Editor’s Note: If you as a Suns fan are squeamish or are prone to hysterics at the thought of Steve Nash leaving the desert, the following trades may prove too much for you, so you may want to save yourself the mental pain and anguish and just look away.

On Tuesday, John Hollinger wrote in his PER Diem about a Nash-to-Portland deal. Here’s the link to the deal on ESPN’s NBA Trade Machine. The crux of the trade is Phoenix receiving Ray Felton, two young prospects, and a pick in exchange for Steve Nash. Hollinger puts this trade forth despite the fact that based on the involved players’ current PER numbers, this trade would drop Phoenix’s projected wins by 10 games. This is partly due to the fact that neither Nolan Smith nor Elliot Williams have played enough to have PER data.

There is no reason to think that a deal such as this one wouldn’t happen outside of both Nash and the Suns front office’s vehement denials of the possibility of a trade. For the purposes of the column, we’ll ignore that. As the Suns sink deeper and deeper into irrelevancy and mediocrity, it’s entirely possible both sides might relax their view on a trade.

The deal makes sense for Portland as Felton’s contract is expiring just like Nash’s. So in essence, the Blazers would be renting with the possibility of re-signing Steve Nash for the price of two prospects and a pick. For the Suns, the prospects will inject some youth into an aging roster. The pick, which will likely be in the 18-24 range, will still be a valuable asset in a draft this deep. In the offseason, the Suns could stand pat with their two picks and two prospects to start a serious youth movement or package some combination of them to move up into the top five or trade for a solid veteran.

In his NBA Season Review: 20 Questions, Bill Simmons also mentioned the possibility of a Nash-to-Portland deal. His version, however, had the Suns receiving Nic Batum in place of the guard prospects. Batum, a favorite of VotS overlord Michael Schwartz, was not extended by the Trail Blazers before the deadline, possibly indicating that Portland is willing to part with him for the right price.

By Hollinger’s prediction this version of the trade would only cost the Suns one predicted win, and thus seems far more beneficial to the franchise (especially when you consider that Felton and Batum’s PER numbers undoubtedly go up in Phoenix as each would play a bigger role than they currently do in Portland.)  In Felton, the Suns would get a point guard who isn’t awful and was extremely productive under Mike D’Antoni last year in New York. In Batum, the Suns get a player who is young, energetic, and efficient, three things Phoenix sorely needs right now. Batum is also a restricted free agent, so acquiring him now would put the Suns in prime position to sign him to a longer deal as Phoenix could match any offer made for him in the offseason.

Whether or not Portland would do this deal depends on the likelihood of Nash re-signing with the Trail Blazers in the offseason. Because he was extended two years ago, Nash’s current contract isn’t eligible to be extended again as outlined in this piece by Mark Stein. Thus Portland would have to hope that another trip to playoffs is enough to entice Nash to give the Blazers his remaining years.

Simmons also proposed a possible deal with Indiana. The deal, outlined here, would swap Nash for Darren Collison and a 2012 No. 1 pick. This pick would probably be slightly worse than Portland’s as Indiana’s schedule is Eastern Conference heavy, but again in a deep draft any pick can help.

For Phoenix, this trade would give them a young, still-developing point guard to replace Nash. Collison is considered to be one of the fastest players in the NBA and has shown flashes of brilliance in his short career, particularly in place of an injured Chris Paul when both were still in New Orleans. Nash is definitely the superior point guard, but Collison with his speed could mature into a strong distributor and team leader under the right tutelage .

Whether or not Indiana would pull the trigger on this deal would again depend on its ability to re-sign Nash in the offseason. Also, the Pacers’ willingness to trade for Nash would definitely depend on how close they believe they are to title contention. It makes little sense for Indiana to trade a young asset who should continue to improve if the Pacers’ ceiling is anything less than a Finals appearance with the addition of Steve Nash.

Bill Simmons posed the question, “Why hasn’t #freestevenash evolved into a social media campaign along the lines of #occupywallstreet?” The answer, as always, is Nash’s fierce loyalty to his teammates and the Suns’ franchise.

“… I just feel that I owe it to my teammates to stay committed to them. I feel that I owe it to the fans and the organization to fight,” Nash said in an interview with ESPN’s Marc Stein. Fight as he may, what happens if the Suns continue to toil in no-man’s land? Could the situation arise where the best thing for the fans and the organization is to move Nash and get some pieces to build around in return? Will Nash and the Suns’ management see the writing on the wall before the March 15 deadline? There is no way to know. For now the “Phoenix Revolution” will remain untelevised.

