Suns Strokes: Not much good in Phoenix Suns loss to Spurs

PHOENIX — Typically, Suns Strokes starts with an overview of the game and continues to “The Good” section.

The Phoenix Suns managed to ensure none of that was needed during Saturday’s 101-74 loss to the San Antonio Spurs.

THE BAD

What was bad?

All of it.

The Suns set a franchise record with only 24 points in the first half.

They set a season low with 11 points in the second quarter.

“We weren’t very good,” said head coach Jeff Hornacek. “We didn’t have the energy, they had energy. It’s one of those games. I guess the bright side is that they all played bad in the same night. It’s not like we had one guy bad and it just wasn’t enough to beat them; maybe everyone got their bad game out at the same time, and you know, it is one of those games.”

Phoenix shot 29.8 percent from the field and only had six more field goals (25) than turnovers (19).

The Spurs were able to effectively contain Eric Bledsoe, cross-matching forward Kawhi Leonard onto him from the tip. Leonard used his length and lateral quickness to keep Phoenix’s star guard in front of him for most of the night.

“It made it a little tougher,” said Hornacek. “You know, Eric wasn’t able to get by – we have to set better screens in those cases. Then going the other direction there was scramble a little bit. Still, that shouldn’t be a big issue if we set a good screen and come off and try to make a play.”

Bledsoe was 3-of-9 with no assists, two turnovers and a team-high minus-32.

The scary part of the 27-point loss was San Antonio didn’t even play that well. They only had an 18:14 assist-to-turnover ratio and missed 15 of their 19 attempts from deep.

STAT OF THE GAME

Markieff and Marcus Morris combined to shoot 11-of-23 from the field. The rest of the team was 14-of-61 (23 percent).

The Suns avoided history with a 33-point fourth quarter. At the end of the third quarter Phoenix had 41 points and needed 28 points to avoid the franchise low of 68.

Also, in play was the franchise-record low for field goal percentage and assists in a game, which were both avoided.

HE SAID IT

“We came out real flat. It ain’t nothing more, nothing less, we came out flat. You can’t do that against a team like that. We were flat, the fans were flat; a bad recipe.” – Suns forward Markieff Morris.

NOTED

Suns guard Brandon Knight did not return after playing 16:52 in the first half. Knight was dealing with a hip pointer. The injury originally occurred in the Thunder game and he re-aggravated versus the Spurs.

UP NEXT

It’s time for the Suns to hit the road for an Eastern Conference swing.

Phoenix’s four-game trip starts in Miami on Monday where they will face the Heat and former Suns guard Goran Dragic. In five games since being traded, Dragic is averaging 13.8 points on 49 percent shooting with 5.4 assists and three rebounds in 35.4 minutes per game.

The game can be heard on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM starting with Suns Warm Up at 5 p.m. followed by tip off at 5:30.

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