(Barry Gossage/NBAE/Getty Images)

There are few things more enjoyable in pro basketball than watching the Phoenix Suns these days. And that’s coming from a guy in Cleveland.

I’m talking about the previous two-plus weeks, as the Suns have won eight of their previous 10. One of those losses came by a measly three points in San Antonio (113-110 on Feb. 28). The other was a close one against Utah (116-108 on March 4). Overall, in the past 10 games, the Suns have outscored the competition by an average score of 108.4 to 99.7. That’s almost 10 points a game, folks. That’s what we call domination. Read more »

(Noah/Graham/NBAE/Getty Images)

Suns All-Star Amar’e Stoudemire announced his Youth Basketball Academy for boys and girls ages 8-15 from June 7-10, 2010 at the Arizona Premier Basketball Academy in Gilbert, AZ. The Academy will run daily from 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. with an early departure on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. It is limited to the first 125 kids. Read more »

Where else can you see a Common-Lieberman duel but in the Celebrity Shootout?
(Barry Gossage/NBAE/Getty Images)

Although the Lakers will be rolling into town to take on the Suns this Friday, the Suns already brought L.A. to Phoenix this past weekend. Hollywood descended upon US Airways Center this past weekend when celebrities traded in the red carpet for the hardwood in the 9th Annual Jack in the Box Celebrity Shootout. Read more »

(Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images)

Tonight’s Phoenix Suns game against the Utah Jazz represents the 15th time this season the team has played in back-to-back games.  With the Jazz only 1/2 game ahead of Phoenix for home court advantage in the playoffs, the history of the back-to-backs this season could indicate how well the team will do.  Read more »

Our Hometown Heroes in purple and orange have 20 games left in the 2009-10 season, and in the current standings would make the playoffs with the 5th seed.  But in the Western Conference, you don’t even need to play a game to change your position in the standings so while this is up-to-date as of 9:00am on March 3, this is likely to change nearly every day. But I thought it might be fun to look at the top 8 teams in the West and who you would rather face in the first round. Read more »

(Barry Gossage/NBAE/Getty Images)

I’m about to say something so outrageous, you may want to order Bill Cartwright to impale me on one of his elbows. So preposterous, you may dispatch the Oklahoma City Thunder to find some lightning to strike me with. So potentially upsetting, you may want to think of Charles Barkley in a tutu just to get your mind off what I’m about to say:

I have seen the future of the Phoenix Suns…and it is on defense.

No lightning? No sign of Coach Cartwright? Thank goodness. But still, I can sense most of you are staring at this blog right now the way Neanderthals stared at the dude who hit on the whole fire thing. “What’s up with that, and what does it mean?” I’ll explain. Read more »

(Barry Gossage/NBAE/Getty Images)

A look back at some trends for the Suns over the past week (February 23 through March 1):

1. The Suns outscored their opponents 546 to 507.
2. The win against the Nuggets capped a stretch of five games in seven days.  They won four of those games and their one loss was by 3 points.
3. Phoenix scored the least number of cumulative points in the 4th quarter over the past week.  They averaged 23.8 points in the 4th quarter as opposed to at least 27.2 in each of the other three quarters.  They scored 17 points twice in that stretch.
4. Amar’e Stoudemire has average 26.4 points over the past week.  Steve Nash averaged 11.25 assists over 4 games – he didn’t play in the first game against the Thunder.
5. The Suns bench averaged 26 points.  The bench of the opponents averaged 33.6 points.  This number is skewed by the Spurs whose bench scored 55 points against the Suns.  But the three players on the bench who scored were Richard Jefferson, Manu Ginobili and DeJuan Blair.  The Spurs starting five only scored 58.

One more number:

1. Lori Ann was wondering how the Suns did when the Suns scored at least 25 points in each quarter and how the team did when at least 25 points were scored in the first quarter.  So I ran some numbers.  The Suns are a perfect 11-0 when they score 25+ points in each quarter.  When they score at least 25 points in the 1st quarter, the Suns are 34-15 – a 69% winning percentage.  So if you’re looking to practically guarantee the Suns a win, root for them to score at least 25 points a quarter.

Have a numbers question yourself?  E-mail me at blog@suns.com and I’ll try to track down the answer.

Barry Gossage/NBAE/Getty

You can’t say Robin Lopez hasn’t paid his dues!

Last year as a newcomer he was limited mostly to cameo appearances, and lucky to get those. And toward the end when he did get a few walk-ons you had to look really close to see even a potential second or third banana in the making. And even when he started getting somewhat bigger roles this year nobody exactly hung a star on his locker. About the nicest notices he got grudgingly conceded he “might” have a future as a defensive stopper.
Read more »

Barry Gossage/NBAE/Getty

The word for tonight was “good”. Coach Alvin used it five times in the first two minutes of his post game press conference.

It was, he said, a “good” start, a “good” win, a “good” effort overall, a “good” job defensively, and Amare had a really “good” game.

I couldn’t have put it any better myself. But while there was nothing remarkable about beating the talent-challenged Sixers, the surge that has carried the Suns to 10 victories in the last 12 games, lifted them 13 games over .500, and propelled them within striking distance of a two or three seed in the West is QUITE a story.

Read more »