In the Suns 105-101 victory over the hapless Milwaukee Bucks last evening, a disturbing trend continued with the Suns once again coughing up a double-digit lead. The Suns starters amassed a 36-15 lead after the first quarter of play. In the case of many teams, this would be a prime opportunity to get the players on the end of the bench some work and rest the starters before embarking on a road trip. This of course is the not the case with the Phoenix Suns. They have coughed up sizable leads in their last 4 games: Sacramento (20) Houston (16), Miami (13), and Milwaukee (24). Luckily for the Suns, they were able to come back andwin three out four of these games. Against better teams such as the Portland Trailblazers and Denver Nuggets in past weeks the Suns also coughed up leads of 15 and 17 respectively to go on to lose.

Alvin Gentry was visably upset in last night’s game against the Bucks. Gentry went as far as throwing his clipboard at one point. Honestly can you blame the man? The Suns are playing like an NBA title contender in the 1st quarter of games and then revert to complacency and the lead is all but evaporated by the 3rd quarter. The million dollar question to this problem is then what is causing this to happen over and over?

The answer to this question is not that simple of course. However, a couple of recent trends can be pointed at as the root of the problem. First and foremost is the energy level coming off the bench. That 2nd team lead by Leandro Barbosa and Jared Dudley seem to be low on intensity when they enter the game. This was not the case 3 weeks ago, as the bench would come in andscrap for every rebound and every loose ball. Typically they were actually expanding the lead for the Suns. This is simply not the case anymore. Dudley specifically seems content launching 3-pointers rather than getting into the mix on the offensive boards. Granted, Dudley has shown that he is a marksman from downtown, but he is not doing what earned him playing time in the first place, hustle and solid defense. Goran Dragic has reverted back to some of his old tendencies of running with his head down and not seeing wide open teammates. This can be seen clearly in the fact that in the last 48 minutes of playing time he only has 5 assists. This is simply not good enough in the Suns fast-paced offense. I think it is perhaps time to consider looking for a feasible back-up for Steve Nash at the trade deadline. This is not to say completely give up on Goran Dragic, but someone needs to be at least pushing him to play better.

Team/Player Photos: San Antonio Spurs v Phoenix Suns on Jul 23, 2010

The bench is not the only one to blame in this case either. The disappearing act that Amare Stoudemire is playing lately is a little disheartening. Amare is getting off to torrid starts in the first half of games and then seems to disappear in the offense. I am not sure whether this is Amare not being assertive enough or that he is simply not being given the ball enough. Either way, Amare needs to be the number one scoring option for the Suns. Steve Nash has had an amazing season thus far. However in the last few weeks his turnover numbers have been ridiculously high. Over the last 6 games, Nash is averaging over 6 turnovers a game. This is in conjunction with 11.5 assists, which is less than the magic 2 to 1 ratio that teams want out of their Point Guards. Watching these games, I realize the turnovers aren’t always his fault, but a little ball control could be helpful to prevent teams from getting back into games.

The Suns now head on the road to face Indiana, Atlanta, Charlotte and Memphis. These are all winnable games for the Suns who have struggled recently on the road. They will need to stay focused for 48 minutes a game or this could be a miserable road trip.