Frank Vogel Sounds Off on Suns' Effort vs Spurs

The Suns' head man was not pleased with the loss to San Antonio.

Phoenix Suns v San Antonio Spurs / Ronald Cortes/GettyImages

PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns are 42-30.

This would have been more than good enough to secure home-court advantage last season, but the franchise currently sit at the number 8 seed in the Western Conference with just 10 games to go this year.

The 30th loss of the season follows a shocking 104-102 defeat to the San Antonio Spurs - a team on pace for less than 20 wins this season - and a team that was minus Victor Wembanyama at that.

Suns' head coach Frank Vogel was understandably upset with the result of the game, as outlined in a response to a question in his post-game presser:

“That's just unacceptable to lose that game for our guys. We all said the right things, we all did the right preparation to come in, but we didn't play with the necessary focus and disposition throughout, I would say the first half, and you give a team like that life. That's how the NBA works. They get going, they get charged up and they start believing they're going to have a chance to win it. Credit those guys with Victor [Wembanyama] out. Those guys played really well.”

- Frank Vogel

Let's touch upon some of the lack of "necessary focus" and "disposition" that cost the Suns a game that may ultimately doom their season.

Defense

The Suns' defense did not necessarily do a sufficient job of containing the Spurs despite only ceding 104 points over the course of the game.

Phoenix allowed four Spurs players to have stout performances - Jeremy Sochan, Devin Vassell, Zach Collins, and Keldon Johnson.

Vassell is jusifiable as he has been one of the more under-the-radar wings in the league across the last two seasons, but Johnson, Sochan, and Collins are legitimate head-scrathers - even with Suns' big man Jusuf Nurkic missing extended time in the second half.

Sochan just might be the most damning performance - the wing posts averages of 11.7 PPG/6.5 RPG - but Sochan enjoyed a 26-point, 18-rebound outing, including a game-winning three-point hit with about 30 seconds remaining in the contest

“He made a big shot. Other than that, just being in the paint and offensive rebounds. He has a nice touch in that paint area, floater area, and that’s where he was tearing us up.”

- Devin Booker on Jeremy Sochan

With under :05 on the shot clock and a one point lead in the final seconds there’s just no reason to help off of Sochan this much. Let Booker guard Vassell straight up for two more seconds. Don’t give up a wide open look here. pic.twitter.com/gtbsMQNlk2

— Tim Ring (@timringTV) March 26, 2024

The sequence in which the game-winning shot has been a microcosm of the shortcomings the Suns have faced on the defensive side of the ball all season.

This squad is clearly capable of defending at a high enough level - as evidenced by a near top-ten mark in half-court defensive rating, but the lack of communication, general tendency to over-help, and the absence of game-breaking athletes have held back the defense from approaching borderline elite territory.

And it cost them dearly last night.

Turnovers

There wasn't necessarily a singular turnover that decided the outcome of the game, but it is absolutely unacceptable to lose the turnover battle to the Spurs - especially when the total is doubled up.

FINAL: #Spurs (16-56) 104 - #Suns (42-30) 102

Even without Wemby, Spurs pull off the upset as Suns. Finish 1-3 against worst team in West. Devin Booker had 36 in loss, as turnovers killed Phoenix. Suns now begin tough final 10 games, starting Wednesday at Denver

— Burn City Suns Talk 🎙️ (@BurnCitySuns) March 26, 2024

The Spurs won the turnover game by a 15-7 margin. That's 15 times the Suns left points on the board and gave San Antonio extra opportunities to stay in the game when it looked like Phoenix could break the game open.

First Quarter Woes

Much of the discourse around the way the Suns have performed this season has been built around being historically poor in fourth quarters of games.

The Suns haven't been overtly horrible in recent fourth frames despite letting the game slip away late last night.

The first quarter of the game last night in which the Suns scored 22 points was what truly cost them the matchup. The recent lulls in first quarters can even be pinpointed to the lackluster effort early in a game that ended up being a victory against the Atlanta Hawks.

At the end of the day, the Suns are far too talented of a squad to have such obvious lapses in play and time is ticking to figure things out.