Paul Coro

azcentral sports

Concerns about how little the Suns' starting five had played together were allayed when that quintet led as a whole through six minutes of play, and new starter T.J. Warren extended the lead to 18-14 after 8 ½ minutes of Wednesday’s season opener.

The issue became the reserves, who gave up 16 points while scoring one in that quarter’s 2:54 to send the Suns on a track to their worst margin of defeat in a season opener – 113-94 at home to Sacramento.

“I don’t know who that team was last night,” Suns coach Earl Watson said of a defense that allowed 51.2 percent shooting to a team missing its starting point guard. “But everything happens for a reason. So what we call a loss is a losing opportunity. Stay strong. We learn from it and we study it. We have the discipline to let it go.”

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The Suns left mid-range jumpers open repeatedly.

“Defensively, we weren’t on the ball,” Suns reserve center Alex Len said. “In the preseason, we got into people. We didn’t do it and then we were chasing them the whole game after that.”

The second unit’s leader, Brandon Knight, had his struggles in the initial regular-season appearance in the role, allowing an offensive rebound after entering and then missing his first six shots while also throwing away an entry pass, having the ball stripped and not catching an off-spot pass.

Knight made one shot, a layup, on eight attempts and shared the team lead in assists (five) in 26 minutes.

“It’s a lot of things,” Watson said of Knight’s game. “It’s an adjustment being the sixth starter. I think that second unit overall wasn’t good together so it kind of avalanched on him as well. But at the same time, it’s really good to see him go out there with the younger guys (in the second half) and have an impact. We know he can play way better. He understands very clearly. We need him. He’s the most important player on our team. He has to stabilize us with his scoring and his presence in that second unit.”

Leandro Barbosa’s preseason rust remained and P.J. Tucker was not involved, leading Watson to announce that second-half rookie sparks Tyler Ulis and Dragan Bender will take their places in the rotation for now.

“P.J. Tucker has to get healthy and find his rhythm,” Watson said. “LB (Barbosa) has to find his body. Our young guys are ready to play. We think the young guys are going to bring a lot to the game. We’ll let that be fluid for now but the young guys deserve to play.”

Suns reserves, outscored 30-3 in the first half, scored 31 in the second half with Bender scoring 10, Marquese Chriss adding seven and Ulis running the team and annoying Kings point guards defensively for 14 minutes.

MORE: Suns to insert Ulis, Bender into rotation

BOIVIN: Suns offer a whiff of hope in opener

Bender joins teammate Devin Booker (14 in last season’s opener), LeBron James and Dwight Howard as the only 18-year-olds in NBA history to score in double figures in a season-opening game. Like Ulis’ ball pressure and Chriss’ emphatic help-side block on Willie Cauley-Stein, Bender’s ability to defend different positions earned more opportunity.

“I know personally that we were there definitely as one of the best defensive teams in this league,” Bender said. “We just need to show that. We showed that in preseason games. We showed how well we can play, personally and as a team. We just need to pick it up next game (Friday at Oklahoma City).”

Free throws

The Suns have the NBA’s second-youngest roster by age (an average of 24.5 to Philadelphia’s 23.7) but the average experience level (4.3 years) is only 11th lowest in the NBA.

Watson on Thursday’s practice: “The team responded really tough in practice. We had a transparent film session, where we really don’t hold back a lot. I can’t hold back. I have to always be honest. So we went through the roster and got on guys in a loving, nurturing way but at the same time accountable with determination.”

Chriss will meet fans and sign autographs from 3-4 p.m. Saturday at the Carl’s Jr. in Guadalupe at 1519 W. Baseline Road, just east of I-10. The event starts at 2 p.m. with The Gorilla, Suns Dancers and Solar Squad.

Paul Coro atpaul.coro@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-2470. Follow him at twitter.com/paulcoro.

Friday’s game

Suns at Thunder

When: 5 p.m.

Where: Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City.

TV/Radio: FSAZ/KTAR-FM (98.7)

Thunder update: Oklahoma City (1-0) won Wednesday’s season opener 103-97 at Philadelphia. Russell Westbrook is the leading man with Kevin Durant’s departure and looked the part with a 32-point, 12-rebound, nine-assist, two-turnover game after averaging 23.5 points, 10.4 assists and 7.8 rebounds last season. The Thunder added Victor Oladipo and Ersan Ilyasova and started rookie Domantas Sabonis at power forward. Cameron Payne is out with a right foot fracture. Oklahoma City has won seven consecutive home openers.