Suns dig too big of a hole to recover
Western Conference losing streak reaches eight games
SALT LAKE CITY - There are worse places for the Suns to visit than Utah, like 20-point holes and a defensive abyss.
They toured all their dreaded spots Tuesday night, and all of it went as poorly as one might imagine.
The West in general has been no place for the Suns to be, but they did have an October memory that kept hope alive. Recalling a preseason win at Vivint Smart Home Arena after trailing by 30, the Suns nearly washed away a 23-point gap this time against Utah before losing 112-105 to extend their Western Conference losing streak to eight games.
The Suns had a dreadful opening to the game and an overall poor first half before finding a semblance of offense in the third quarter without the defense to make it matter. They trailed 94-73 before a seemingly harmless quarter-ending slam by Alex Len started a massive turnaround.
The Suns bench fueled a 30-9 run that brought them into a tie with 3:01 to play that was the game’s first deadlock since 0-0.
Utah (14-9) was the team playing the second night of a back-to-back, as Phoenix will Wednesday at home against Indiana, but the Suns' reserves ran out of steam with five consecutive scoreless possessions after tying the game.
Suns guard Brandon Knight had a 10point, three-assist fourth quarter and got fouled on a scoring drive with 37.3 seconds to go. But he missed his free throw to leave the Utah lead at two and Rudy Gobert punctuated the victory with a reverse alley-oop to cap his career-high scoring game of 22 points with 11 rebounds.
Utah’s Gordon Hayward scored a game-high 28 points.
For the third time in the past four games, the Suns allowed more than 60 points in the first half, which is no way for a 6-15 team to give itself much of a chance to win and a surefire way to lose to a Utah team that had kept the Suns to less than 90 points in each of the previous five consecutive series wins.
The Jazz, the NBA’s slowest-paced team, won for the seventh time in the past eight games, even as starters Derrick Favors and George Hill and key reserve Alec Burks remained out. Utah often plays with the precision that the Suns showed they lack by having 13 first-half turnovers.
The Suns trailed by 20 at halftime for the second time in the past four games. After giving up more than 60 points in the first half for the seventh time in 21 games this season, the Suns were enough of a disaster for much of the game that Utah’s mascot ran yellow caution tape behind the Suns bench during the second half.
Suns guard Devin Booker scored 12 of his team-high 21 points in the third quarter as the offense cleaned up, but it could not make a dent in Utah’s big lead.