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One giant step forward for Utah, one small step back for Sunkind. Or, as Coach Alvin said, “It was more what they did than what we didn’t”

But although the Jazz richly deserved Alvin’s praise for their fourth period execution (no pun intended), an autopsy of the corpus delecti, so to speak, also revealed several all too familiar self-inflicted wounds, most notably failure to hold leads, points yielded off turnovers, and inability to keep teams off the offensive boards.

The Suns had a 13-point lead in the second period and a still had 11 of it at 7:43 in the fourth, but they wound up paying the usual price for failing to really put a worthy opponent away when they had a chance, which was in periods one through three when the visitors couldn’t hit a barn door from inside the barn.

Gentry said he had a premonition of potential problems at halftime when he looked at the stat sheet and noted his team had shot 65 per cent from the field to Utah’s 40 and yet led by only eight.

That trend continued through the third period, but in what was the most impressive fourth period performance by a visiting team in recent memory the Jazz hit 68 per cent, including a crushing 7 of 11 threes, dominated the boards, and all but completely shut down the NBA’s most potent offense.

The easiest, and perhaps most comforting explanation for that 41-22 fourth period is that the Suns came down with a case of the chronic back-to-backitis virus that has been so rampant in the league this year. Or, in layman’s terms, they simply ran out of gas.

However, Gentry refused to grab this lifeline, citing it as a fact but not an excuse. Still, the Suns did seem a half step slow down the stretch. And it didn’t help matters that they not only continue to be at or near the top in turnovers, but pay a higher price for them than any other team. The tendency is to look only a turnover totals, but a more significant number is points off them — and last night-s 13-24 deficit was painfully close to normal.

It also didn’t help that the Suns were without Goran Dragic (ankle). He often provides that extra push, especially in the second period when Steve Nash usually rests, that often turns 13 point leads 23-point ones.

The bottom line: As disheartening as the loss was, it was only one game. In fact, it was only one period. The good news is the Suns are still perched on the cusp of a fourth seed in the West, their next six games are at home, and there’s even a five-day layoff in that stretch to get ready for a visit from the Lakers. Of course, on the flip side, if this was indeed a prevue of a coming first round attraction in the playoffs, Suns fans might not want to see the movie.

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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.

But he kept plugging away, and little by little he got better and better. And lo and behold, last night they DID hang a star on his locker! And the rave notices mentioned that he was only going to keep getting better and better.

And on a night when the defense rested (dozed off actually) for the first time in the current surge, the 7-foot, 255-pound center’s  30-point, 12-rebound breakout game was the key to a 125-112 victory that was more of a struggle than that score suggests, or really had to be.

If he keeps progressing at his present pace he could develop into the most imposing post presence in the history of chronically  true center-challenged franchise (the operative word there, of course,  being “could”).

“This is really his rookie year,” said Coach Alvin, “and he’s made more progress than I could ever have imagined. He’s been working very hard, and Bill and John (assistant coaches Bill Cartwright and John Shumate) have done a good job with him too. We always felt he could help with defense and rebounding, but he’s exceeded all of our offensive expectations.”

They needed all the help he could provide at that end on a night when a defense that’s been giving opponents an unexpectedly hard time turned unexpectedly soft, giving the Clippers, who are among the league’s bottom feeders offensively, far too many good looks. (Fortunately, being the Clippers, they also launched quite a few bad shots.)

And, thanks mostly to Robin, and a late surge by the bench brigade, and the Clippers being the Clippers, the Suns stretched their winning streak to five games and moved l4 over .500, thus giving them a full head of steam for pivotal games against the Spurs there and the Nuggets here Sunday and Monday.

And although the Suns had to do a little sweating in the first three periods, the bench was solid enough that Coach Alvin was able to again sit Steve Nash out the entire fourth period — and when is the last time a Suns’ coach felt confident enough in his bench to do that? And being able to actually rest Nash down the stretch instead of just talk about resting him could loom large in the playoffs.

