His team's lack of effort, he told Arizona Sports 620's Burns and Gambo Friday, was the most concerning aspect of the game.

But, Hunter said, it's all part of the growing process the Suns are going through. At 22-43 there is a ways to go, but Hunter said it's important his team keeps things in perspective, even after a loss such as the one in Houston.

"I talk to the guys about it all the time, and I say when you win you're never as good as your best win, and you're never as bad as your worst loss," he said. "But in saying that, you don't want to have any type of comfort losing that type of game.

"You don't want that to even feel good, no way shape or form, and I have to get them to understand that. And we will."

The loss was Phoenix's second straight and fourth in the last five games. This rough stretch comes on the heels of a three-game winning streak that saw the Suns beat elite teams in the San Antonio Spurs and Atlanta Hawks, and Hunter said part of the process his team needs to go through is knowing not to be satisfied with any kind of success.

"I think that has to happen with all players and all teams; they have to go through the process of maturing, go through the process of learning how to win and learning how to deal with success, learning how to bounce back from failures," he said. "That's all a part of it."