Losing 12 of their first 28 games isn't easy for the Suns to swallow no matter who the opponent is. After averaging 58 wins over the last four seasons, they're not used to losing so often. And a Christmas Day loss to the Spurs continued a disturbing trend of coming up short against the elite teams in the Western Conference.
But some solace can be taken in the fact that the Suns' losses have come to teams with a combined .605 winning percentage (179-117) going into Monday. Only one loss has come against a team with a losing record -- Chicago, which began the day a half-game out of the final Eastern Conference playoff spot. There are no real clunkers in the lot and the Suns kept that trend going with a win over the Thunder that won't be sent to the Hall of Fame but that counted nonetheless.
Now the Suns head to Memphis on Tuesday, followed by home games against the Los Angeles Clippers and Indiana. If you include the Thunder game, that's four opponents with a combined record of 31-90 (.344).
Those four wins could get the Suns to the 20-win mark and back among the thick of the Western Conference leaders. The Suns are 8-1 against under-.500 teams this year, while the Thunder remains winless (0-18) against winning teams.
"We had to do a lot of adjusting and a lot of changing during a difficult point in the schedule," Suns coach Terry Porter said. "We've had some games we'd like to have back. We certainly felt like we played well enough against the Spurs to win. But you can't get them back. Now you have to look forward, play the games on the schedule and work to improve so you don't make the same mistakes again."
Will Jason Richardson find his place in the offense? Will Leandro Barbosa, now once again the backup point guard, make the most of reduced minutes and a different role? Can Dee Brown or Jared Dudley, who both made their first contributions as Suns in the win over the Thunder, help out more down the road?
The Suns want to experiment. They need tweaking. But they have to keep beating the have-nots to keep pace with the teams they have struggled against to this point.
SUNS 110, THUNDER 102: The Suns haven't had an easy time against the 3-29 Thunder, but they rebounded from a double-digit deficit for the second time in just over a month in Oklahoma City to pull out a win.
Steve Nash lasted only nine minutes due to back spasms and Amare Stoudemire played only 23 minutes due to foul trouble, but Shaquille O'Neal stepped up with 28 points and 12 rebounds while Jason Richardson added 20 and Matt Barnes had 19 off the bench. The Suns are 8-1 against teams with losing records this season, and have beaten the Thunder seven straight times.