The bottom line: What with Amare’s 20 and Channing Frye” 15 to go with Robin’s big three oh the Suns got 45 points from the three guys who have started at center at one time or another this year. Frye’s numbers are especially encouraging because they indicate he seems to be settling comfortably into his new role coming off the bench.

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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.

After all, it seems like only yesterday the team was mired in a 12-16 slump and there was serious talk of breaking it up and starting over, beginning with shipping Amar’e Stoudemire out of town (actually riding him out on a rail). And while most of the fire was aimed at Amare, everybody from the owner on down also suffered collateral damage.

So what happened to turn the season back around in the right direction so dramatically?

Well, the best thing that happened is Amare stayed put, thereby confirming the wisdom of the ancient adage that often the best deals are the ones you don’t make. From a strictly basketball sense, trading Amare never made any sense, nor did all the blog bashing he’s been getting (and is still getting) both here and around the league.

In this 10-2 run he’s averaged some 24 points and 10 rebounds, and even before that his numbers deserved more respect that he was getting. Granted he hit some rough spots, along with team, but the thing to remember is that it was agreed he would need quite a bit of time to get back into top form after missing much of last year with a serious eye problem.

In fact, he when he was putting up some decent numbers in October, Coach Alvin was saying it would be a month or two before Amare really hit his stride. And it appears that now he has.

Maybe the second best thing that happened was the rapid improvement of Robin Lopez and Goran Dragic, two youngsters the Suns were raked over the coals for signing after invisible rookie seasons. They are now significant contributors who have not only added depth but given Coach Alvin more flexibility in mixing and matching.

And perhaps the best thing of all is how Coach Alvin kept the ship from capsizing during the 12-26 storm and all the Amar’e trade distraction,  and just how adept he’s become at mixing and matching. This team wasn’t that far from going over a cliff at one point, and his steadying influence was a large plus.

Moving right along, there has been major improvement in the team’s weaknesses, namely rebounding, defensive consistency, and turnovers. Without making significant changes in personnel the only way to improve in any of these areas is just plain hard work and determination. Again, kudos to Coach Alvin and his staff, and to the players themselves.

And while kudos may be bit premature, given the real and alleged misjudgments in recent years, at least a few kind words would seem to be in order for management. Say what you will about the ones that got away the fact is that the pieces of this team’s puzzle all fit, and that doesn’t happen by accident.

I’m not suggesting this is a great team by any means, but to borrow Coach Alvin’s word for the day, it’s a “good” team with a “good” coach, and as “good” a chance as any team not names Lakers to win the West. And you can’t reasonably as for “better” than that.

There’s been altogether too much focus around the NBA this year on the next class of free agents and potential serious labor problems, but the future being even more uncertain than usual it makes more sense to focus on the present.

And speaking of the future, it looks fairly promising schedule-wise. Not only are 14 of the last 24 Games at home, but there’s only one multiple-game trip left, there’s an 8-1 stretch at home, and nice restful one-game-in-six-days spell.

And yes, I know I haven’t mentioned Steve Nash as a factor in the team’s great improvement. But that’s because he hasn’t improved. He’s great now, but he was great then too.

The bottom line: You can’t count the Suns IN the title picture, but you can’t count them OUT either. Or am I the only one who’s noticed the Lakers have had to rely on buzzer-beaters by Kobe for at least six of their victories.

(Barry Gossage/NBAE/Getty Images)

This is not the way it was supposed to be. The way it was supposed to be is the Suns would handily dispose of the short-handed Trail Blazers and roll into the All-Star break 11 games over .500, riding the crest of a six-game winning streak, and feeling very good about themselves.

But the way it WAS is the short-handed, sharp-eyed Blazers shot the lights out and handily disposed of the Suns, thus sending them into the break on a discouraging stumble that reawakened all the doubts (both self and yours) that preceded their five-game winning streak.

The Blazers hit their first six shots, and really didn’t start doing any significant missing until it was too late to save the Suns. Don’t be fooled. This game wasn’t nearly as close as the final score might suggest. The Suns never led, and the only tie they managed was 0-0. And as an obviously disappointed Coach Alvin somewhat indelicately but accurately put it, “We got our [bleeps] kicked in every phase of the game”.

