Suns vs. Mavericks: Satisfaction gained in close loss?

The Phoenix Suns fell just short against the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday -- a game in which they trailed by double digits (15 points) at one point. They committed mistake after mistake in the first half and the first part of the second half but managed to claw their way back to tie it, falling just short of escaping with the win.

That leaves SB Nation's Bright Side of the Sun to ask the question: does a last-second loss count as satisfaction? They break down the game in their recap, and it wasn't pretty for a while there. Here's some of the more negative comments:

This one had the Mavericks up by 15 points within the first seven minutes of the third. Hey guess what? Another double-digit deficit! Even a couple of substitutions by Gentry did not help stem the tide. Missed free throws, missed layups, balls bouncing right to the Mavericks combined with their hot shooting. Everything that could go wrong for the Suns, went wrong for the Suns. The Suns missed 13 of their first 14 shots in the third quarter.

But back to the question at hand -- the one of whether there is satisfaction in a very close loss. The fans commenting on the piece certainly weren't happy, though they're more concerned with the big picture. When a team battles back from a 15-point deficit, the fan tends to ignore the battling-back aspect and focus more on why the team was in that hole in the first place.