But it will be on Twitter. #FreeSteveNash

Channing Frye's game-winning shot in overtime set off a Suns celebration. (Photo by Ron Hoskins/NBAE via Getty Images)

In today’s NBA world a last-second shot often calls for an isolation for that team’s best player, a lower-percentage play than actually running an offense and getting off the kind of shot a team usually looks for.

I’m always surprised that a team will settle for a bad fadeaway that would not be tolerated in the middle of the second quarter during the most crucial moments of the games, and that’s why teams often score less efficiently in crunch time than during the rest of the game.

But on Sunday afternoon when the Suns needed one shot to knock off the Pacers instead of calling an iso for a red-hot Grant Hill or something of that ilk, they ran a play for Channing Frye, and the Arizona product splashed home a jumper as the clock expired to set off a Phoenix celebration as the Suns raced off the court with a 110-108 overtime victory.

The Suns had possession with just under 24 seconds left and after Steve Nash took the clock down to about five seconds, he dished it off to Hill, who was instructed to either find an open Frye or call timeout if it was well-defended. Frye could not shake Josh McRoberts around double screens from Jared Dudley and Marcin Gortat so he called the timeout with 3.5 left so the Suns could set things up again.

Alvin Gentry chose to go to Frye once again. This time Dudley set a screen on McRoberts but his man Brandon Rush switched out onto Frye. The Suns big man is often chided for not shooting well when he doesn’t catch the ball in rhythm, but this time he pump faked and lofted a perfect swish to end the game.

“There was enough room to get it off and it went in,” Frye told reporters. “I was tired. I was like, ‘You know God if you can just let me make this shot,’ I’ve never asked for anything like that before and what do you know, he gives me a game winner.”

Added Hill, “He’s a guy that once he sees the ball go in the basket he can get rolling. He got the ball and had to make a great play, a pump fake with the guy running at him, knocked it in.”

My favorite part about this sequence is that it was an actual play (and that it didn’t lead to a shot clock violation as a potential game-winning situation in regulation did when the Suns held the ball too long before initiating the offense). They ran actual offense to get a hot player a look (Frye had knocked down a pair of shots earlier in overtime), and they used all of the 23 seconds left in the game to make sure this was a walk-off job.

Then I really loved what happened next. The entire team mobbed Frye, starting with Nash and Dudley (they were closest to him) and then Mickael Pietrus mobbing and hugging him before putting an arm around Frye as they walked off the court. Sure, every team will be excited to celebrate a game-winner, but you could see that camaraderie starting to come together after the kind of win that breeds chemistry.

“We’re in a good place,” Hill said. “We’re starting to get a real sense of chemistry on and off the court. We’re really as a unit starting to be together as one. We didn’t quit, we kind of grinded it out, we’re having fun and learning each other.”

The Suns once again jumped out to an early lead in this one thanks to a season-best game from Grant Hill. The small forward scored 20 points in the first half alone for the first time since 2005 and finished with 34 on 14-for-26 shooting to go with nine boards and four assists.

Hill said he has been focusing on his defense more than anything lately but after a talk with his dad he decided he wanted to come out more aggressive offensively in this one. With 14 first-quarter points he did exactly that, providing the kind of scoring punch he used to exhibit all the time during his prime. He also hit the biggest shot of the game before Frye’s dagger, drilling a game-tying three in the corner with 44 seconds left to send the game into overtime.

The Suns controlled this game for the better part of three quarters, taking a 15-point lead with three minutes left in the third before the Pacers came roaring back. They finished the period with five unanswered and then the Suns’ reserves failed to hold a lead once again.

The Pacers reeled off a 9-2 run early in the period and when A.J. Price hit a three to cut the lead to three with eight minutes left Gentry brought back Nash, Hill and Frye a bit early with the bench unable to be trusted once again.

That’s the area of the ballgame the Suns acquired Aaron Brooks for after Goran Dragic led the bench to so many losing quarters. Brooks missed a shot and committed a turnover during the fourth quarter and overall finished his lackluster Suns debut with three points, a rebound and an assist on 1-for-2 shooting in 10 minutes off the bench.

That means Nash played 43 minutes as the game eventually went to overtime, as Brooks played just the six minutes Nash sat in the first half before being ineffective to cause Nash to come back early in the fourth.