By the time the Suns got their offense out of moth balls, where they had apparently stored it during their four-day layoff, and their defense out of the coma it had lapsed back into after showing signs of life on the recent road sweep they were down 22 in the third period. And the crowd was just as rusty as the team. Its only audible reaction until very late was gasp after gasp as shot after Blazer shot went in.

Mind you, this is the same Portland team, which is missing leading scorer Brandon Roy and three other key players, which managed only 77 points in an embarrassing loss to Oklahoma City at home its last time out. To give you just one stat illustrating how different things were Wednesday, they hit as many threes in nine tries against the Suns as they did in 20 against the Thunder.

But it’s also the same spunky, hustling Portland team that has managed to keep its head above water despite all the injuries, and a lot of that grit was very much in evidenced last night.

In case you’re not catching my drift, if there was anything encouraging for the Suns I didn’t see it. (Of course, what with the Blazers shooting the lights out it was hard to see anything).

However, bad as it was, this was just ONE game. And a check of their rollercoaster 14-3, 12-16, 5-0 spells demonstrate, it’s wise not to get too far up on the good nights or too far down on the bad ones with this bunch.

And when you balance the plusses against the minuses and bring the Big Picture back into focus, this team is going into the break nine games over .500 and in the thick of the wild scramble for playoff spots three through eight in the West. Of course, this last is a bit of a bad news/good news circumstance, the good being the Suns are only four losses out the two seed, the bad that they are only three out of the lottery.

Still, as their record suggests, they have more good nights than bad ones, and on their good ones they have enough weapons to not only make the playoffs but have a decent shot against anybody but the Lakers. That’s how balanced and just plain wacky the West is this year.

And therefore, it would be a mistake to break up this team in midstream. Given the labor problems looming large on the horizon, the Suns would be better advised to stay the course and see just how far this bunch can go.

And along those lines, Amare Stoudemire is NOT to blame for everything that sends this team into periodic funks, but he has quite a bit to do with bringing them out of them.
As far as I’m concerned HIS plusses far outweigh his minuses. And by the way, those minuses, including a history of health problems, make it extremely unlikely the Suns would get anything in a trade that would constitute an upgrade this year.

But perhaps the BEST reason for keeping him is that Steve Nash is on record as saying he doesn’t want to break this team up.

The bottom line: Wednesday night was a total loss, but the season is far from it.

(Barry Gossage/NBAE/Getty Images)

Everything that’s been wrong with the Suns is right again! At least for now.

Execution, defense, rebounding, ball handling, and energy, all the minuses that have plagued the team during its’ six-week slide, were almost magically turned into the very plusses that enabled them to get one of the oddest monkeys in professional team sports (i.e., 18 straight losses on TNT) off their backs.

Since I don’t pretend understand this team’s past, I won’t pretend to know whether this victory means the 14-3 team is back or was just making a cameo appearance. But what can be said is that it pulled the Suns back from the ledge of the cliff they’ve been teetering on lo these many losses.

A defense that has been able to make even “slows”, let alone “stops” down the stretch held the Mavericks to 16 fourth period points. The turnovers that have been killing them late?  The Suns had only two in the fourth period, leading to only one Maverick point. Rebounding? The Suns had a 37-34 edge, including 9-7 I n the fourth period.

Energy? The level hasn’t been this high, especially at crunch time, for more than a month.

As far as individual performances go, there were so many good ones it’s hard to decide where to start, but I’m going to go with the tremendous job Grant Hill did on All Star forward Dirk Nowitzki, frustrating the Maverick star all night. Dirk did manage 19 points, but that’s six below his average, and he never came close to getting his devastating game going.

Then there was Goran Dragic, who not only scored some huge points, but led a bench brigade (Dragic, Channing Frye, Jared Dudley, Louis Amundson, and Earl Clark) that twice brought the Suns back into the game. Good as his numbers (13 points and 4 of 6 shooting) were, the transfusion of instant energy he provides is even more important.

Obviously nobody told HIM the season’s is already half way down the drain. (Either that or he didn’t get the memo).

