The Phoenix Suns all but appeared to be on their way to their seventh consecutive victory. Phoenix was up by as much as 16 through the initial stages of their eventual 122-121 defeat to the Houston Rockets on Friday.
Phoenix, now at 15-7 on the year, look to regroup in a road trip to San Antonio on Sunday afternoon to battle the Spurs.
Aside from the free throw discrepancy (43-19 in favor of Houston), the Suns would have loved to limit any of their 17 turnovers on the night.
Cameron Payne, again starting for Chris Paul, managed to nab 20 points on the night but was more concerned about the things he didn't do in the loss.
For as bad as the Suns played in the second half, Phoenix nearly escaped with a win. Monty Williams allowed his group of guys down the court with an opportunity to win, refusing to call a timeout.
Payne said he wouldn't have changed anything about how the game ended:
“Nah, go play. I feel like we had good looks. Book (Devin Booker) had two good shots; I had a good shot. We got offensive rebounds; I mean we couldn’t have asked for a better shot," Payne said.
"I mean we could’ve called a timeout, but we would have allowed them to set their defense. Allowed them to hit (Devin) Booker or something, trap Book. We just played; shoot I am taking it. That is fine, if Book would’ve hit that shot, we wouldn’t be talking about no timeout.”
The Suns hope to learn quickly from their mistakes and bounce back on Sunday, but it's certain that Payne and his teammates aren't taking their loss lightly.
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