Mavericks streak past Suns

DALLAS - When the Suns lost back-to-back home games over the weekend, Suns coach Terry Porter said he wanted to see the same sense of urgency and effort his team had shown on the road..

Then his team left on a two-game road trip – and proceeded to show none at either stop.

Suns notebook: Last-second shots hurt Suns again

That’s the way things are going these days for the sinking Suns (11-9), who needed less than 20 minutes to spot Dallas a 23-point lead and stretched their longest losing streak in two years to four in an embarrassing 112-97 loss to a Mavericks team that barely has its head above water as well.

The Suns didn’t defend well again – as Dirk Nowitzki drilled them for 39 points, 24 during Dallas’ 64-point first half and continued a trend where opposing stars have had their way with a defense that just isn’t getting any better. The Suns didn’t rebound much again, giving up 15 more offensive rebounds and a 48-35 edge on the glass.

This time, however, they added a new wrinkle by not shooting well (44 percent).

But as Suns general manager Steve Kerr leaned against a wall outside the dressing room afterward, none of the numbers on the stat sheet meant as much as what he saw in his player’s eyes.

 “What’s most disappointing is the lack of passion, commitment and energy. That’s what I’m looking for,” Kerr said. “I want to see five guys who want to play, want to compete. For whatever reason, we’ve lost that in the last few games … and the first half in this game was the worst it has been. We weren’t competing.”

Whether that means a shake-up in the starting lineup – or the roster – is on the horizon remains to be seen. But as good as the Mavericks were at times in winning their eighth game in nine tries, it would have been hard to imagine the Suns beating anyone with the half-hearted display they put forth on both ends Thursday.

The Suns have lost their nine games by an average of 13 points per game.

“Our effort wasn’t good enough,” said guard Steve Nash, who has repeated a similar mantra with spooky regularity this season. “We’ve got to really take more pride in what we’re doing individually and collectively and give a better effort … to give up a 20-point lead at the half, that’s a big concern.”

Nash (20 points, 10 assists) and Amaré Stoudemire (28 points on 11-for-21 shooting) combined for 32 points in the first half. The rest of the Suns combined to miss 16 of 21 shots and had more fouls (nine) than baskets (five), and the matador defense prompted Porter to chew out his team at intermission.

“We allowed those guys to kind of pretty much go wherever they wanted to offensively,” he said. “They got whatever they wanted, got where they wanted to get to and when they missed shots, they ended up getting the offensive rebound.

“We had so many breakdowns early on stuff we should know, and we’ve got to have a better consistency level.

The Suns have now lost four straight games for the first time since their 1-5 start to open the 2006-07 season – when Stoudemire was working his way back from microfracture surgery.

They rebounded to win 61 games that year, but this team looks every bit like the 11-9, eighth-place team that shows up in the standings.

The Suns tried to rally in the second half, using a small lineup to muster a 13-1 run to cut a 22-point deficit to 88-78 on a Boris Diaw 4-footer with 10:51 to play.

But Dallas countered with a three-guard alignment of their own – putting Jason Kidd at the small forward – and while the Suns coughed up the ball on three of the next four possession, the Mavericks reeled off 10 straight points and put the game away.