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Even though we lost some tough ones at the end, I think its mind-blowing to think that we would be in the playoffs had we won at least half of the 14 losses against the Jazz, Lakers, Kings, Pistons, Knicks, Cavs, TWolves, Bulls (one L was when they were awful), Nets (one L was when they were awful) and Wizards (when they were bad)

Of course we beat a lot of the elite teams too. And things would be a lot different if Bledsoe never got hurt.

Its just crazy because in sports we hear HCs harp "every game matters" all the time but right here right now, we are able to see the significance it.

Even though these last 3 games were tough to watch, I feel like the other losses vs the subpar/bad teams are really what did us in when looking at the big picture.

even contenders lose to bad teams. Considering we were not even supposed to be a .500 team, this isn't that crazy

Calvin Klein wrote:even contenders lose to bad teams. Considering we were not even supposed to be a .500 team, this isn't that crazy

I don't think any of the playoff teams in the West lost to bad teams as much as we did.

Of course I wouldn't expect any team to beat bad teams all season long. That's why I said "half" in the OP which means we would have still lost 7 games.

Our inability to play a full 48 minutes really hurt us. How many games did we have double-digit leads only to lose the game? Had to be close to 10.

Some of those loses came when someone or somebody was hurt.
I wouldn't look at it like that if your going to pin point what could of changed it was the trade deadline.

We have to live with it

I really think the downfall was losing Bledsoe from late December to mid-March. We only played about .500 ball for over that timeframe going 17-16. With Bledsoe we were playing at .633 which would have been 20-13. Our overall record would have over 50 wins.

Grizzlies and Mavs have also had some bad losses.. We need to give them a break. They have overachieved and shown some great signs, but more work is needed which we already knew regardless of playoffs or not.

Fact is, we would have easily made the play offs if Bledsoe didn't get injured.

I remember that Jazz home game we lost in January I believe... I was in flagstaff watching the game like wtf. A lot of games we could look back and wish we won, but ultimately we had the chance to get in by beating the teams we were fighting spots for and we didn't. They wanted it and deserved it. We didn't.

Calvin Klein wrote:even contenders lose to bad teams. Considering we were not even supposed to be a .500 team, this isn't that crazy

Contenders lose to bad teams because the regular season is not a big priority to them. They know that the playoffs are all that matters and therefore they don't half to go all in every game. When you're a team like the Suns, you can't afford to play relaxed or take a day off.

SunsFanSSOL wrote:

Calvin Klein wrote:even contenders lose to bad teams. Considering we were not even supposed to be a .500 team, this isn't that crazy

Contenders lose to bad teams because the regular season is not a big priority to them. They know that the playoffs are all that matters and therefore they don't half to go all in every game. When you're a team like the Suns, you can't afford to play relaxed or take a day off.

Dude, I have heard Hornacek say that exact line a bunch of times this season.

Did you get that from him?

SF88 wrote:

SunsFanSSOL wrote:

Calvin Klein wrote:even contenders lose to bad teams. Considering we were not even supposed to be a .500 team, this isn't that crazy

Contenders lose to bad teams because the regular season is not a big priority to them. They know that the playoffs are all that matters and therefore they don't half to go all in every game. When you're a team like the Suns, you can't afford to play relaxed or take a day off.

Dude, I have heard Hornacek say that exact line a bunch of times this season.

Did you get that from him?

No, but I guess great minds think alike.

SunsFanSSOL wrote:

SF88 wrote:

SunsFanSSOL wrote:
Contenders lose to bad teams because the regular season is not a big priority to them. They know that the playoffs are all that matters and therefore they don't half to go all in every game. When you're a team like the Suns, you can't afford to play relaxed or take a day off.

Dude, I have heard Hornacek say that exact line a bunch of times this season.

Did you get that from him?

No, but I guess great minds think alike.

Ha must be so. He always says how sometimes the Suns players think they can just show up against weaker opponents and win the game instead get embarrassed.

In many respects Dallas was the luckiest team in the West this year because they flew under the radar from a subpar season last year, got a healthy Dirk back, and had really no significant injuries the entire year. One can say that the Mavs achieved quite a bit less than the Grizzlies and the Suns because they barely won more games than two teams with major injuries.

The losses to the bad teams should definitely be improved on, but remember how difficult it can be to beat even bad teams when you do not have the "cred" of being a good team, which was the case with the Suns this year. I think next season everybody will have more confidence, and these same guys will approach every game knowing that they can beat any team, instead of just hoping to do so. It would really make a big difference imo.

This thread should be titled:

The wins against the Blazers, OKC, Spurs, Clippers, Pacers, Rockets...

Every team, good or bad, has these losses. It's just exacerbated because we just missed playoffs. The NBA season is long and gruelling and it's expected that there will be a number of games where teams don't come out 100%. I don't think we would even have this conversation if we have had Bledsoe for another 15-20 games.

But grumpy is right, we should look at the teams we beat (Indy twice IN Indy).

Bottom line is losing big leads against the Clippers, Spurs and Mavericks are what did us in. We should of had those 3 games and the Memphis game wouldn't of mattered.