What We Learned From Suns Loss vs Thunder
PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns have now dropped consecutive games over the weekend as the team looks to find some sort of continuity with the postseason drawing closer.
After losing on Saturday to the Houston Rockets, the Suns were unable to best the Oklahoma City Thunder despite overcoming a 24-point lead in the third quarter, falling 118-110 and dropping to 35-26 on the year.
Here's what we learned from the loss:
Same Old Problems Plague Suns
Two of the Suns' biggest issues throughout the season have been ball security and lack of a consistent big-man option behind starting C Jusuf Nurkic.
Bol Bol has generally done an admirable job when on the court, but he is more well-suited to play at the four, which has been corroborated by multiple members of the Suns.
Thaddeus Young has played decent basketball in limited action on the Suns, but it appears as if the coaching staff would rather utilize him as a power forward as well.
The most frustrating issue has been turnovers - the Suns have hovered around the top five for most turnovers per game for a large part of the season and that issue has been a recurrent one over the last month even if it has been less frequent.
Suns Continue to Show Fight
The Suns posted a 39-8 run in the second half to take the lead in a game they eventually ceded.
The bad news - they couldn't finish the job. The (semi) good news - they likely pull out the win with the presence of Devin Booker.
The bottom line is this Suns team is doing anything but punting on this season despite finishing the season with the most difficult schedule in the NBA and suffering numerous setbacks, particularly attributed to injury.
This Suns team will keep fighting until they are officially done in the playoffs.
Time to Bench Eubanks
Drew Eubanks is a decent player and a good person. That doesn't mean that coach Frank Vogel should continue giving him run.
It's fine to give Eubanks spot minutes on a game-to-game basis, as he has proven to be able to impact games in small doses, but he has simply had far too may games with minimal impact sewn into the bottom line of his performances.
The idea of Eubanks being a vertical improvement over former Suns C Jock Landale was a great idea in theory - it just hasn't panned out consistently enough.
Vogel needs to rely more on Young moving forward.
