Phoenix Suns’ Jeff Hornacek: ‘Little things’ are derailing team during losing streak

With the way the Phoenix Suns surprised the NBA last season by winning 48 games and narrowly missing the playoffs, there were expectations placed on the team heading into 2014-15.

Those expectations did not include a 12-14 record and a six-game losing streak in December.

But both of those things are reality after the Milwaukee Bucks downed the Suns 96-94 Monday night, completing a comeback on a buzzer-beater three-pointer by Khris Middleton.

The Suns have had a tough early-season schedule and have had their share of injuries, but head coach Jeff Hornacek doesn’t think his team’s struggles stem from a lack of effort.

“It’s not like they’re not playing hard, it’s little things here and little things there,” Hornacek told Doug and Wolf Monday on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. “It’s not making the extra pass once or twice. It’s the bad turnover. It’s the ‘I forgot to rotate.’

“It’s nothing really major, it’s just little things that seem to be biting us. Every time we take a chance late in a game for a steal, the guy happens to miss the steal and they get a three or and and-1. It’s just little things that are piling up on us.”

Monday night heartbreakers are nothing new for the Suns. Just a week ago, Clippers forward Blake Griffin hit a three-pointer at the buzzer that bounced off the front rim before finding its way through the hoop for a 121-120 overtime win.

Middleton’s three this week rimmed out, hit the backboard and then bounced through.

“In the game of basketball, it’s only two or three things that make a difference,” Hornacek said. “You look at the Clippers’ shot, you look at the shot (Monday) night and a couple other games that we had opportunities — we’re 12-14 now, we very easily could be 16-10.

“We’ve just got to keep plugging away and hopefully these bad breaks balance out.”

When teams go on losing streaks like the Suns are currently on, many point to a lack of chemistry as the culprit. Hornacek doesn’t think that is an issue.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “If you think about our team last year, we had a couple guys off the bench that were up cheering and that’s kind of what they did. They knew what their role was, they were happy to be in the NBA.

“We’ve got some other guys now on the bench that are quiet guys. You’re not going to get a lot of ‘rah-rah’ from them. They’re young, so that’s taken a little bit out of it.”

The Suns hit the road for their next three games starting Wednesday night in Charlotte against the Hornets (6-18).

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