Takeaways From Another Suns Loss

The Phoenix Suns failed to begin another win streak behind a disappointing performance.

Nov 27, 2024; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Brooklyn Nets guard Dennis Schroder (17) dribbles against Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker (1) during the second half at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images / Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

PHOENIX --- The Phoenix Suns are back to being a confounding basketball squad - just one day after a dominant showing against the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Suns fell to 10-8 after a slightly shocking 127-117 loss to the Brooklyn Nets - a game where the Nets were missing their leading scorer in Cam Thomas - along with their two leading bigs in Nic Claxton and Day'Ron Sharpe.

The Nets employed Ben Simmons as something of a tweener/small-ball five for a significant portion of the night. The former number one overall pick largely produced.

Brooklyn also got very timely performances from both Trendon Watford and Tyrese Martin - the bench duo combined for 48 points, quite arguably being the catalysts for the Nets' victory.

While this loss could come off as completely shocking from an outside audience, the takeaways were quite simple - and we will dive into the three major ones right away.

The Suns had several mental lapses on both sides of the ball, as both Kevin Durant and coach Mike Budenholzer alluded to post-game.

"That's the game. I can't have 7 turnovers if we want to win," Durant said when talking about the lapses on the offensive side of the ball.

That was on full display last night - with the team overcoming a 1-for-7 shooting night from behind the arc by Cam Johnson and still managing to hit 18 as a team.

This was a team that had progressively improving in terms of taking care of the ball - and actually still rank 10th in the league in turnovers per game at 13.1 - but the 17 turnovers last night was simply inexcusable.

There were too many moments of lapsed judgement, too many haphazard passes, and too much settling that stalled what should've been a dominant offense showing.

The three-point volume wasn't there - the Suns got up just 31 attempts, while the Nets shot 42. Budenholzer also alluded to the Nets' ability to get clean looks from behind the arc even without dribble drives, as that has been their bread-and-butter this season.

"We were not our best, but I always - you give credit to Brooklyn, you give credit to their players. They played well. We need to be better. I would like to be better, we would like to be better. But it’s not all us."

Those were the words of Budenholzer - who was making it a point to bridge the gap between his not playing their best game and the opponent playing a great one. Brooklyn was phenomenal in the second half regardless of how the Suns looked.

Brooklyn's head coach Jordi Fernandez has done an incredible job throughout his debut season as a head coach of putting a roster that could be argued to lack talent relative to the rest of the league in the best positions to produce and succeed.

That was on full display last night - with the team overcoming a 1-for-7 shooting night from behind the arc by Cam Johnson and still managing to hit 18 as a team.

The Nets are playing some exceptional basketball as of late - having gone 3-0 on the trip to the West Coast. The Suns fell flat last night, but credit must also be given to Brooklyn.

Phoenix simply need to build consistency. The squad we saw last night couldn't have looked more different than the team we saw against the Lakers on Tuesday night. The Suns aren't much different compared to the team we saw last season until further notice. The Suns need to stay healthier. They need to pressure the rim on a more regular and consistent basis. They need to grind out defensive possessions - something that hasn't come as regularly as last regular season to this point.

There is a very good and potentially elite team here - they just need to take off of the runway and display that at some point in the first half of the season to validate the hopes of Suns fans that this could be a title-winning squad.

The next opportunity to see the Suns in action is Saturday night against the Golden State Warriors.