Slow Starts Still Plaguing Suns
The Phoenix Suns continue to fall into madness as they are now on their second five-game losing skid of the season. They are also now without point guard Chris Paul who exited Friday’s contest against the Miami Heat with hip soreness after already being without fellow starters Devin Booker and Cam Johnson.
Even with Paul on the court, first quarter issues persisted for Phoenix after being outscored 30-23 by the Heat during the open period of play in Friday's loss.
Suns head coach Monty Williams discussed what has been a continuous issue for Phoenix this year before the game:
“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.” He elaborated, “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.”
Miami's 30 points was the most points scored by either team in a quarter. Phoenix was forced to play catch up the rest of the game and was able to outscore the Heat in the second quarter by a point and then matched them at 27 points each in the third. A 26-23 fourth quarter for Miami ended with a 104-96 loss for Phoenix.
Phoenix this year currently is ranked 26th in the league in first-quarter points scored at 27.1, tied with the Houston Rockets. The Suns have lost eight of their last nine games and are averaging 94.6 points during their current five-game skid.
First quarter struggles is the first of many areas Williams will need to review with Phoenix before Sunday’s game vs. the Cleveland Cavaliers, a team the Suns recently scored just 11 points in the first quarter against on Wednesday.
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