When losing looks better

The only fade you want to hear about Steve Nash is the one where he plants, tilts back his body and fires that familiar fadeaway in the key.

The kind of fade he had in the Suns' 106-92 season opener at Portland was because he took on too much and withered. Hey, Nash, set the pace. Nash, guard a 6-foot-8 wing. Nash, guess where teammates are going. Nash, carry the offense.

Ultimately, it was too much burden for him and he went 0 for 4 from the field with two turnovers when the Suns were outscored 18-1 in the game's final 5:44. Even with Nash and his teammates sputtering away a chance to steal a road win, Tuesday night was considered an upgrade over a scary preseason.

The preseason's blatant rebounding and turnover issues did not go away any more than the roster's lack of physical players did. But they shot better and had a good defensive game until the players they wanted to shoot hit their shots down the stretch.

"I'm very encouraged by it,"' Suns guard Jason Richardson said. "We played really well and did a lot of great things on the defensive end."

But they also made 19 turnovers, gave up 18 offensive rebounds and only had 15 assists on 36 made shots. A team that aims to take 90 shots had only 74 and allowed Portland to take 93.