No excuses for losing to a bad basketball team. None. Especially after having a 21-pt lead in Q3.
The only way to lose that game is to lose focus. Which is precisely what this team has been doing for a few weeks now. As soon as they get any kind of lead, they don’t play with the same effort and focus. They’re developing some very bad habits. And it’s costing them games. The lack of focus is evident on defensive end and rebounding missed shots. It’s evident on the offensive end when they stop moving and sharing the ball.
Once they got up 109-104, I knew the lull was coming again. Most every game they’ve won has been close. Because they can’t play with a lead and completely close teams out. They get too happy with themselves and start playing recklessly and/or ISO. Sometimes they recover and hold on. Other times BS like tonight happens. And it’s been happening too much as of late.
Oddly, when they trail most of a game, the focus is different and they never seem to stop playing. But when they are in control of a game, the exact opposite happens. They stop playing. They haven’t learned how to stay focused regardless of the situation.
Lastly, I don’t wanna hear about Kelly Oubre either. PHX is still a bad basketball team with him. The Kings took an easy win and a +.500 record and flushed it down the toilet with lackadasical play. There’s no other way to spin it.
They’d better learn from their mistakes soon or this playoff pipe dream will be over before the month of January is done. Believe it.