Dragic, who won’t turn 24 until May, is still very much a work in progress, and there are those who grumble the kid can’t play the point and isn’t big enough to play two guard. But he’s got spunk and he’s got a shot. And while I admit I’m not quite sure exactly what it is yet, he’s got game too.

Amundson, who is just as tireless and spunky as Dragic but not blessed with quite the talent, came up big on the boards in the clutch, blocked two shots, and contributed 7 of the team’s 28 fourth period points. And they don’t win this one without Dudley’s 8 points and 6 boards either.

In case you’re wondering about the usual heroes, Nash had 19 points and 11 assists and hit his usual quota of critical shots late, and Amare returned somewhat to form with 22 points.

Indeed, just about everybody made a significant contribution, including Coach Alvin, who I though had one of his better games.

The bottom line: There’s no such thing as a bad win, but some are better than others. And all things considered this was the best one this season.

(Barry Gossage/NBAE/Getty Images)

Some would say the Suns are in the midst of an identity crisis, but what I say to that is they should be so lucky.

A much more disturbing possibility is that they know exactly who they are.

And of course there can be no doubt about WHERE they are, namely with one foot on a slippery slope and the other on an oil slick.

That this is a team that has lost its way was driven home in painful fashion when the Charlotte Bobcats completely shut down what used to be the NBA’s most fluid offense over the final 17 minutes of play… leaving the Suns to scrape and scrap even for the meager 15 points they managed in the fourth period, and looking like a team just HOPING to score in overtime.

That’s the most painful part of this painful loss.

We’ve learned to forgive the Suns their defensive and rebounding trespasses, but were confident you could always count on them for entertaining and explosive offense to ease much of the grief they cause.

True, the Bobcats, who had never won a game in Phoenix and have already clinched this year’s Jekyll and Hyde trophy (18-5 home, 3-17 road), needed a three-pointer from Stephen Jackson just to get into overtime, but even had he missed and the Suns escaped with a “W’ it would have glossed over the fact they are perilously close to free fall.

If one were looking for some crutches to lean one could note the Suns were without Grant Hill, and have been without the best of Leandro Barbosa for more than a year, and wonder out loud if there isn’t something physically wrong with Amare Stoudemire or if he is just distracted by trade rumors that surface every year about All-Star time.

Coach Alvin, for his part, had no probably pointing the finger at who to blame for this latest loss.

“Everybody,” he said. “It’s everybody’s fault. We’re just not executing.”

At this point I’m not sure which is harder to explain—the 14-3 start or the 12-18 skid that followed. I certainly didn’t see either one coming. Even with my rose colored glasses I realized they had too many deficiencies to really be a 14-3 type team over the long haul. But on the other hand, I was confident they had enough offense to keep them from ever being a 12-28 either.

So sue me for double jeopardy, or treble damages or something.

The real question, of course, is can they turn this thing back around? Or even how hard they should try? There is even grumbling they should forget about salvaging this season and concentrate entirely on the future.

Alas, at this point I don’t have an answer I’m comfortable with for either question.

Frankly I don’t see anything right now to suggest the new ceiling for this team is the seventh or eighth seed, and even those lowly rungs on the playoff ladder are slippery. And that’s certainly nothing to cling to if there are viable rebuilding blocks to be had out there.

On the other hand, writing off a season would send a damaging message to an already dwindling fan base, and as long as Steve Nash doesn’t run 45 over night there’s always the possibility one or two wins could get the team back on a faster track.

Somehow beating Dallas Thursday would be a good place to start— the operative word there, of course, being “somehow”.

(Barry Gossage/NBAE/Getty Images)

One of the bromides baseball managers find most soothing after a loss is, “Some nights you’ve just got to tip your cap to the other guys.”

And although there are no caps in hoops, let us tip ours anyway to the Chicago Bulls for a brilliant effort at both ends of the court, and fire a 21-cap salute to Derrick Rose, who has been a thorn in Phoenix’s side ever since he came into the league.