Brooks wasn’t the gunner he has been his whole career, perhaps because he was just trying to fit in with his new teammates. He moved the ball around capably and had a couple assists blown when teammates missed shots, but he failed to prevent the Suns early fourth-quarter malaise that has plagued the bench so much this season and he needs more minutes to make the kind of impact the Suns traded for him to make.

But with Hill turning back the clock, Gortat going for 17 and 11 (giving him the single season double-double record for a Suns reserve in a matter of months), and Frye knocking down the dagger the Suns still won their third in a row to move three games over .500 for the first time all season.

And 1

The Suns have won three in a row on three separate occasions in the last month after winning five in a row just before that.

Suns

Pacers

Rise and shine, Phoenix.

Fresh off an easy 110-92 victory over Toronto to start off the East Coast swing, the Suns get back to action bright and early Sunday morning against the Pacers.

Newly acquired point guard Aaron Brooks is scheduled to make his Suns debut shortly after the game tips off at noon local time.

In recent Phoenix trades, new players have taken quite a few games to get adapted to the system, so it will be interesting to see how quickly Brooks meshes with his new teammates.

Brooks brings a scoring edge to the team, a key component absent from Goran Dragic’s game in the months leading up to the deal.

The Pacers are a young, quick team with an electric point guard themselves in Darren Collison.

Getting off to a fast start Sunday will be crucial for both teams.

It would be useful for the Suns to get up early so Alvin Gentry can use part of the game to rest Steve Nash and give Brooks some extended looks.

The Suns still have four more road games before heading back to Phoenix so any way to keep legs fresh will only help moving forward.

The Pacers are coming off a 95-84 loss to Utah, which could have helped the Suns if Indiana had won.

The Pacers came after the new-look Jazz with a balanced scoring effort but came up short down the stretch.

Collison had 16, Roy Hibbert had 14 and Danny Granger, who has a history with Channing Frye, had 17.

Somehow Indiana is still holding onto the eighth and final playoff spot in the East despite having a record well below .500.

In the Suns’ 13th straight win over the Raptors, Phoenix did exactly what they should be aiming to do Sunday.

After the first quarter, the Suns held a 35-14 lead that was never really tested beyond a few mini-runs by Toronto.

Zabian Dowdell got 18 minutes of action in clean-up minutes that should be transferred over to Brooks once he arrives Sunday.

Who Gentry plays Brooks with will also be something to look out for.

Once that is established, the rotation for the Suns should be pretty well set in stone, which is something the team hasn’t been able to say all year.

Games against low-level teams like the Pacers have given Phoenix fits all season.

The Suns can’t afford to give up games to teams they should beat anymore.

As of Sunday morning, the team is still stuck in 10th place in the West but they are tied in the loss column for eighth with Memphis.

If teams like Utah and Denver start to fade because of trading away their star players, the Suns should be able to take advantage and sneak in the playoffs.

The last time Phoenix met Indiana was Dec. 3 at U.S. Airways Arena. The Suns won 105-97 with the help of 29 points from Frye.

The last time Phoenix made the trip to Indiana, the team got tripped up and lost 122-114.

PHOENIX — As he departed for the arena Friday afternoon, Channing Frye told his wife that the Suns had to win tonight’s tilt against the Indiana Pacers.

Then with his mother and college head coach in the stands, Frye went out and drilled five long balls (and had his toe on the line for perhaps three more) on his way to a Suns career high 29 points as the Suns dropped the Pacers, 105-97.

Frye was the guy we saw so often last season in US Airways Center, confidently releasing treys that more often than not find the bottom of the net as they did tonight when he hit 11-of-16 shots and 5-of-8 from three.

Ever reluctant to receive praise even from a standout performance like this, Frye credited his teammates and the way the Suns play for his big night.

“It’s kind of tough,” Frye said of defending Phoenix. “You’ve just kind of pick your poison. I think we have the right spacing, it allows everybody to just do what they do. Guys just come in and give us great minutes and I just kind of do what my job is, and that’s space the floor, make some shots, do some stuff and block some things.”

In the “block some things” department Frye tallied three swats, but none came close to his denial of Mike Dunleavy when Channing channeled his inner Dwight Howard and rose up for what’s got to be one of the most ferocious rejections of his NBA career.

