Suns Don't Hold Back After Worst Loss of Season to Bulls

PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns have done a great job all season of not playing down to their competition and keeping their identity no matter who the opponent is.

That was not the case Thursday night against a severely short-handed Chicago Bulls team.

Despite being down their top-two scorers due to injury in Josh Giddey and Matas Buzelis as well as several others, the Bulls (26-37) were able to pull off a 105-103 wire-to-wire victory over Phoenix (35-27), who fell to 20-6 against teams below .500 on the year.

Chicago, who was a double-digit underdog, came into the game on an 11-game losing streak to the Suns dating back to the 2019-20 season and had lost 12 of its last 13 games.

"We talked about their pace and how fast they play, they drive it right to your chest and couldn't stop them," Suns coach Jordan Ott said postgame. "Coming right downhill, right at the rim. If they didn't get to the rim, couldn't keep the ball in front of us.

"And then we let them hang around ... tried to grab a rebound. Couldn't grab a rebound. So let them hang around in the fourth. I thought in the fourth, tried to pick up our intensity. Those guys are a competitive bunch. Give them credit, keep continuing to play through. Colin Sexton (30 points) has done this for years. He finds ways to impact games by his overall tenacity and toughness."

What Went Wrong for Suns in Loss to Bulls

This was Phoenix's first game without Mark Williams shortly after the team announced he suffered a stress reaction in his left foot, and they got handled in the paint all game long as Dillon Brooks (left hand fracture) and Jordan Goodwin (left calf strain) also remained sidelined.

The Bulls showed more energy and effort than the Suns from the very start of the game, getting downhill at will, which led to 68 points on 63% shooting in the paint.

Chicago, who is averaging the most turnovers per game since the All-Star break (19.5 per game), had zero in the first quarter, which really deflated the Suns, who pride themselves on forcing turnovers.

"That's been our M.O. all year. We see what happens when we do it, and then tonight's an example when we don't. So, hopefully, this is a learning lesson for here on out," said Suns star guard Devin Booker, who finished with a team-high 27 points, on the team's lack of energy.

All game long, the Suns just couldn't build momentum until the very last stretch despite trying anything they could to do so.

"Credit to them. We're trying to blitz to create some energy. We shouldn't be asking for energy," Ott said. "We want to get to March and play meaningful games, we shouldn't be asking for energy. That's why we're blitzing. We're blitzing because we can't contain the basketball and we're looking for energy.

"We, all season, have fed off of our defense, creating offense. Zero steals in the 1st quarter, I think two at halftime. We're trying to find any way possible to create some offense from our defense. Again, it's not like they got into the bonus super early in multiple, multiple periods. That's a part of what we do. We just didn't do it soon enough. And then when you try to turn it up late, the other teams are already rolling."

Phoenix did not play well offensively either, shooting 36-for-92 (39.1%) from the floor and 13-for-46 (28.3%) from 3 on the night.

"It's the NBA. It's good players over there. You got to come ready to go or they'll punch you in the mouth," Suns guard Collin Gillespie (5 points, 1-6 FG) said postgame. "And we didn't come ready to play tonight."

Phoenix will have to shake this one off quickly, as the Suns are back in action tonight against the 20-44 New Orleans Pelicans.

"Yeah, just sleep it off, everybody going to sleep it off, because we don't really have time to think on this one. So, this is just the next, next play mentality," Suns rookie Rasheer Fleming said.