Throughout the playoffs, we are going to be looking at the teams that lost their last game and look at what they can do to try and get a win.

When you think of the Suns, you think of a fast-breaking run and gun style that leads to a ton of transition points.  However, according to Synergy (which is now available to everyone – and it’s awesome), the Suns only were able to score 4 points in transition on 7 opportunities.  The Blazers are trying so hard to contain the Suns transition game that when the Suns do get opportunities to score on the break, they really need to take advantage of it:

When you think about the Suns’ transition game, you think of the free-wheeling style where they aren’t afraid to pull jumpers running 1 on 3.  However, the Blazers did such a good job of getting back the entire game it seemed like the Suns tried to force their transition opportunities.  Here, Goran Dragic takes the inbounds pass and runs it upcourt.  Instead of hitting Leandro Barbosa on the wing, Dragic forces it and attempts a contested lay-up.  He misses it.

Here is another transition opportunity for the Suns.  After the rebound, the ball is quickly placed into Steve Nash’s hands.  As this happens Jared Dudley does a fantastic job of busting it downcourt and getting to an area where he spaces the court out.  Of course, Nash finds him, however after making the catch Dudley does a poor job of finishing.  He kind of shies away from the contact and that leads to the block.  If you want to get picky, you can also say he should have hit Barbosa in the corner for the open three, but that would have been a tough pass.

The Suns missed three more opportunities in similar fashion.  In all, that is 5 chances wasted which could have lead to 10 points.  In a game decided by 5 points, 10 points that the Suns’ didn’t get looks pretty important.