The stuff led to an open Jason Richardson three-pointer on the other end that gave the Suns their biggest lead of the game up to that point of six points, and the Pacers never got within one possession from there.

“Dude, I don’t know where that came from, I really don’t,” Frye said. “I was like, ‘OK, let me make this look good.’ I thought it was just going to go, and I blocked it.”

As for his offensive game, Frye enjoyed his biggest scoring output since Dec. 20, 2006, back when he was a New York Knick, which must have seemed like a lifetime ago for Frye. This also marked the 11th straight game Frye has reached double figures, the longest such streak of his career.

“When we can space the floor and Channing shoots the ball like that it brings their big guys out from the basket and even when they try to put a smaller guy on him Channing did a great job, he shot the ball well and he did a good job defensively,” head coach Alvin Gentry said. “When he plays like that it creates avenues driving and the spacing just becomes much better.”

Perhaps it helped that Earl Barron started the game next to Frye, and while Barron’s box score (2-for-9 field goals, 2-for-6 free throws) doesn’t look pretty, his activity made a huge difference for the Suns.

Tangibly he got Roy Hibbert into foul trouble (three in the first 5:27) and rendered a 7-foot-2 guy averaging 16 and 9 a non-factor with eight points and just one board. Barron said he purposely tried to get Hibbert into further foul trouble after he drew the first couple.

Barron also added four steals fronting the post and made a difference by being an active seven-footer.

“Pretty much energy,” he said of his contribution. “I’m just trying to be an active presence on the defensive end, a good help defender, put a lot of pressure on the post guys, keep guys off the glass and crash the glass.”

After a porous first half that included the Pacers drilling 8-of-12 from long range and 53.7 percent of their shots overall on their way to a seven-point halftime lead, the Suns stiffened up in the second half, holding the Pacers to 3-of-14 shooting from distance (21.4 percent) and 39.5 percent shooting overall in the half.

In all the Suns held Indiana below the century mark — they are undefeated (4-0) on the rare occasions that happens — after forcing 24 Pacers turnovers thanks to 14 steals.

The Suns bottled up Danny Granger, a stud who usually goes off against Phoenix, by holding him to just eight points on 2-for-13 shooting, which Gentry said is “the best that you can ever hope for with him.”

Grant Hill and Jared Dudley shared the responsibilities on Granger as part of Gentry’s latest stab at figuring out a rotation he’s comfortable with.

Frye’s 40 minutes (which included all but 38 seconds of the second half) were by far the most on the team, as only J-Rich’s 32:21 even cracked the 30-minute barrier otherwise. Surprisingly Dudley was next with 29:54, seven more than his previous season high and more than double the 14 minutes he played last night in Oakland.

Dudley finished both halves and scored 12 points on an efficient 5-for-7 shooting performance while dishing a pair of crucial assists in crunch time to help the Suns maintain their lead.

Barron got his 19 minutes and the rest of the starters received their normal time. Hedo Turkoglu and Goran Dragic played just 18, and the bottom dropped out from there with Josh Childress (8:27) and Hakim Warrick (7:11) going scoreless in minimal time.

Meanwhile, the Suns went 11 deep with Earl Clark logging 8:37. He made some dumb plays by taking a few quick jumpers and fouling Granger in the backcourt But later he drew the defense and whipped a sweet pass to Frye for the hoop and the harm and later threw down a dunk off a Turkoglu pass.

“I know I sound like a broken record a little bit, but we’re still just trying to figure out how we can have some consistency with that team so we keep trying to stick guys in there,” Gentry said. “Earl Clark has played great in practice. He deserved a chance to play, that’s why we stuck him in there tonight, not so much anything negative against the other guys I just thought that he had had so much energy in practice and done a good job that I thought he deserved a chance to get in and see what he can do.”

If anything, this game only muddled Gentry’s potential rotation plans as Dudley played the way he did last year when he was finishing games and playing 30 minutes, and the Earls flashed the ability to make both positive and negative contributions. On other nights, the skills of Warrick and Childress will come in handy as well.

Ultimately Channing Frye’s hot night and a stiffer second-half defense made this combination a winning one against an opponent that has previously won in Los Angeles and Miami.

“It was a great win considering that we got in at about 3:30 in the morning and very little sleep,” Gentry said. “I thought everyone stepped up and played great.”

