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What We Learned From #SunsVsBlazers

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The Suns suffered another gut-punch to their postseason hopes on Friday, losing 87-81 to Portland at home. LaMarcus Aldridge was the perpetrator, scoring 10 straight points in a late three-minute span to turn Phoenix's one-point deficit into a nine-point hole from which the Suns couldn't emerge even with Marcus Morris' double-double (19 points, 12 rebounds).

The defeat pushes Phoenix 3.5 games back of Oklahoma City, who will play at US Airways Center on Sunday. In the meantime, the Suns will try to figure out how to jumpstart their offense, which shot just 36.8 percent.

3. Defense is still good

Bledsoe Catches Portland Napping

After giving up 29 Blazer points on 13-of-22 shooting, the Suns buckled down for the next two-and-a-half quarters. Portland hit just 23-of-67 (38.8 percent) for the remainder of the game, a clip that would have been even lower if not for Aldridge's late-game heroics.

It's the ninth time out of the last 11 games Phoenix has held their opponent to under 100 points in regulation, a marked turnaround from the beginning of the season. Unfortunately for the Suns, it's been more tradeoff than improvement because...

2. The offense is not

Phoenix appeared to emerge from its post-All-Star shooting funk after they hit shot 50 percent or better in back-to-back wins over Houston and Dallas last weekend. That seems like an anamoly now after the Suns followed their 43.7-percent performance against Sacramento with a 36.8-percent dud against the Blazers.

Suns Head Coach Jeff Hornacek labeled the end of the third quarter as a "missed opportunity." Phoenix led by six after a Bledsoe and-one with 4:41 remaining in the period. After that, the Suns went 2-for-7 from the field -- missing on several wide-open jumpers -- and committed three turnovers.

1. Stars can win games by themselves

LaMarcus Aldridge started hot (12 points in the first quarter), struggled in the middle (1-for-12 FG in the second and third quarters combined) and finished even hotter (12 points, 6-of-6 FG in the fourth).

Phoenix played a sound defensive plan throughout. He simply caught fire and did what All-Stars do. Straight-up defense and a second defender wasn't enough, not with Aldridge making every mid-range shot in the book. It was the kind of performance that doesn't happen all that often.

Unfortunately, it did against Phoenix.