The middle of the Phoenix Suns (20-20) season remains a disaster. First, they came out shooting less than 40% from the field, then Chris Paul goes down with a sore hip. They’ve now lost 13 of their last 17 games.
The Suns kept it close with spirited defensive effort, even getting Miami’s lead down to one (74-73) late in the third quarter, but never could keep it up and eventually went down painfully and inexorably to a methodical Miami Heat (21-19) team that needed the win as badly as the Suns did.
They pulled within six points, 102-96, with just over a minute left but did not convert their next possession and Miami closed it out.