And 1

The Suns came back from double digits for the third time this season, all three of which have come at home. … After pouring in 21, J-Rich has gone for at least 20 points in six straight games, his best such streak as a Sun. … Goran Dragic of all people led the Suns in rebounding with six. Thanks to Steve Nash’s five rebounds, the Suns’ point guards led all Phoenix positions in rebounding, and two guard Jason Richardson chipped in with another five. … The Suns have won five of six at home but they snapped a four-game losing streak to the Eastern Conference with the victory. … Phoenix is now 2-3 on the second game of a back-to-back and 2-1 at home. … Gentry was shocked that Josh McRoberts found the range to drill four three-pointers and score a season-high 16 points. … Frye on the ASU-UA football game: “I don’t remember what happened. I passed out due to ridiculousness.”

Pacers

Suns

The last time Indiana traveled to Phoenix, things got a little feisty.

In early March of last season, Channing Frye and Earl Watson got into an on-court skirmish that led to Frye and Danny Granger being suspended for a game apiece when Granger came in with a push.

The fight started when Watson shoved Frye in the middle of a play. When the Suns’ center retaliated by mushing, as he put it back then, Granger stepped in and things escalated from there.

When the dust settled, five players were either suspended or fined for their involvement.

Granger, however, was not ejected from the game and the crowd in US Airways Center booed him every time he touched the ball.

It will be interesting to see if the fans at tonight’s game remember the incident and continue anti-Granger cheers.

But I digress.

Since the 2006-07 season, the Indiana Pacers have failed to win over 36 games in a year.

That’s probably going to change in 2010-11.

The incredibly young Pacers are a solid basketball team.

Labeled up-and-coming by many, the Pacers ran off back-to-back wins over the Lakers and Kings before running out of gas Wednesday in Utah, losing 110-88.

Now the school bus will drive into Phoenix for a matchup of teams that have hovered around .500 throughout the early part of the season.

The Suns are coming off an impressive rebounding performance and win last night over Golden State.

Yes, Phoenix will be playing the second half of a back-to-back tonight, but for Indiana, this will be its fourth game this week, all of which being played on the West Coast.

The Pacers are led by the All-Star forward Granger, who is scoring over 22 points per game this season.

But where Indiana has improved the most in, is its offensive balance.

Five Pacers average in the double digits, with many others contributing off the bench.

Second year player out of Georgetown Roy Hibbert has also come on strong in his sophomore season.

The center is averaging close to a double-double per outing and it will be a tall task for Phoenix to control him on the boards.

The Suns, after a brutal stretch to start their season, are now poised to get a break in the schedule over the next few weeks.

It will be important for the team to accumulate wins before the schedule heats back up again in the back end of December.

Last night while providing the offensive fireworks for Phoenix against his former team, Jason Richardson also put in an improved defensive effort.

“He has been solid for us and shooting the ball great,” Suns coach Alvin Genty told Suns.com.  ”He has really worked hard on defense and as I said last year, he had his best year as a pro. He was great in the playoffs, but his defense has improved dramatically. Plus, he plays well when he comes back [to Golden State], which is nice.”

The guard is now averaging over 21 points per game this year.

Phoenix has won eight of the last 10 meetings between the the two teams but in each of the last two years, they split the season series.

Bucks: Brew Hoop | NBAMate | SBNation Recap

Bulls: Blog-A-Bull | SBNation Recap

Cavs: Fear The Sword | WaitingForNextYear

Pacers: Indy Cornrows

Pistons: DetroitBadBoys | Need4Sheed.com | SB Nation Detroit |

Recaps: All Previews

The Indiana Pacers’ Danny Granger and the Phoenix Suns’ Channing Frye have each been suspended one game without pay for their participation in an altercation on March 6. Frye was suspended for throwing a punch at Granger, and Granger was suspended for fighting with Frye.

In addition to the suspensions, Indiana’s Roy Hibbert and Earl Watson, along with Phoenix’s Jason Richardson received fines. Watson was fined $30,000 for “instigating and adding to the escalation of an on-court incident,” while Hibbert and Richardson will each be fined $25,000 for “adding to the escalation of an on-court incident.”

The league decided that Frye’s left-handed “mushing” as he called it was in fact a punch, although Frye didn’t see it that way. He told ValleyofheSuns after the Pacers game:

I feel like if you look at my past history — which they probably won’t — I’m not really that type of guy to be in fights or in brawls, to be that instigator. It wasn’t the right play, and whatever they [decide] is going to be just, but hopefully they ask my opinion, and it wasn’t a punch.

