"We know the problem," D'Antoni said. "We've pinpointed it. Everybody knows it. Now we'll see how much heart and fortitude we can put into it. If we do that, we'll be fine."

The Suns have lost four of six and are 7-8 since their season-best 11-game winning streak.

D'Antoni called the performance against the Clippers the team's worst of the season, and All-Star forward Shawn Marion agreed.

"Like coach said, that was rock bottom last night," Marion said. "I think everybody was a little winded last night, whether they're saying it or not. I'm going to say it: I was tired."

No team relies more on energy and constant motion than the Suns.

"We're undersized," forward James Jones said. "Regardless of what schemes we have and what things we do, we're still going to be undersized. I mean, you can't get away from that. So if teams really hammer down and try to exploit that, we have to give a little bit more energy and get up and down the floor to neutralize their size."

Good shooting would help, too. The team was awful from the floor on Wednesday.

The Suns have eight games left in the regular season, beginning at home Friday against the Los Angeles Lakers, a team Phoenix could well face in the first round.

Phoenix still leads the second-place Clippers by five games in the Pacific Division, and will lock up the No. 2 seed in the West if it can hold on for the division title. That would mean the Suns would not face either San Antonio or Dallas through the first two rounds.

But that amounts to nothing if the team can't regroup and recharge the run-and-shoot style that has led to 49 victories.

"It's good that we got slapped around a little bit to understand what we have to do to win in the playoffs," D'Antoni said. "It hasn't gotten home yet, but hopefully with last night, it will."