The Phoenix Suns were well on their way to a sixth consecutive victory until they allowed 47 fourth-quarter points on Sunday.
The Suns look to rebound from that stunning collapse when they visit the struggling Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday night.
Phoenix led by 22 points with under 10 minutes remaining before losing 124-122 to the visiting Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks made 16 of 25 field-goal attempts in the 47-point final period after scoring just 20 in the third quarter.
“I thought overall in the fourth, we lost our way at different points,” Suns coach Jordan Ott said of the collapse. “At that point, you just gotta regain your composure, execute a little bit offensively and then just get one stop, and then the snowball goes the other way.”
Offseason acquisition Dillon Brooks scored a season-best 34 points and Devin Booker added 27 for Phoenix.
Asked about blowing the lead, the volatile Brooks was more interested in talking about the officiating crew. Phoenix was called for 10 fouls in the final 12 minutes compared to four for Atlanta. The Hawks went 11-of-13 from the line in the quarter while the Suns shot 4-of-5.
“I seen us playing seven against five,” Brooks said. “Emotional refs, they’re making calls out of emotion and smirking while they’re making the calls. That should be reviewed.”
Brooks was 14-of-25 from the field and knocked down a team-best three 3-pointers during his second consecutive stellar game. He shot 12-of-18 from the field and scored 32 points in Thursday’s 133-98 win over the visiting Indiana Pacers.
Phoenix won by an average of 18.2 points during its five-game winning streak.
Now it faces a Portland squad that completed a 1-4 road trip by losing 138-133 in overtime to the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.
Interim coach Tiago Splitter wasn’t thrilled with coming up short in a game that his team led by as many as 12 points.
“You want to play hard every game but also you have to be smarter, especially defensively,” Splitter said.
Shaedon Sharpe scored a season-high 36 points but shot just 12-of-32. The 22-year-old topped 30 points in three of the past four games.
Deni Avdija added 29 points and Jerami Grant had 26 for the Trail Blazers. Avdija has topped 20 points in eight straight games and failed to reach the mark just once in 13 games.
But the absence of guard Jrue Holiday (right calf) hurt badly as Dallas scored 33 points in the fourth quarter and 20 in overtime.
It marked the third time during the five-game excursion that Portland gave up at least 136 points.
“It happens,” Splitter said. “You go back to the basics — defense, offense, get better.
“This is the NBA. It’s 82 games like this and you have a back-to-back coming up. It is what it is.”
The Trail Blazers host the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday.
It is not known yet whether Holiday will be back on the floor Tuesday.
Suns guard Grayson Allen (right quadriceps) sat out against the Hawks and his status remains uncertain.
Phoenix and Portland split the two-game series last season with the home team winning each time.
–Field Level Media
