What Went Wrong for Suns in Loss to Pacers

The Suns entered Thursday's contest against the Pacers finally at full health, but could not make the most of it.

Dec 19, 2024; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Phoenix Suns guard Bradley Beal (left) and forward Kevin Durant react on the bench against the Indiana Pacers at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

PHOENIX -- The Indiana Pacers secured a 120-111 victory over the Phoenix Suns Thursday night at Footprint Center to snap Phoenix's two-game win streak.

Despite the Suns (14-12) finally coming into the game at full strength with Bradley Beal returning from a two-game absence due to injury, the Pacers (13-15) were able to build momentum midway through the first quarter and never really looked back until Kevin Durant (game-high 37 points, 16 in fourth) tried to will Phoenix back in the fourth, but it was not enough.

The loss stung even more given that Devin Booker left the game with just over five minutes to go in the third quarter with left groin tightness.

Phoenix has now dropped its last two games when all five of its starters are active with the previous defeat coming back on Nov. 27 against the Brooklyn Nets. You can read a full recap of the game here.

Here are three biggest areas the Suns struggled in the loss:

Turnover Battle

The Pacers are known for their fast pace, and Phoenix played right into their hands with the turnover numbers.

Phoenix coughed up the ball 16 times and the Pacers turned that into 29 points. In comparison, the Suns forced nine Indiana turnovers leading to 10 points, meaning they were a minus-19 in points off turnovers.

After recording only two turnovers combined in the previous two games, Durant had a game-high five, as the Pacers made him look uncomfortable on several possessions.

"I think (turnovers were) the big difference in the game. I think sometimes their active hands, their activity created deflections, created steals," Suns coach Mike Budenholzer said postgame.

"They're flying around, putting two on the ball. Our decisions, our crispness wasn't there. So, credit to them. Their defense and their activity for creating turnovers.”

Simply put, this was not the same sound Phoenix offense from earlier in the season when everyone was healthy, and it showed the Suns desperately need to find some time to build rhythm, but they will now be faced with another roadblock with Booker's injury.

3-Point Discrepancy

Budenholzer has emphasized wanting to put up more 3-pointers, but Phoenix tied its low for 3-point makes (9) and had its second-fewest 3-point attempts (30) in a game all season.

Meanwhile, Indiana shot 16-for-41 (39%) from deep for the game with all of its starters cashing in at least two.

To their credit, the Pacers are a top-10 defense in not letting teams put up threes, allowing sixth-fewest 3-point attempts per game (36.2) and ninth-fewest 3-point makes per game (13.3), but Phoenix could not find any sort of consistency behind the arc all night.

Tyus Jones, who entered tonight shooting 58.7% (27-for-46) from deep over the Suns' last eight games, went 1-for-6 from downtown. Booker and Grayson Allen were each 0-for-3.

Phoenix did miss some easy looks, but also passed up a lot of open shots. The Pacers were then able to force the Suns offense into several difficult attempts when the ball got stagnant.

Conversely, the Pacers had several wide-open looks all game due to missed Phoenix defense rotations.

“That is a team that switches down the line a lot. We thought that if we just play our game moving without the ball, staying in action. playing fast, we could get what we wanted to offensively," Pacers star guard Tyrese Haliburton (13 points, 12 assists) said postgame.

"That was just the emphasis coming into the game and we did a good job.”

Phoenix will have to tighten up its communication defensively moving forward and not be too unselfish offensively to pass up good looks.

Third Quarter

The Suns looked to build some momentum right before halftime when Royce O'Neale knocked down a 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut the Indiana lead to 60-59 heading into the half.

As several teams have done against Phoenix lately, the Pacers then exploded in the third quarter to the tune of a 37-24 advantage and took a 97-83 lead to the fourth.

Phoenix has now been outscored by 43 points in the third quarter over its last nine games even though it looked like it had minimized the problem over the previous three games.

The Suns showed a lot of fight in the fourth quarter, but were in too deep of a hole coming out of the third, especially adding in Booker's injury.

Once again, Phoenix said turnovers are often to blame for the big runs it has allowed to opponents night in and night out.

"Usually it's turnovers, and then transition D is hard. It's hard to get back on defense when we turn the ball over," Durant said of the opposing team's runs postgame.

"When we usually keep the ball in our hands, we get low turnovers, we play some of our best ball. So once again, I got to be better in that area. I think it's contagious.

"Even if I had five turnovers, I think my team may see that. Like I said, they feed off of how I play out there. So, I got to be better.”

This was a very winnable game the Suns needed to build some momentum, but it instead went in the wrong direction with a loss, and they will now have to adjust to likely playing without Booker, who had been active for all 26 games up to this point.

The Suns will next start a stretch of five games in eight days beginning with the Detroit Pistons (11-17) Saturday.