Rose not only scored 32 points, but needed only 21 shots to do it, and many of those were highlight quality. And an especially deep doff of the cap to the Bulls for bottling up Steve Nash, which is the basketball equivalent of putting toothpaste in the tube.

Nash not only had a decidedly uncharacteristic 4 for 12 night from the field, but never really was able to generate any of his patented havoc-creating penetration. Somebody, more often than not Kirk Hinrich, always seemed to be in front of him. And when he did get past that roadblock the Bulls inside people did a good job picking him up.

Perhaps the most disconcerting aspect of all this is that while the Bulls had won only four road games all year, this wasn’t one of those cases where a below .500 team somehow managed to steal one. In administering what was basically a wire-to-wire walloping the Bulls simply looked like the better team.

However, while the Bulls richly deserve full credit, this does not mean the Suns don’t deserve any blame.

Au contraire!

Defense has never been the Suns’ long suit, but this time they were flat out void, especially in the first half.

The Bulls are very athletic, but a scoring machine they are not. They came in averaging less than 95 points a game and shooting 44 per cent. Yet they torched the Suns for 64 big ones in the first 24 minutes while shooting 58 percent from the field.

And while Coach Alvin correctly noted, they did hit some tough shots, they also had a slew of wide open looks against what appeared to be a 3-2 defense— three of the Suns playing zone and two man to man.

Meanwhile the Suns, who lead the league in scoring, hit only 39 percent from the field, and the Bulls, as noted, do deserve much of the credit for that. But not all of it. There have been nights lately when the offense seemed to lose its way, and this is a luxury this defensively challenged team can ill afford.

Somewhere along the line the offense that was purring like a well-oiled machine in November has developed a few knocks, and this is perhaps the most discouraging thing about the 11-16 record since December 1. Like it or not, the way this team is put together, offense is what it has to hang its hat on.

The bottom line: There’s no need to hit the panic button yet, but it wouldn’t hurt to check just where that sucker is just in case.

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This was a Must game, although assuredly not the conventional sense. This was Must as in “must not come remotely close to losing”. And given the circumstances it is not surprising that Coach Alvin sounded almost as relieved as pleased.

Coming off a four-game road bagel, losing to the lowly Nets would have turned the “sky is falling” whispers around town up to a loud roar and triggered demands to trade and/or fire just about everybody from the owner on down..

By way of driving the point home about the peculiar pressure on the Suns in this one Coach Alvin’s opening post-game remark was, “We needed this win in the worst way.” I mean, that’s like sweating out a three-inch tap-in to win a Major. And the 3-38 Nets are about as minor as it ever gets in a major sport.

So “Phew! is almost as appropriate as “Wow!” for this 24-point blowout. And indeed, the more determined gloom-and-doomers are probably grumbling in their half-empty glasses that it was a bit slow in developing.

But actually this is more about good news than avoiding the bad.

And the best of the good was the continued emergence of Robin Lopez as a positive force in the pivot. Lopez, beginning to shake free of the obscurity and rust that has been his lot since he was over-drafted two years ago, scored a career high 20 points, grabbed 7 rebounds, and did a better job on his more celebrated brother, Brook than the box score might indicate. Brook did score 26 points, but needed 22 shots to do it.

The Suns, who have fought chronic softness in the middle much of their franchise history, needs to get this kind of production from the 7-foot, 265-pound Stanford product. Granted, he’s still got a long way to go, but he’s come a lot further than many thought he would just in the last few weeks.

Drafting him so high caused people to expect too much too soon from him, and eventually he all but disappeared— which in turn caused people to expect too little from him. The position here has been from the start that he could be a productive NBA player. And it still is.

Another encouraging development last night was Jason Richardson returning to form with 26 points and 10 of 14 shooting by way of celebrating his 29^th birthday. Also, Steve Nash had another MVP night with 15 assists in just 28 minutes, and Amare Stoudemire, who will be starting for the West in the All-Star Game in Dallas next month, led all scorers with 27 points.

If you wish to asterisk these accomplishments, as in: *it was against the NETS for cryin’ out loud, be my guest. But I’ll tell you this: This is not a bad team that had a good month early but a good team that had a bad week.

