The Phoenix Suns ended their two-game preseason with two losses to the Denver Nuggets. The Suns looked decent in the first half, but things fell apart in the second with Steve Nash only playing 10 minutes (26 total for the game).
Denver took a 77-71 lead into the fourth quarter before the Suns offense, with mostly reserve players, were unable to score for 3:20 until guard Shannon Brown hit a three-point shot.
Considering the rotations played, the Suns weren't horrible but they clearly are going to struggle again this season when Nash isn't on the floor. The Denver Nuggets bench had too much talent for the Suns to handle and they didn't play several of their top guys including Nene, Al Harrington and Ty Lawson.
"We've got a lot of work to do -- at the end of the day we have a lot of work that we've got to getdone and we have a very short time to do it in before we start playing games that count," coach Alvin Gentry.
Positives from the game were the strong play of rookie Markieff Morris and the continued scoring from Hakim Warrick. Jared Dudley was his usual solid self and Robin Lopez played a good game starting in place of the injured Marcin Gortat.
"Coach has confidence in me to just go out there and play basketball and have fun," Morris said.
The Suns were led by 17 points from Jared Dudley. Hakim Warrick added 15 and Shannon Brown, 14. The Suns shot just 38 percent from the field and turned the ball over 19 times and were out-rebounded 54-40 with most of the damage coming in the second half.
Visit Bright Side of the Sun for more discussion.
For all the latest AZ sports news, follow us on Twitter @SBNArizona and "Like" us on Facebook.