​With just four games remaining on the USL Championship schedule and still sitting outside the playoff places, Phoenix Risinglost 3-0 on the road to Oakland Roots.It could have been a huge opportunity for Rising to make up ground. Instead, goals from Bruno Lapa, Danny Trejo and Bertin Jackuesson mean that Phoenix sits five points out of a playoff spot.First half boreIn a tale seemingly as old as time, Phoenix Rising came out of the dressing room in Oakland with a sluggish performance.Out of the gates Rising’s defense struggled. They were picked apart by a sequence of passes before the center-backs lost opposing runners, and Oakland quickly found themselves with a 2-0 lead before the half-hour mark.Even after conceding Bruno Lapa’s opening goal in the 7th minute, Rising’s attack never got out of second gear in the opening half. They tallied only three shots: two coming in the same 11th-minute sequence, and the third off an ambitious Juan David Torres free kick attempt in the 37th minute.The dullness from Rising’s side could be seen from the very start of the half. The opening minutes prior to Lapa’s goal saw Rising play slowly in possession, holding the ball on the backline with little to no pressure from the Oakland press.The ESPN+ commentators questioned on if the game would develop any excitement with Oakland opening the scoring early, but Rising seemed intent to show them a forgettable 45 minutes.Same in the second from Phoenix RisingWhen conceding the opening goal in USL Championship fixtures this season, Phoenix Rising entered Saturday’s match with a record of 0W 6D 7L.It’s not a statistic that you’d like to read at halftime, with Rising already trailing 2-0, but it is a statistic that you begin to understand with Rising’s second half performance.Oakland were understandably more than willing to cede the ball to Rising with the two goal advantage, giving Phoenix far too much time on the ball. With this, the already lethargic attack had too much time to think and wasn’t able to produce anything of note.Rising took shots through the opening 20 minutes of the second half, but few seemed to cause any trouble for goalkeeper Kendall McIntosh.Usually the forefront of Rising’s attack, forward Ihsan Sacko struggled to make any mark on this match, though he was shuffled around the pitch through Rising’s substitutions.Then, the third goal came for Oakland. Defender Ascel Essengue lunged and missed at a ball aimed at Oakland’s Bertin Jacquesson, who calmly slotted it home for the hosts.It was the cherry on top for a productive and efficient performance from Oakland. On only nine touches in the box, Oakland scored all three goals.We’re talking about playoffs?Entering Saturday, Phoenix Rising sat three points behind eighth-placed Orange County in the Western Conference standings. Phoenix was tied with Las Vegas on 33 points, who do have a match in hand, and also sat three points above Oakland.At the end of the night, Orange Count