The NBA obviously didn’t see things Frye’s way, and the big man will now miss the all-important Friday game against the Lakers. This is obviously a big loss for the Suns, and it really couldn’t come at a worse time with LA coming into town. Frye’s shooting touch from the outside will be sorely missed, but his biggest loss will be on the defensive end and in the rebounding department.

Although those clearly aren’t his strong suit, you need big bodies to try to contain the Lakers’ massive front line of Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom. The Suns are now thin up front, with the only real big men being Robin Lopez and Amare Stoudemire. Lopez needs to have a big game and stay out of foul trouble if the Suns hope to hold the Lakers’ bigs in check and win that rebounding battle that’s so important to the Suns’ success.

Amare doesn’t match up well with Bynum or Gasol, and Lou Amundson is too undersized to hold the seven-footers in check. Expect a Jarron Collins sighting at some point, along with a touch of Earl Clark here and there. The Suns now need a big game from Lopez and an inspired defensive effort from Amare and some bench guys in order to get an important home win against the conference leaders.

Channing Frye does not deserve to be suspended, although a suspension appears likely. (AP Photo/Matt York)

PHOENIX — The last time Planet Orange waited to hear if one of their own would be suspended for a Lakers game, it was pretty obvious what the outcome would be. After all, that was when Raja Bell viciously horse collared Kobe Bryant in Game 5 of their first-round series in 2006.

This time it’s not so clear whether Channing Frye will be suspended for shoving Earl Watson in retaliation for a few hard slaps in Saturday’s win over the Pacers.

“It could happen, and that would be disappointing because it’s against the Lakers,” Frye said.

Paul Coro provides a nice play-by-play of the incident that basically boils down to Watson taking issue with an apparent Frye elbow on a previous play, Watson pushing Frye’s hands away with force twice, Frye taking issue and “mushing” Watson (Frye’s word) and teammates backing up teammates with lots of shoving but no punches connecting and nobody leaving the bench (Amare sure learned that lesson!).

By New York Knick-Miami Heat standards, this was an embarrassment to fracas’ everywhere. It was just two players with no history on two teams with no history sticking up for themselves when they felt their opponent was getting too physical.

“No, I wasn’t going to punch him,” Frye said. “It wasn’t about me punching him. It wasn’t the right play, but it was me letting him know that I didn’t think that was acceptable. It’s not the right thing, it’s definitely not a reflection on me. Everybody would tell you I’m one of the easy-going guys. I’ll go down and bang with you, throw elbows, that’s fine, it’s part of the game, but at that point I thought it was a little bit more than that and emotions took over.”

It’s almost funny that it was Channing Frye who was at the center of this. Frye is as easy going as it gets in this league. He’s a 6-foot-11 performer who spends most of his time on the offensive end behind the three-point line. We’re not exactly talking about the second coming of Bill Laimbeer here.

What’s next, will Grant Hill be getting into fights?

“I feel like if you look at my past history — which they probably won’t — I’m not really that type of guy to be in fights or in brawls, to be that instigator,” Frye said. “It wasn’t the right play, and whatever they [decide] is going to be just, but hopefully they ask my opinion, and it wasn’t a punch.”

Added Jason Richardson, who was right in the middle of things and picked up a technical, “Nobody threw a punch. It happens sometimes. Nobody should get suspended for either team because it didn’t escalate to that.”

Frye even stood back by the refs after the initial thrust to prevent an escalation, but the way things go for the Suns, Steve Nash said he wouldn’t even be surprised if he were suspended a game like he was for not doing much in a fracas with the Rockets last season. I want to say he was joking, but he looked dead serious when he said it.

It’s a shame that any suspensions would come Friday against a Lakers squad that’s struggling a bit in a game that’s a monster referendum on the Suns’ hot play of late.

If I had to predict, I would say the league will suspend Frye, but I don’t think that’s the right call, especially since it was in retaliation for Watson slapping his hands down twice with force. There was some sticking up for teammates going on, but nothing escalated to a serious degree and Frye never threw a punch, he was just “mushing,” and I’ve never heard of a player being suspended for that.

For now, all the Suns and Frye can do is wait.

It’s just frustrating,” Frye said. “Hopefully when they look at the film they’ll make the right decision.”

PHOENIX — There are so many unwritten rules in sports that if they were actually written out they might rival Bill Simmons’ Book of Basketball in length.

