Suns Continue Losing Ways in Friday Loss to Heat

The Phoenix Suns continue their losing ways in a Friday night loss to the Miami Heat.

PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns lost their Friday night meeting with the Miami Heat in 104-96 fashion. 

This is Phoenix's second five-game losing streak since December. They've now lost their last eight-of nine games. They're now 5-14 dating back to Dec. 1. 

Miami has now swept the Suns for the first time since the 2017-18 season.

Still without Devin Booker (groin) and Cam Johnson (meniscus), Phoenix again struggled to overcome their offensive deficiencies 

Prior to the game, Suns coach Monty Williams harped on the importance of starting off strong.

“There is so much, coach Van Gundy says it best: ‘It is a make or miss league.’ Some of it is just shot making, some of it is good defenses. Sometimes you just have to figure that into the equation, for us lately we have these stats. We have shot quality, expected efficiency and all that stuff," Williams said. 

"When you look at it you realize you should have paid more attention in finite class. A lot of it is just making shots, but we played against really good teams who have tried to take certain things away from Chris (Paul) and force the ball where they want it to go. I told our guys to just keep shooting the ball, don’t think about it. Keep shooting, we are hopeful we can come out of that. It was good to see our defense kind of catch up with the slow start offensively in the last game which helped us hang in there against Cleveland.”

The Suns, though beating their grand total of 11 points in the opening quarter on Wednesday, got off to another hot start but eventually relinquished their lead, trailing 30-23 after the first. 

Torrey Craig became the lone Phoenix player to hit double-digit scoring in the first half with a last-second put-back to draw Miami's lead to 51-46 heading into the break. Three starters for Miami (Max Strus with 10, Bam Adebayo with 12 and Jimmy Butler with 14) scored 10 or more for the Heat heading into the break.

Chris Paul exited the game with right hip soreness at halftime and did not return. He finished with five points and one assist in 12 minutes played. 

Phoenix maintained their five-point deficit at the end of the third quarter (78-73).

The Heat led by 11 with six minutes remaining and never looked back, although the Suns fought to keep it close to the final buzzer. 

Deandre Ayton led Phoenix with 23 points and 14 rebounds on the night. The Suns shot a horrid 6-23 from downtown.

Victor Oladipo was paced Miami with 26 points. Butler and Adebayo also scored over 20 points. Strus finished with 19. 

The Suns return to the Footprint Center on Sunday to battle the Cleveland Cavaliers. 

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