New lineup, same vibes: Suns hit new low in loss to Hornets

The Phoenix Suns continue to show us who they are, with a new low point of the season set after Tuesday’s 115-104 loss to a Charlotte Hornets team that had previously lost 18 of its last 19 games.

A lineup change in the game prior did nothing to spark or motivate the Suns, who look hopeless for any fixes in time to save this season. Yes, including all types of trades.

Devin Booker scored 21 of the Suns’ 46 points in the first half, carrying them to possession of the game at its start. No one else on Phoenix had a rhythm, nor did the offense as a whole. Charlotte, a putrid offensive team, had a shooting percentage below 30% for the majority of the first half before a 37-17 second quarter put it up 13 at the half thanks to a 26-6 end across the final 6:28.

The Hornets (8-27) took the lead in the mid-second quarter via a 3-pointer from LaMelo Ball, Charlotte’s leading scorer at 29.8 points per game who had just scored his first of the game. The Suns (16-19) played blah basketball when the game was up for grabs and then Charlotte’s athleticism eventually overwhelmed them, a common theme of losses the last two years. The Hornets in the first half alone had 10 offensive rebounds and 17 free-throw attempts.

Phoenix got within two early in the third quarter but kept letting Charlotte get easy looks off second chances, rim penetration or open 3s. On top of that, the audacious 3s that Charlotte attempts often weren’t going in much but started to fall later in the period, particularly for Ball.  The Suns actually scored 37 points in the third but too many freebies for Charlotte kept it up five going into the final frame.

Phoenix played an opening 75 seconds of that period that was so bad that it forced head coach Mike Budenholzer to put Booker back in and line him up to play 40 minutes on the second game of a back-to-back. Charlotte extended its lead back to 12 early in the fourth quarter and was going to leave a few windows open for the Suns to come back because it absolutely stinks.

But the fourth quarter was the same story. No connectivity. No cohesion. No willingness to outwork the other team and no urgency to do so, even when facing a humiliating loss as pressure mounts on the future of this roster.

The Hornets extended the lead to 15 before a predictable meltdown came from them and the Suns went on a 7-0 run with a little over two minutes remaining. But after another terrible Charlotte possession, the Hornets grabbed an offensive rebound to set up a wide-open Brandon Miller 3 (for a prolific shooter) no one showed any hustle in recovering to. Ryan Dunn then missed a corner 3 before Ball dribbled out the shot clock to draw a double-team, and then Miller was the guy to get wide open in the corner again. He did not miss that time.

It is not difficult to line up Phoenix’s lack of cohesion offensively and the 3-point volume dropping dramatically. The Suns were 8-of-33 (24.2%) from deep. Phoenix averaged 41 triples across its 9-2 start and since then it is taking 36. Go off the last 10 games alone coming into Tuesday and it’s 32.8, 28th in the NBA.

Booker in the mid-third quarter took a fallaway jumper on the baseline that drew a foul. Booker landed first, and that followed Charlotte’s Cody Martin falling on top of Booker, with most of his body coming on Booker’s lower right leg. The replay showed a hyperextension the other direction, and Booker was in a lot of pain before walking it off and continuing to play through it, as he usually does with anything like that. He lost steam in the last few minutes of the fourth quarter while showing a limp, the latter of which he rarely ever lets anyone see.

Booker ended up with 39 points (14-of-25), six rebounds, ten assists and three turnovers. He, Kevin Durant (26 points) and Bradley Beal (10) were the only Suns players in double figures.

Rookie center Oso Ighodaro only got six minutes, and the reason why puts attention to the bigger issue of how badly Phoenix needs him. The Suns were manhandled by Charlotte’s center combination of Mark Williams and Nick Richards, a duo that combined for nine offensive rebounds. Charlotte ended up with 20 as a whole, the type of rebounding discrepancy Ighodaro’s lack of size can’t make up for. Jusuf Nurkic was -22 and he did not play nearly as bad as Mason Plumlee, who had blemishes all over the place.

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