1. Bad Losses At Home
…Which brings us to the biggest thing that could come back to haunt the playoff-hopeful Suns.
We can gripe about lucky buzzer-beaters, the early return of OKC’s superstars or the brutality of the West all we want, but at the end of the day, if the Suns fall short of the postseason again, they’ll have no one to blame but themselves after some bad losses at home early in the season.
First, the Suns lost at home on Nov. 14 to the Charlotte Hornets, a team that didn’t hit its stride until just recently. Then there was a three-point loss at US Airways Center against the lowly Orlando Magic. Midway through December, Phoenix again underwhelmed at home, falling to the Detroit Pistons…who still had Josh Smith at the time.
But wait, there’s more! Three days later, that heartbreaker against the Bucks happened. And all of this excludes home losses to mediocre teams like the Sacramento Kings (two points, double overtime) or the Miami Heat (six points).
The Suns are only 13-8 at home, and if the Suns had taken care of business against Charlotte, Orlando, Detroit and Milwaukee, they’d be seventh in the standings right now.
Then again, if my aunt had balls, she’d be my uncle.
Last season, the Suns dropped a crucial game at the end of March against the Los Angeles Lakers and wound up missing the postseason by one game. That embarrassing defeat was the one that Phoenix looked back on and regretted. If the Suns fall short again this season, they’ll have more than one bad home loss to regret.
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