PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns will hope to prove the only way is up after their disastrous 124-83 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers in their season opener Wednesday night.
Pretty much nothing went right for the Suns in this game, as they trailed by as many as 52 points, but they have a great opportunity to rebound in their home opener Saturday night against the Golden State Warriors.
Here are three keys for the Suns to move past their season opener:
Learn From It and Move On
This is quite simple, but the Suns cannot let the first game be a defining moment of their season.
They now have film to watch and a lot to take away from what went wrong, and they are going to have to hone in on correcting their mistakes moving forward.
Coach Jordan Ott had a pretty clear message after the loss that it was just one game of 82, but the key for the Suns is to not let the loss send them into a spiral.
Instead, Phoenix needs to get back to playing its usual hard-nosed brand of basketball and leave the defeat in the past.
Figure Out Size/Center Problem
The size problems that were an issue for the Suns last season showed up again against Portland, even though they had a clear focus on getting bigger wings this offseason.
To make matters worse, Oso Ighodaro left with a right hip injury, so Phoenix could be without him and Mark Williams, who is sidelined for multiple months with a torn labrum in his left shoulder, for the foreseeable future.
Now, Khaman Maluach and the rest of the group are going to have to figure out their defensive rebounding problems and stopping drives to the rim.
There were too many times last year where the Suns were just overwhelmed against bigger teams, and they cannot let that be a theme again this year.
Playing to Their Identity, 3-Point Shooting
Things quickly snowballed out of control for the Suns, who went down 21-0 early, and they did not show the same grit and effort that defined them last season.
The Suns said multiple times during training camp they want to only build off the identity they established, so they need to prove they are able to and not make a habit of putting together a showing like Wednesday night.
Beginning on Saturday, Phoenix will have to play faster and knock down a lot more 3-pointers after converting on just 6-of-32 (18.8%) attempts against Portland.
Luke Kennard could be a big help with this after missing the opener with a knee injury, but other Suns such as Devin Booker and Collin Gillespie also need to find some rhythm from deep.
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