Suns chilled in loss, Gentry looks ahead

PHOENIX -- The Cliffs Notes edition of the NBA preseason ended Thursday night for the Phoenix Suns, who escaped with some positive karma. And we're about to spin (I mean really spin) through the golden moments of a 110-85 loss to the Denver Nuggets. Just give me a moment. In the meantime, some perspective from Alvin Gentry. "No one ever said it was going to be easy," the Suns' head coach in reference to, well, pretty much everything. OK, here's something worth saluting -- rookie power forward Markieff Morris had really solid first quarter, giving the Suns 6 points, 4 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. Morris finished the game with 12 points, 7 rebounds and 6 fouls. "He did some typical rookie things," Gentry said of the former Kansas Jayhawk. "Right now, he's getting too many little chippy fouls. As he plays more, he's going to be fine." Here's something else that went well: Hakim Warrick, who -- like Morris -- has been backing up Channing Frye at power forward, still seems capable of the occasional offensive eruption. In this instance, Warrick used an isolation commitment to get flowing against Denver rookie Kenneth Faried. Faried goes about 6-foot-6. Oh, here's a really good takeaway from their second loss to Denver in three nights. The Suns' quest for a defensive upgrade was felt by the Nuggets, who managed to shoot a chilly 39 percent through three quarters. Phoenix's convincing, 31-14 loss of the fourth quarter happened after Steve Nash retired for the evening. And, by the way, all of these Phoenix accomplishments occurred without starting center Marcin Gortat (slight non-displaced fracture, right thumb). But the most positive of notes is the one reminding us that none of it counts. Yeah, it matters. It's just an unofficial notice that reaching the Western Conference playoffs would be some hay ride. "We have a lot of work to do," Gentry said. Here's the flip side to the aforementioned positive notations: The Nuggets played without four rotation players (Nene, Ty Lawson, Rudy Fernandez and Al Harrington). The Suns shot just 36.7 percent from the field, an ugly number that was more than bad marksmanship. "We just have to execute better," Gentry said. "Make better cuts, set better screens ... use screens. And then we're going to have to knock down the shots when they're available." The stars of Thursday's winter chill were Frye (0 for 6), Robin Lopez (1 for 6), Grant Hill (2 for 8) and Nash (2 for 9). Even though the offense should have more gusto with Gortat rolling to the rim after a ball screen for Nash, the long-time Phoenix scoring machine seems (for now, at least) like a ghost of seasons past. Hey, back to the bright side. The defense was better for three quarters against half of the Nuggets' regular rotation. Blitzing -- or at least hedging hard -- on ball screens, the Suns were much quicker with the majority of their rotations than during Monday's collapse. But veteran Nuggets point guard Andre Miller figured this out quickly; Miller did a nice job of using the screen, creating the defensive rotation and lobbing to a back-side post player when the Suns cheated early to take away the roll. Beyond those sage maneuvers, the Phoenix defense was compromised by poor offense leading to easy baskets at the other end of the floor. The positive spin on offense can be tracked to Morris, whose dozen points included a demonstration of his mid-range chops and a couple of third-quarter 3s. If the offensive versatility can jibe with his potential toughness on the glass and in the lane, the Suns may have something. Morris, like Gentry, realizes success has a price. "There's just great competition every day," the rookie said when asked to identify the greatest adjustment from college ball to the NBA. "There are no short cuts here. Everyone is too athletic, too skilled." And although it's too early to make any serious judgments, the Suns' attempt for an uprising looks like it may require a reasonable contribution from Morris.