m going to feel when I get home,” Booker said of playing through it, noting it was nothing serious.

There are two ways to look at the loss. The Suns reverted back to their norm of questionable defensive participation in the beginning of the season. The Suns also showed the intensity and fight that drew the Valley’s admiration over the past two weeks, most notably in a situation where they could have folded in the fourth quarter of the second game of a back-to-back.

Whatever direction you take that, the defense must get better if the Suns want to get back to winning. That would be the case against any opponent, but two out of the three next home games for Phoenix are against the Warriors (second in offensive efficiency) and the Clippers (fourth in offensive efficiency).

On top of that, those teams know the Suns don’t start games well. To the contrary of teams coming out slow against one of the worst teams in the league, opponents now look at the first quarter as the time to put the game away early.

Avoiding poor openings is next on the Suns’ in-season development and they’ve got five games at home against good teams to try and figure it out.

Follow @KellanOlson