Suns continue to combust in embarrassing fashion

Heading into Sunday's game, the Minnesota Timberwolves were on a nine-game losing skid and had the league's second-worst home record with five wins in 23 tries.

Enter the Phoenix Suns.

The Timberwolves laid the smackdown on Phoenix, demolishing the desperate squad from the desert by 30 points. A 10-point edge after halftime grew to 14 by the end of three quarters, and the wheels completely fell off in the fourth, as the Suns were thumped 117-87.

Sadly, the loss falls in line with the trainwreck that is the Suns' lost season.

Eric Bledsoe's season-ending knee injury was the final straw.

The Suns started the season with the toxic cloud of Markieff Morris' disenchantment hanging over their heads, but they still managed to race out to a decent 7-5 start.

Bledsoe was a huge part of that, as he recorded 22.8 points, 5.8 assists, and 2.1 steals per game while shooting 48.1 percent from the floor and 37.7 from deep.

Even with Bledsoe's brilliance, the Suns began to falter after giving up a combined 255 points in a tricky two-step through New Orleans and San Antonio. They racked up eight losses in nine games before the front office dismissed some assistant coaches.

Bledsoe's knee surgery only threw gas on the tire fire. Phoenix lost 10 of its last 11 games since his injury, and has the worst net rating over that span - worse than the Philadelphia 76ers (who beat the Suns by seven in December) - by a full six points per 100 possessions.

Worse yet, the injury has left the point guard duties with $70-million man Brandon Knight, who's shattered just about every illusion of being a playmaker. Since Bledsoe went down, Knight's averaging 5.1 assists against 3.4 turnovers and 19 field-goal attempts per game.

It's not that the Suns are losing. That was pretty much expected.

Their marquee free agent in Tyson Chandler turned out to be a bust, their second-best player in Markieff Morris fell out of the rotation, and they lost Bledsoe. That's too much to overcome, especially since they lack depth at just about every position.

The least they can do is not embarrass themselves.

Under no circumstances should a team give up 142 points in regulation like the Suns did against the Sacramento Kings. That was followed by a 20-point loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in which they managed just 24 points in the first half. After a brief stretch when they stayed competitive versus the Hornets and Heat, the Suns suffered losses by 19, 14, and finally, by 30 to the fourth-worst team in the league.

The repeated humiliations speak to the lack of leadership. Team owner Robert Sarver tried to blame "millennial culture," which is nothing but a red herring. Jeff Hornacek hasn't smiled in months and is getting towels thrown at him. Chandler, who was brought in for his veteran clout and defensive abilities, has recorded just nine blocks over his last 23 games and hasn't shown any of the signature fire he once played with.

The Suns aren't good by any means - they might even be trying to tank - but that's no excuse to play as poorly as they have.

It's an embarrassment.