Is the Suns’ Crash to Earth Permanent, Or Just a Bump in the Road?

With two consecutive lopsided losses at the hands of the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers, the Phoenix Suns are one worried 14-5 team.

The Suns broke their remarkable 17 game streak of scoring at least 100 points in the two losses, and the losses themselves were absolutely atrocious. They lost by 27 points to the woeful Knicks, and they lost by 17 to the Cavs, but the games themselves were much worse.

Phoenix Suns

In the loss to the Knicks, the team managed an anemic 18 points in the third quarter, and a total of 41 points in the entire second half. Goran Dragic had a terrible game, going 0-for-5 from beyond the arc, and he turned the ball over three times in his 24 minutes on the floor. The starting line-up (Nash, Stoudemire, Hill, Frye, Richardson) was a combined 22-of-46 from the floor, with eight of those baskets being scored by Nash.

The team was a combined 4-of-17 from beyond the arc in that game.

Against the Cavaliers, things were even worse, with the team scoring 29 points in the first half and the starting lineup shooting at a 25-of-63 clip. Steve Nash had more turnovers (six) than assists (five), and Jason Richardson had an abysmal 2-of-11 performance in 31 minutes on the floor.

The Cavs also used their size advantage down low to score 50 points in the paint.

With 17 of their first 26 games on the road, the Suns may finally be starting to feel the effects of having so little time at home. As Steve Nash told espn.com, “we need to get home and get a little time in the gym. We’ve had one practice in the last six to eight weeks. The home games feel like road games because you’re just stopping in for a day or two. But if we can just get through the 17 of 26 in decent shape, it will set the table [for us].”

We're not sure either Amare

Clearly confidence hasn’t been totally lost in the Phoenix locker room, but the veteran Nash definitely didn’t sound like a guy confident that the team could keep up the torrid pace they had established early on.

Another issue facing the Suns is that they are now playing without bench stalwart Leandro Barbosa, who eats up minutes, takes tons of shots, and can run the floor even without Nash in the line-up. His injury couldn’t have come at a worse time, with players like Grant Hill looking like they are starting to feel the effects of the tough road slate the Suns find themselves embroiled in.

So are the Suns on a path to a long sub-par stretch of play, or is this just a minor bump in the road for an otherwise charmed season?

It would appear, looking at the schedule ahead, that the Suns might be in for a bit of a struggle for the remainder of the calendar year. After they take on the Kings at home on Saturday, they head to LA for a divisional date with the Lakers on Sunday, and then they head to Dallas for their third game in four nights on Tuesday.

Just when it would seem that things couldn’t get tougher, Phoenix plays Orlando at home, then gets to play Denver on the road the very next night. Needless to say, four of their next five games are going to be a bit of a struggle, and if they can win one of them, it would have to be viewed as a positive accomplishment.

There are two things working in favor of the Suns, however, that provide perhaps the best insight into whether or not they can keep up the caliber of ball they are playing.

Steve Nash

The first factor is the return of Robin Lopez, which may seem on the surface to be a factor of minimal importance. When you look deeper, however, his return ultimately means that less stress and burden will fall on Channing Frye and Amare Stoudemire to work the defensive glass and grab the occasional offensive board, and that will free up the other two players to spot up and take some jump shots. It also will reduce wear and tear on both Frye and Stoudemire.

The other factor is how home-heavy the schedule gets after this road-heavy portion. For all you mathematicians out there, the Suns will play 32 of their final 56 games at home, including a lengthy 10 out of 12 at US Airways Center from December 19th through the beginning of January. The only two road games in that stretch will be at Golden State and Sacramento, which hardly screams “stern road test”.

After looking at the schedule, and after taking a look at some numbers, it appears that the Suns may just be finally starting to wind down over a grueling stretch of games. They do have it in them to come back, but they need to maintain focus, keep up their intensity, and for God’s sakes, if they continue to play like they did against New York or Cleveland, then not even a date with the Nets on the schedule would look good for this bunch.

Tags: Amare Stoudemire, Channing Frye, Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Knicks, Phoenix Suns, Steve Nash