Tonight in US Airways Center we saw two of them play out: take matters into your own hands when somebody takes a cheap shot at you and always have your teammates’ backs.

When Earl Watson shoved Channing Frye’s hands away once, it was OK with the Suns’ center. But when he proceeded to hit Frye a second time, Channing had to take matters into his own hands.

What ensued was a mini-fracas — with Frye getting two techs and an ejection, and Jason Richardson, Danny Granger and Roy Hibbert also picking up T’s — that colored a 113-105 Suns victory.

“That’s what happens when tempers flare,” Richardson said. “No matter where you’re at stuff like that happens. It’s no bad blood, it’s no good rivalry, things like that. It’s just something that happens in basketball, and it’s over with, it’s done with. It’s something you’re going to forget probably in two days.”

That’s what was so strange about this. If this happened between Kobe and anybody on the Suns next Friday night, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised. There’s history there.

But we’re talking about the Suns and the Pacers, two teams that play each other twice a year, never meet in the playoffs and never have had any kind of extracurricular issues like this.

This was about Frye taking matters into his own hands, sticking up for himself and not letting a point guard take cheap shots at him.

“At a certain point you have to protect yourself and you just can’t allow a play like that,” Frye said. “I know the ref called it, but at that point I kind of took things in my own hands, which wasn’t the right play, and I don’t think that’s a good reflection on myself or the team, but at the same time I felt like it was just inappropriate and anybody in the league wouldn’t have kind of held up with that.”

The second unwritten rule came with players on both sides backing up their teammates, particularly Richardson, Granger and Hibbert, the men who got technicals.

Again, there is no bad blood between any of these players. Frye spoke of this being uncharacteristic of those Pacers, and this is so uncharacteristic of Frye that he said he’s always the guy breaking up altercations, not starting them.

But teammates have to have each other’s backs.

“His teammates are going to have his back, and he did the right thing,” Richardson said of Frye.  “Unfortunately it escalated to more than what it was and it shouldn’t have got that far,”

Added Hibbert, “We just had each other’s back out there no matter what.”

And Granger, “We were together,” adding that the Suns were “playing dirty” and taking “cheap shots,” and aside from Raja Bell when have you ever heard that being said about this Phoenix basketball team?

When I covered the 2008 Dodgers, Phillies pitcher Brett Myers threw behind Manny Ramirez and nearly hit Russell Martin in Game 2 of the NLCS, and Chad Billingsley was vilified by his teammates for not retaliating.

Then when Hiroki Kuroda threw a fastball over Shane Victorino’s head in Game 3, the Phillies outfielder yelled at him to hit him in the ribs but not the head, as if to say, “Such retaliation is to be expected, just don’t seriously hurt me.”

Billingsley lost his teammates that day, while Kuroda became a hero in that clubhouse the next game for reasons that didn’t show in the box score. It’s little things like that that matter so much in sports.

While Frye explained to reporters that he shouldn’t have “mushed” Watson (apparently the name Frye gave for whatever he did that certainly wasn’t a punch in his eyes), J-Rich started to butt in from his locker and with a disgusted look told Frye he will talk to him later about this subject. I would assume J-Rich wanted to tell him that he did the right thing and not to feel bad about it.

Asked later about the old “soft” label in this locker room, Richardson said, “There’s nothing soft about us. Guys go really to be assertive about that, and we’ve never been soft, I’ll tell you that much.”

OK, we know thaaaat’s not true, but what started as a boring Saturday night against a terrible team turned into a statement for the rest of the league that the Phoenix Suns won’t be pushed around.

The altercation woke up US Airways Center, prompting Jared Dudley to observe, “It felt like kind of a playoff atmosphere even though I’ve never been in the playoffs.”

I couldn’t agree more, even though I’ve never covered playoff basketball either.

A ho-hum game against the worst team in the East outside of New Jersey turned into an electric atmosphere with fans booing Danny Granger every time he caught the ball and Granger responding by “shhing” the crowd when he made a big basket. Suns owner Robert Sarver shot back with his own “shhing” when the Suns did something big.

“When you can get an entire auditorium chanting ‘you suck,’ that’s pretty nice I think,” Granger said.

Added Dudley, “It kind of woke us up and got us ready to go, and I thought from there we kind of pushed forward and got the game pretty much in control.”

