‘Frustrated’ Suns still searching for answers. Those may not come until summer.

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LOS ANGELES — “Frustrating.”

It was the word multiple Suns threw out Sunday afternoon to describe their loss to the Lakers. And their season.

“It’s frustrating. We show we can do the right thing sometimes, and then sometimes we don’t,” Booker said.

Inconsistency has been a hallmark of the Suns this season. Phoenix came into Sunday off one of its best performances, a Friday night win against Sacramento, with the chance to move within half a game of the Mavericks for the 10th seed and the final play-in spot in the West. The Suns were taking on a shorthanded Lakers team just home after a long East Coast road trip. Everything was lined up for the Suns.

And they came out flat. It was the tired Lakers who went on a 23-2 run in the first quarter to lead by as many as 20. While Phoenix got that lead down to single digits a few times in the fourth quarter, the game never felt in doubt (Los Angeles won 107-96, a game Luka Doncic controlled on his way to 33 points).

Phoenix was ice cold from the opening tip — it shot 6-of-21 overall (28.6%) in the first quarter, 1-of-10 from 3 — but the offensive frustration bled over into every aspect of the game. It also bled over to Kevin Durant on the bench.

“I think we’re good when we’re making shots,” Booker said. “We still have to find a way to power through when the offense isn’t running and still hang our hat on the defense.”

Suns defensive woes

Phoenix hasn’t been able to hang its hat on its defense all season — they are 27th in the league in defensive rating, and over their last 10 games that defense has been 3.5 points per 100 possessions worse than that average.

“I think defensively is one of the things stands out,” Coach Mike Budenholzer said when discussing why the Suns have been frustrating all season. “We’re just not good enough defensively. We got to find a way to get better on that end of the court.”

While the defense is the most obvious source of problems, the Suns’ issues are bigger than just one side of the court. This is not a team that is one easy fix away.

“I think…

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Publish date : 2025-03-17 03:30:00

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