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Not great. Some people would pick less euphemistic words, but I’m trying to be nice. I’ll admit I didn’t envision this happening. I never expected the Suns to be world beaters, but I also didn’t expect them to be a punching bag as they stumbled out of the gate.
The most glaring deficiency with the Suns through the first six games is defense. The Suns are second to last in points per game allowed, behind only the Chicago Bulls, at 124.3 points per game. After a bleak 1-4 start, they surrendered a season-high 132 points last night when they knew this was a critical match to right the ship. The Suns are dead last in Defensive Rating, allowing 125.6 points per 100 possessions.
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The Suns need to find a lineup that can get stops. That should be the main priority in practices. Switch people around and try to get something to click. Switch people around in the games if they aren’t giving maximum effort. I’m fine with anybody sitting down and watching what effort looks like.
Sometimes it appears the Suns struggle with fundamentals like switching or fighting over screens. Effort, strategy, and execution. One hand needs to know what the other is doing.
Someone I went to the game with last night, who isn’t a basketball aficionado, said it just seemed like Portland was scoring so fast and easily. I guess you don’t have to be a basketball genius to see the Suns suck at defense right now. She said the Suns also missed a lot of threes. The Suns could have been better. They shot 10-of-36 from deep for a 27.8% clip. Maybe if another two or three of those went in when the Suns were trying to close the gap, things could have turned out a little differently.
I told her that, the way I look at it, three-point shooting is mostly something that improves with practice. It’s not like defense, where if a player gives maximum effort, their performance can improve in real time. Effort doesn’t affect shooting in the same way it does defense. A lot of defense is effort, and the Suns aren’t meeting the standard they set last season.
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I have always considered defensive rebounding as part of defense. That word in front of…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/suns-fix-within-160000023.html
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Publish date : 2026-11-05 16:00:00
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