Suns suffer through terrible shooting night, lose to reeling Kings 85-83

It would seem to be an easy night in store for the Suns to defeat a Kings team on a steep decline, and who had played the previous night, but come on now. These Suns don't do anything the easy way, and we can add tonight to the list of Suns losses to bottom feeders this season.

I'm generally opposed to placing blame for a loss on a single player, but Markieff Morris's 3-20 shooting night causes me to revise that policy for tonight. THREE. OF. TWENTY. As a team, the Suns shot only 36% from the field overall and 18% from 3. Awful, terrible, woeful, dreadful. Anyone want to look through their thesaurus for some more adjectives?

No reason to sugarcoat this one: A game like this causes fans and players alike to question whether this team has what it takes to make the 8th seed in the loaded Western Conference. This is especially true after seeing how well the Thunder played this morning. Ugly, ugly, disappointing loss.

Each team was missing two starters, as injured Darren Collison and Rudy Gay sat for the Kings, while Alex Len missed his second game with a sprained ankle, and Eric Bledsoe left the team to travel to his Alabama home for the birth of his son.

Is Eric Bledsoe this valuable to the Suns, or was it just one of those nights? Any way you slice it, a devastating loss.

Game notes:

First Quarter

• Plumlee picks up first foul away from the ball, one minute into the game, then his second three minutes in.
• Dragic handling the ball a lot early, aggressively looking to score. 3 FGAs in first 3 minutes.
• DeMarcus Cousins shows off his range with a couple of mid-range jumpers. 10 first quarter points for the newly minted All-Star.
• Another slow start for the Suns, hitting only 3 of their first 14 FGAs. Keef 1-8 in the quarter.
• Suns allowing a shorthanded, reeling team to hang around. Ugh. Early on, you wouldn't know the Kings have so much dysfunction swirling around them.
• Kings 26-18. Kings shooting 69% from field, Suns 29%.

Second Quarter

• A couple of nice plays for Derrick Williams. Oh yeah, he's still around. Too soon to call the #2 overall pick of 2012 a bust?
• T.J. Warren time! The Suns offense can certainly use a lift.
• Thinking right about now that Eric Bledsoe has become the Suns best all-around and most valuable player.
• Suns are 2-13 from 3, and IT and Keef are combining for 2-13. U-G-L-Y.
• Is Jason Thompson the most nondescript starter in the league? Seems like he's been with the Kings forever, is as average as can be, but they don't seem to be able to replace him.
• T.J. Warren indeed providing that lift. 6 points in 6 minutes.
• Technical foul on DeMarcus Cousins, then he's called for traveling. He's going to blow a gasket before long.
• Keef finishes the half 1-10
• Kings 48-42 to close a poor first half for the Suns.

Third Quarter

• Keef takes it to the rack, misses again.
• 2 and a half minutes into the quarter, Horny calls a timeout as the Kings start the half on a 7-2 run to extend their lead to 55-44,
• McLemore hits his third 3 of the night. The Kings aren't void of talent, just can't find the right combination and coaching.
• P.J. Tucker hits his first 3 of the night. Suns pull within 7 at 63-56. Suns now on pace to score 84 points in this game.
• Clank, clank, clank. 37% overall shooting by the Suns, and 21% from 3.
• This might be the Suns worst performance of the season.
• A Green airball is the appropriate close to another awful Suns quarter.
• Kings 73-59, Suns shooting only 35% from the field.

Fourth Quarter

• Suns have shown nothing to indicate they have a run in them to win this game tonight.
• Yet they're making a spirited comeback attempt here, behind IT's scoring. 22 for IT so far.
• IT draws the foul inside, Suns narrow lead to 2 at 79-77.
• Nice D by Plumlee causes a travel by Cousins. Suns have been much better tonight when Plum's been in the game. He's playing solid D on Cousins.
• Suns tie it on two more IT FTs!!!
• An airball by Cousins on a jump shot. Kings look like they're falling apart now.
• Keef finally hits one, and Suns take the lead 83-81
• Credit to these Kings fans. They have every right to feel completely defeated at this point in the season, but energy in the arena is great right now.
• The saddest part is that I completely expected that Cousins jumper to go in after it bounced the first time.