The Suns ended up winning by holding Indiana to just 37.6 percent shooting, making this the fourth time in their last 18 games they have held an opponent under 40 percent after doing so just four times in their first 47 contests.

Also, Amare Stoudemire scored 30 points for the third straight game, the first time he has done that since March 2008, and Richardson went for 20 points for the third game in a row and seventh time in nine games while chipping in with 10 boards. Grant Hill added a 22-8-5 line in 35 minutes, some of which he spent playing backup point guard.

But what really mattered most on this night was a supposedly soft player on a supposedly soft team following the unwritten rules of sports and making a close Suns team even closer.

And 1

• Dudley, who grabbed a season-high 12 rebounds, on the crowd after the fight: “We should get in a scuffle every game if the crowd’s going to be like that. The crowd was on Granger, I thought it took him out of his game a little bit. I thought they missed some shots they normally make.”
• Gentry on the game: “I thought it was a hard-fought game, figuratively and literally I guess, but I thought our guys did a really good job of just hanging in and grinding it out and finding a way to come up with plays. It was a good win for us.”
• Nash on the game: “The game was ugly, and we didn’t have our ‘A’ game, but we fought and scrapped, and that’s what you’ve got to do when you’re struggling a little bit out there, and tonight wasn’t pretty.”
• The Suns won the rebounding battle by a whopping 58-44 margin. Seven players grabbed at least five boards.

Pacers

Suns

PHOENIX — On a Daily Dime chat this week, we were talking about how well the Suns bounced back from what could have been a crushing loss to San Antonio with big wins over Denver and the Clippers.

A commenter was impressed with how resilient the Suns have been this year, but really — like everything else — the Suns have only been so resilient for half the season.

Back during their December-January funk, losses begat losses, and a blown game like the one the Suns suffered Thursday against Utah could ruin a week.

However, the Suns have not lost consecutive games since dropping a pair Jan. 25-26 to cap a stretch of seven losses in nine games. Since then, the Suns followed their only three losses with resounding victories.

With how Jekyll and Hyde the Suns’ season has been, Phoenix fans have got to hope Thursday’s loss didn’t flip a switch in the negative direction like how the Jan. 28 win over Dallas seemed to spark the Suns’ last month-plus of stellar play.

“This team has a lot of character,” said Suns head coach Alvin Gentry. “We’ll snap back.”

On one hand, they have the perfect opponent in Indiana, but this is a trap game if there ever was one.

The Pacers are flat-out horrible. Only the Nets sport a worse record in the East, and Indiana is a putrid 7-26 on the road after losing last night in Denver. The Pacers have lost 10 of 12 overall and five in a row on the road, with this being the vaunted fourth game in five nights on the road. Watch the fourth quarter of Thursday’s Suns game to see what that kind of schedule can do to a team’s legs.

Not only that, but the Suns have five full days off — a second All-Star break you could say — after this one, and their first opponent back is none other than the world champion Lakers. This is such a trap game on paper that it’s almost not a trap game, if that makes any sense.

This is also a more difficult game than you would think at first glance because the Suns are not far from playing this game without a point guard. Steve Nash’s back and abdomen are ailing as much as they ever have, so this break is certainly coming at a perfect time. Tonight MVSteve will be slated for a heavy workload with Goran Dragic likely to miss this one with a sprained ankle and Leandro Barbosa still working his way back from wrist surgery.

Best-case scenario is a blowout win, with Nash sitting for the entirety of the fourth quarter and the Jared Dudley Era at point guard seeing its beginning and end.

But these are the Pacers, and wacky things have happened of late when these squads renew acquaintances.

The Suns blew a 24-point lead and ended up losing by eight in Indiana earlier this year, a “the sky is falling” kind of loss that came one game after Phoenix blew a 24-point lead at home to an undermanned Milwaukee team before pulling it out. Danny Granger went for 33 in that one and Mike Dunleavy 30 off the bench.

And of course later year in US Airways Center, Granger hit a three at the buzzer on a play that started with 0.9 seconds left, finishing off one of Phoenix’s toughest losses of the season.

When you look at Phoenix’s schedule this homestand, this is the one game along with the Minnesota contest that should be marked as an automatic win.

But with the point guard position so banged up and with the Suns being liable to suffer from a Utah hangover or a Lakers look ahead, all of a sudden a win over the 20-42 Pacers doesn’t sound so automatic.

“We need to make sure we keep our composure and just get ready to play the Pacers,” Amare Stoudemire said.