Phoenix Suns fall to Charlotte Hornets 126-92, drop 16th straight on the road

For those fans hoping for some wins to close out the season, that win on Feb. 27 might have to hold them for awhile.

The Phoenix Suns started the game out hot, taking their largest lead of the game (4-0) before the Charlotte Hornets countered with a 26-4 run over the next 7:35 of the 1st quarter to put Phoenix on the path to ruin. By the time the 1st half had mercifully come to an end, the Suns were down 68-42 and shooting just 30.2 percent from the field to Charlotte's 53.1 percent. The Suns had little going offensively outside of Mirza Teletovic, who continued his torrid offense by nearly outscoring the Suns' starting five in the 1st half (18 points to 14 points for Teletovic).

In the 2nd half, the Suns would trail by as many as 43 points and never mounted a rally to speak of, allowing the Hornets to jog to victory. The 34-point loss gives Phoenix four 30+ point losses, tying the 2012-13 Suns for most in a single season in team history.

Besides Teletovic's 17 points in 20 minutes of play, the Suns got 18 points and 12 rebounds from Alex Len, 13 points from Devin Booker, and 10 points from Archie Goodwin, but neither player got their numbers with any kind of efficiency. John Jenkins had 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

For the Hornets, Kemba Walker led all scorers with 26 points, with 14 of those coming in the 1st quarter. Al Jefferson rose from the dead to drop in 19 points, working over whoever the Suns put on him, while Nicolas Batum and Jeremy Lamb each had 15.