The Suns have lost five in a row to start the seven game home-stand. After looking like this young group had turned the corner during their impressive eastern road-trip, the Suns are back to the drawing board trying to find solutions.

The Suns have an opportunity to create some momentum again playing a Charlotte Hornets team that played on Saturday against Denver. It’s a winnable game for this Suns team, these are three keys to game.

New Starting Lineup/Come out with energy

One problem in particular for the Suns has been the slow starts, the starting lineup is not working at the moment.

“I don’t know. That’s not in my job description, but hopefully we figure it out. Maybe mix up a couple of lineups, let’s try it. I don’t know, we’ll see.” – star guard Devin Booker said when asked about the slow starts.

It’s a problem that needs to be fixed before Sunday’s game against Charlotte. I think a lineup of Booker – Bridges – Oubre – Warren – Ayton should be the starting five.

As I have written in the past, Melton is a solid backup point guard in the league but his offensive limitations at the moment have been hurting the team to start games. Booker as the primary handler has proved to be the best option for the Suns in the Kokoskov system, they need to go back to it. Booker is currently in the 98th percentile for play-making this season per the Bball Index database he was in the 95th percentile last season.

Contain Kemba Walker

The Hornets offense is built around their All-Star point guard Kemba Walker, as Walker goes the Hornets go. First year head coach James Borrego likes to put Walker in different actions that allow him to attack from the center of the floor.

One action the Hornets run that they call is “Horns Double” – this is a clip of the set ran where Walker is able to do his thing attacking from the middle of the floor.

If the Suns elect to go in drop coverage throughout this game it will be a good test for rookie center Deandre Ayton to stay in front of the shifty Walker. Another Double Drag action the Hornets run is “55” – again it is designed for Walker to attack from the center of the floor. If teams elect to hard hedge or trap him, they have capable shooters such as Marvin Williams.

The Suns will have to be prepared with their coverage against Kemba Walker, if not he will make them pay. My philosophy against a team with a star player like this is to take him out of the game and make someone else beat you whether that it Jeremy Lamb or Marvin Williams.

Play 48 Minutes

The Suns have played well in spurts this home-stand, playing well when the other teams seems to have taken a big lead. As I mentioned in the first key you have to get off to a good start but sustain the level of play for the entire 48 minutes of the game. The consistent effort is something this young group has to understand, you have to play consistently hard the entire to game to win at this level.

I think the Suns come out with a win on Sunday against the Hornets. They match-up well with lengthy defenders that can frustrate Walker and I think Ayton will show he’s a better PnR defender than people think. Although, beating the Hornets at home when they played the day before in Denver is nothing to celebrate, it should give the Suns some positive vibes before finishing the home-stand against Sacramento.