Sloppy Suns giving away games

There are many ways to measure the Suns' lack of comfort with their offense so far, and the numbers in black and white when it comes to turnovers aren't any more comforting than the current frustration level in the Phoenix dressing room.

Even when the Suns threw the ball all over the floor and pushed the gas pedal at every opportunity in past seasons, they were able to take care of the basketball and create enough turnovers themselves to balance the books. But as the Suns have slowed the pace and struggled to grasp a happy medium between a set offense and a shift to up-tempo, the turnovers have been coming fast and furious on the offensive end and tough to come by on defense.

Not only are the Suns second-worst in the league when it comes to committing turnovers (16.61 a game), they are also second-worst in the league at creating turnovers (12.46). That means the Suns are giving the ball to the other team more than four more times a game (4.15), twice as many as any other team in the league and far too many for a team that fancies itself a contender.

Thursday's 105-92 loss to the Lakers, who far and away lead the league in turnover differential at plus-5.00 a game, couldn't have made the problem any plainer. The Suns committed 15 turnovers that led directly to 21 Laker points, while the Suns forced only seven turnovers and collected only seven points off them.

That's 14 points for the Lakers, who led by as many as 18 and won by 13. The Lakers would likely have won anyway, but the Suns gift-wrapped it.

"That's something we have to get under control," Porter said. "We have been fighting that since Day One, and we just have to solve that problem. We can't go into games giving up 20 points (off turnovers) and expect to win against quality teams, playoff-caliber teams. We have to do a much better job and get the turnovers down to 13 or 12. In this league, bad turnovers and bad shots turn into easy baskets on the other end, and you just can't afford that."

Six Suns committed at least two turnovers Thursday. Shaquille O'Neal, who is handling the ball as much as point guard Steve Nash when the Suns are in slow-down mode, had four in 27 minutes - usually while being double-teamed in the post.

"Some of the turnovers come when we're trying to make the right play. But you can see possessions where we're just careless, very carefree. If we can just eliminate the looseness, trying to squeeze the ball into a situation where nothing is going to happen, we'll be just fine. The way we're playing now, you can't win a lot of games against anyone, let alone playoff-caliber teams."

Tonight, the Suns play a Portland team that gives up a league-low 12.41 turnovers a night, so limiting their own miscues is paramount. But they have a good vibe when it comes to playing the Blazers - Phoenix has won 10 straight, including a 107-96 home win three weeks ago.

After going 1-3 in a tough stretch against playoff teams - beating Detroit and losing to Houston, Utah and the Lakers - the Suns can make some hay in another soft spot in the schedule if they can beat the 7-5 Blazers.

Next week, Phoenix visits Oklahoma City (1-11) and Minnesota (2-8) before returning home to face Miami (6-6) and New Jersey (4-6) - a team they blew out on the road earlier this month.

Porter also lamented the missed shots from point-blank range against the Lakers and pointed to a game-changing sequence in the third period as an example. On back-to-back possessions, Amaré Stoudemire missed uncontested layups only to have the Lakers turn them into fast-break 3-pointers - one by Vladimir Radmanovic, the other by Derek Fisher.

"We had a lot of shots like that. We just have to gather ourselves and get up there and dunk 'em," Porter said.

Blazers at Suns

When: 7 p.m. today

Where: US Airways Center

Radio: KTAR (620 AM)

TV: FSN Arizona

Time to turn over a new leaf

The Suns have averaged 16.61 turnovers in their first 13 games of the season, 29th among the 30 NBA teams. Worse yet, they are committing more than four turnovers a game (4.15) than their opponents - not only dead last in the league but twice as bad as any other team. Saturday the Suns face Portland, which commits the fewest turnovers in the league (12.41) and has the league's fifth-best turnover differential (minus-1.41).

TURNOVER DIFFERENTIAL

No. Team Turnovers Opposition Diff.

1. L.A. Lakers 13.50 18.50 -5.00

2. Miami 12.83 17.00 -4.16

3. New Orleans 13.10 14.70 -1.60

4. Cleveland 13.66 15.25 -1.58

28. Sacramento 16.07 14.15 +1.92

29. Philadelphia 16.36 14.27 +2.09

30. Phoenix 16.61 12.46 +4.15