The Arizona Republic reports that the Suns of late have become a comedy of errors, a gang that can't shoot straight. There have lapses in concentration, defensive collapses, inconsistent work on the boards, etc. -all the signs of a losing team. Yet coach Scott Skiles remains optimistic.

"It's something a little bit different each night," he said. "That's one of the reasons why we can still remain positive. It isn't one specific thing. For instance, I don't feel like we're playing at a Level 2 when we should be at a Level 10. We're somewhere in the middle right now. We just need to get a little bit better in a bunch of different areas, and that will carry over to a lot of wins."

Skiles said the Suns had a lot of good shots against Memphis but couldn't get them to fall.

"Because we've lost and haven't played particularly well during the streak, some of the guys are maybe a little nervous or trying to do it on their own rather than trusting each other and doing it together," he said.

Veteran swingman and defensive specialist Dan Majerle, who didn't play a minute on Thursday night, has his own word for the Suns' troubles.

"It's definitely a funk," he said. "There have been a lot of games which we should have won. When you're losing, everything is magnified. We just have to find a way to get a win and get everybody feeling better about themselves, and then go from there."