Suns drop 16th consecutive game
CLEVELAND – The skid continues. Phoenix looked to come out of the NBA All-Star break refreshed, recharged and ready to put an end to all this losing.
The Suns instead dropped what is now a franchise record 16th consecutive game, 111-98, Thursday night against a team that is having just as bad of a season as them – the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Kelly Oubre Jr. got his first start with the Suns. Scored 23 points. Didn’t matter. Phoenix still lost. The Suns erased a 10-point deficit with a 12-1 run to take a 72-71 lead late in third quarter.
Didn’t matter. Cleveland answered with a 12-0 run that carried over into the fourth to go up 11. Jordan Clarkson and former Suns forward Marquese Chriss got it going with back-to-back threes.
Now Phoenix will continue this three-game road trip Saturday at Atlanta and conclude it Monday against Miami. Before making this cross country trek, Devin Booker called these games “winnable” ones. “Fresh start," Booker said. "We have a stretch of games, very winnable games for us: Cleveland, Atlanta, Miami. So, about to go out east for the last time, and hopefully we'll come out with some big wins."
The following night, Phoenix lost to the Cavaliers by double digits. How rare is that for Cleveland? The Cavs came into the game with only three double-digit victories. They hadn’t had one since Dec. 8 when beating Washington by 15.
Two months later, Cleveland buries Phoenix with a 34-26 fourth quarter that included four threes.
Now the Cavs have Kevin Love back from injury as he’s been out seemingly forever – 50 games – with toe injury. He put in work with 16 points and 11 rebounds, but he didn’t play the fourth quarter.
This is part of Love’s return from injury.
So Phoenix had a chance to put away the Cavaliers in the money quarter. They instead gave up layup, dunks and threes as Cleveland shot 13-of-18 from the field in the fourth.
After Phoenix lost by 27 at Los Angeles against the Clippers going into the all-star break, Igor Kokoskov felt that the Suns need an “escape”
“We’re all going to get to escape from each other,” Kokoskov said. “I think we all need that escape emotionally from losing games, but we are who we are as a group. We belong here and if we want to change something, we have to do it as a group. Starting from each individual, understanding that we need to change.”
The Suns were unable to escape losing.
They could’ve used TJ Warren, but he remains out with right ankle soreness.
The team’s second-leading scorer missed his 11 straight games. Kokoskov said before the game it’s a matter of whether he can tolerate the pain of the injury.
Still, this was a winnable game for Phoenix. The Suns had many incentives to win.
End a 15-game losing skid. Avoid losing to a team that’s having just as bad a season as them. Made a change in the starting lineup. Didn’t matter.
The skid continues.