The bottom line: This not a great team, or even a championship contender, but it’s not a terrible team either. And it is most certainly not a dull one. It is a good team, that, flaws and all, still figures to win in the neighborhood of 47-48 games and will be causing some grief in the playoffs.

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Is this fun, or what? The Suns’ habit of coming from way ahead to win at the buzzer, that is.

No, I’m serious!

I REALLY want to know if this is fun, or what?

Frankly, after watching them build a 24-point lead in the first half and then have to come from behind in the fourth period to beat a Milwaukee team that has won only four games on the road all year (and no games in Phoenix in the last 21 years), and was playing the second half of a dreaded back-to-backer I’m torn between undecided and “or what”?

In the interest of full disclosure, Suns didn’t actually win at the buzzer. It was 9.2 seconds before the buzzer when Steve Nash made a pair of free throws to seal the deal.  And to be even more exact the Suns didn’t have to come from very far behind. Just one point, actually.

But I’m just sayin’…

The only positive thing (other than the W of course) about nights like this is that they boost Nash’s MVP stock. Not to get overly technical, but the main reason didn’t lose this one is that Nash wouldn’t them.

He hit all four of his shots from the field and scored 10 of his 30 points in the last seven minutes of the fourth period, and as he so often does when the game hangs in the balance, he either made the shots that had to be made or created wide open looks for teammates.

Shifting back into full disclosure mode, it must be duly noted that while Nash was all of the solution at the end he was also part of the problem with seven of the team’s 17 turnovers. And it must be further noted that if Andrew Bogut doesn’t miss a couple of point blank shots in the last minute even Nash might not have been able to save this night.

On a more serious note, not even being 10 games over .500 can gloss over the inconsistency that has seem them blow double-digit leads in the last four games, and an obvious upset Coach Alvin didn’t use a bit of gloss in his post-game press conference (which by the way was his shortest since he took over for Terry Porter last year.

“We got a win out of it,” he said bluntly, “but we have some issues to resolve if we’re going to be a good team. We can’t come out every night and play like world champs the first 15 minutes and give it all up. We have to find a way to do a better job.”

The only thing I can add top that is Amen!!!

The bottom line: The question back at the top of this blog wasn’t just rhetorical. Fun is very important to this team’s success, and right now they aren’t having very much of it.

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The Suns were far too careless and way too honest, which in the end is why they couldn’t beat the Heat.

To translate those shortcomings into numbers, they had 17 turnovers leading to 23 points, and where out-stolen 10 to zero. They were especially sloppy in the second period when they turned it over 9 times in the process of seeing a 13-point lead into a 6-point halftime deficit.

This has become an all too familiar pattern of late for the Suns— building a double digit lead in the first period and watching it completely disappear. More often than not they have been able to overcome this outbreak of secondperioditis, and in fact it looked as though they might do it again when Steve Nash’s three put them ahead 104-103 with 1:21 to play, but the Heat ran off six straight points to close the deal.

The most troubling symptom of secondperioditis, of course, that it forces the Suns to play from behind far more than necessary, and when you let a team as tough as the Heat off the hook you run the risk of getting burned.

The most common cause of this ailment is a weak bench, but the frustrating thing about this is that until recently the bench had been one of the team’s surprising strengths.

You have to give a hard-working Miami defense considerable credit for gradually squeezing much of the life out of the Phoenix offense. The Suns, as befits the highest scoring team in the league, hit shot 51 per cent in the first half and 36 per cent in the second half.

Dwyane Wade had a typical night for the Heat, which is to say 33 points, 9 rebounds, and 8 assists. But curiously enough he had only one of those points and 2 of the rebounds in the fourth period. But Dorell Wright and Udonis Haslem took up the “slack” with 13 of their team’s 28 fourth period points, and Jermaine O’Neal delivered the dagger points with a jumper and two free throws in the final half-minute.

The bottom line: You expect a certain number of turnovers when you run a high-powered offense, but the number and type the Suns are making, especially the type, will have to be reduced if the team expects to be a factor in the postseason.