The Suns seemed to have taken a step forward after their thrilling comeback win against the Memphis Grizzlies behind Devin Booker’s late game heroics.

On Tuesday night the Suns had an opportunity to build on that momentum in a match-up against the Brooklyn Nets. Unfortunately, the Suns came out flat-footed and suffered another blow-out loss.

Booker spoke to the media about taking a step forward, then a step back, saying, ” I mean, it sucks, man…We thought last game would be our step forward and definitely took a step back tonight”

Kokoskov added, “We made three step backwards”. In addition, the Suns effort level not there throughout the game as Kokoskov mentioned, “Focus wasn’t there, body language wasn’t there, effort wasn’t there”. If you are missing all three of those components as a basketball team there is a problem that needs to be solved.

Defense Sets the Tone

The Suns did not have the best defensive showing on Tuesday night; however, I thought there were still some positive signs to take away from the game.

One aspect of the game that separates elite defensive teams in the league is calling opposing teams sets. The Suns have been behind compared to other teams in this part of the game – two main reasons for that are – the amount of young players on the roster the last couple years – and coaching turnover.

The addition of veteran point guard Isaiah Canaan can help establish the culture in the Phoenix. In this clip Canaan calls out the Nets ‘Thumb Up’ set – a staple in the former Suns coach Earl Watson’s offense – an action Stotts ran in Portland for Allen Crabbe.

We have seen Canaan doing a good job of “quarterbacking” the defense this season. This is another clip from opening night where Canaan calls out a Mavericks set helping everyone get on the same page.

Veteran leadership on the court should continue to help start somewhere.

The insertion of Richaun Holmes and Mikal Bridges into the rotation will continue to be key moving forward on the defensive end. This is a Zipper PnR set that is a staple in the Kenny Atkinson offense. Although LeVert scores in the first clip, I thought overall the Suns did a good job, Ayton looked better containing PnR as well.

Another staple in the Atkinson offense is ‘Motion Strong’. This is one of the better defensive possessions the Suns have had all season, the Holmes – Bridges combo needs more minutes.

Kokoskov mentioned the focus and effort levels were not there throughout the game. This is a designed SLOB set the Nets run with the empty corner allowing LeVert to beat Ariza back-door – it perfectly illustrates the need for more focus, effort and communication on the defensive end.

Offensive Sets

A good action to analyze from this game is the Suns ‘Pistol’ series. Going back to the San Antonio game from earlier in the home stand the Suns were struggling to get Ayton switched onto a smaller guard out of there ‘Pistol 5’ set.

In the first two clips Ayton is able to get a smaller guard switched onto him against the Mavericks, against the Spurs it was a different story.

It was the same story against the Nets where Ayton was not able to get switched onto a smaller guard.

In this clip Ariza has to motion to Crawford to set the cross-screen, can tell the players are not fully in rhythm with the offense at the moment.

James Jones touched on that topic when asked about the team’s effort saying, “Effort also comes with knowing and understanding where you are going and what you are doing…being uncertain can be construed as lacking effort”

Throughout the game the Suns looked out of sync running Pistol action. Kokoskov elected to run Pistol for the first four possessions of the second half.

In the second clip, Ariza instructs Anderson what to do exactly, that is another sign the teams has not found it’s rhythm together as a unit. With the primary options not there in the last two clips, Ayton looks confused and results in a missed shot and turnover.

The Suns continued to run Pistol action into the fourth quarter, this time running a familiar ‘Pistol Flare’ set we have seen Earl Watson run in the past.

I am not a huge fan of running Booker off flare screens, we have seen enough of that not working.

Moving forward the Suns need to iron out the details of their execution on both sides of the ball. With a new coaching coaching staff coming in it can be a challenge to get everyone on the same page and to find a rhythm; however, there are no excuses if you are trying to win basketball games at this level.

The Suns have to find a way to figure it out sooner rather than later.

Photo by Michael Gonzales/NBAE via Getty Images