PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns begin a crucial seven-game homestand tonight against the Portland Trail Blazers after starting the year with a 1-4 record.

Phoenix, which has lost three in a row, has yet to put it all together, will to have to prove it can be a competitive team in the West sooner rather than later.

The Suns face a tough challenge ahead of them tonight going against a Blazers team that's began the year 5-1 and defeated Phoenix 124-83 in the season opener a couple weeks ago.

This embarrassing season-opening loss has set the tone for the Suns' season since then, but they are looking to reverse their struggles in any way possible.

Suns' Starters vs. Blazers

The Suns will be sticking with the same starting lineup they have used through the first five games:

• Devin Booker
• Jalen Green
• Dillon Brooks
• Miles Bridges
• Khaman Maluach

This lineup has a very poor -29.9 net rating in 60 minutes played together, so Phoenix will hope it can figure things out against a Blazers team.

Green, who is averaging just 11 points and shooting 22.2% from 3-point rrange, and Maluach, who still doesn't fully look ready in his second season, have highlighted some of the issues the starting lineup has had.

Overall, however, the Suns just need to find a way to make their pieces to fit around Devin Booker, which has not been the case so far.

Suns Looking to Put Season-Opening Loss to Blazers Behind Them

The Suns trailed by as many as 52 points in the season-opening loss to Portland, but will try to put that in the rearview mirror tonight.

"It's less about what it was. Game one, we all remember it," Suns coach Jordan Ott said pregame. "It's more about us continuing to get better, put a full 48 (minutes) together, starting with our defense, cleaning that part up.

"Watched a little bit of the fourth quarter from the other night. Energy and intensity, our intent was there in Golden State. Just a little execution pieces down the stretch that we know we can clean up."

The Blazers have a unique drop defense the Suns weren't ready for in the opener.

Ott detailed what they're expecting with the Portland defense.

"It's unique, very unique how they play. It starts with not only the level of that five man, but also the pressure that they apply on the basketball," Ott said. "They're able to bring their five man back because how elite a couple of those guys are on the basketball. A lot of teams fear playing that way because you just get your on-ball defender picked off.

"We'll start there. We'll set legal, solid screens against this team. It's always hard. You're trying to set the legal limit when someone falls on the ground. Hopefully the whistle doesn't follow all the time. That's always a key against this team to keep your emotional stability with some of that stuff. And then we'll shoot those pull-up threes.

"That's one we'll try to wide roll a little bit with (Maluach), so we have a pocket there. It's going to take multiple penny cuts against this crew because it's really hard to find closeouts because they stay home a lot of the time. So beat them in transition, hopefully with some of those pull-up threes we're able to find some spots. And then we got to get multiple paint touches against this group because they have a tendency to negate your ball movement by just staying home and not putting themselves in the closeouts."

Tonight's game is scheduled to tip off shortly after 7:00 p.m. MST.