Trail Blazers

Suns

PHOENIX – The Blazers landed the first punch.

Now it’s the Suns’ turn to counter.

If not, this could be the last game US Airways Center hosts all season.

Yes, Game 2 is that desperate of a situation with the Suns facing two games against Portland’s raucous crowd later this week. And except when there’s some sort of Westphal Guarantee, losing the first two games at home typically spells doom in any playoff series.

The Blazers, meanwhile, not only are playing with house money, but the owner of the casino stopped by to hand them a stack of thousands to play with. Nobody expected them to have a chance in this series, and here they are with an opportunity to sweep the first two in Phoenix and effectively take away most of Phoenix’s hope.

The Suns will be playing with the pressure of their incredible season on their shoulders; the Blazers will be playing with the kind of pressure stars face in the opening minutes of an All-Star Game.

If the Suns hope to win, a number of things must be different. As mentioned last night, the Suns need Amare to play like the Amare that terrorized opponents down the stretch and the team needs to do a better job of limiting Andre Miller.

My next move would be to give Jarron Collins a front row seat to the action and start Channing Frye. Before Game 1, head coach Alvin Gentry said he planned to stick with the rotations that got him here, and as far as playing the entire bench their normal minutes I could not be more on board.

But Gentry should think back to the starting center switch he made that turned around Phoenix’s season and do it again, this time in the opposite direction by re-inserting Channing Frye into the starting lineup. Portland isn’t respecting Collins’ offensive game in the least bit in using his man to pack the middle even more, and since Collins can’t beat them Phoenix is essentially going four on five offensively.

ESPN Insider John Hollinger cited basketballvalue.com in saying the Suns are 13.2 points per 100 possessions worse offensively with Jarron Collins on the floor this season. On the flip side, they are a team-high 6.8 pp100 better offensively with Frye out there; Frye just edges out Steve Nash for best offensive rating on the Suns. For the season the Suns were 15-plus points better per 100 possessions with Frye than Collins, last on the team in this department by a wide margin.

With the Suns desperately needing to find their rhythm offensively, I would start Frye and then give Lou Amundson more time off the bench.

“We’ve just got to get the rhythm and the pace to our game,” Grant Hill said.

At the other end the Suns can’t allow Miller and Jerryd Bayless to combine for 25 fourth-quarter points. The Suns must stop their penetration, but this is a problem not just limited to Game 1.

According to Hollinger, in the four combined games this season Portland guards have scored 52.3 percent of the team’s points while playing 39.0 percent of the available minutes. For the season they produced 44.3 percent of the team’s scoring in a similar amount of time.

“We’ve got to do a better job of crowding him, not letting [Miller] get layups and not letting him get to the middle,” Richardson said.

It’s also noteworthy that many players on the Suns’ second unit such as Goran Dragic, Jared Dudley, Amundson and for all intents and purposes Frye were getting their first pieces of serious playoff time Sunday night. Dudley said “the jitters are out” now, so the team should start to look more like the Suns we all know in Game 2.

That’s my biggest key to Game 2. They must play with a better pace and rhythm, and get Amare in more situations where he’s not just going one on one against Marcus Camby. They need to run with a purpose and score at a pace that the shorthanded Blazers can’t match.

“We’ve just got to pick up our energy,” Richardson said. “We’ve got to continue to force it, continue to run, get up and down the court. They’re the type of team that will grind it out, and we’re more a team that likes to speed it up so we’ve go to just keep our tempo and keep on playing the pace we normally play.”

Every series has a blowout, and if the Suns do just that I think this could be the one. The Blazers are guaranteed of the split that they likely wanted to get heading into the week, and the Suns will be the desperate team playing for their lives tonight.

The Suns have not dropped consecutive games since Jan. 25-26, a span of 84 days and eight consecutive wins. Their season depends on that streak staying intact by night’s end.

“He’s making some progress, but we have to assume that he’s not going to be with us and then if he ends up being with us that will be a huge bonus for us,” said Suns head coach Alvin Gentry.

“I hope that I’m wrong and we end up getting him.”

Gentry plans on sticking with the status quo with his rotations, meaning Jarron Collins will likely continue to start each half in Lopez’s place.

As for what the Suns miss without Lopez, Gentry said, ”Just his presence. That size. He’s got great size and great presence. Not so much that he’s blocking a ton of shots or anything like that, but just to have that size makes a huge difference for us.”

Spurs

Suns

Let’s just say ESPN made a really good decision making the final tilt of the regular season between the Suns and Spurs a nationally-televised affair.

Like every other game the rest of the year, this game is HUGE. And it’s not just because the visitors will be wearing silver and black (although that doesn’t hurt).

The Suns enter this one two games ahead of the Spurs in the West standings. Since the winner of this game will also win the head-to-head tiebreaker, this game essentially counts as two in the standings. If the Suns win it, they can pretty much guarantee not falling below San Antonio. If they lose it, they will have just a game of cushion on their nemesis and be a tough four-game finish away from dropping below the Spurs.

Playing into Phoenix’s hands is the fact that San Antonio has played a pair of games — including a win late last night in Sacramento — since the Suns last took the court Saturday in Milwaukee. The Suns will be rested, refreshed and jacked up for this one, whereas the geriatric Spurs could be a bit tired. A mitigating factor is the fact that Manu Ginobili and Richard Jefferson led the team in minutes with just 34 and Tim Duncan only went for 29 last night.

The Kings game also marked the return of Suns killer Tony Parker from a broken hand that kept him out for a month. Parker went for eight points and a pair of dimes in 17 minutes of action off the bench as San Antonio eased him back into the lineup. I would expect him to play significantly more against Nash and the Suns, whom he always torches.

The Spurs are 31-19 with Parker in the lineup and 16-10 without him this season. They actually score and give up a few more ppg with Parker out of the lineup, but it’s not a huge difference.

It will be interesting to see if Ginobili continues to light the world on fire as he did since becoming a full-time starter after Parker went down. While playing five extra minutes a game, Manu has gone from averaging a 14.2-3.7-4.7 on 41 percent shooting to a 25.5-4.1-5.6 while shooting 51 percent. Don’t think Amare is the only 2010 free agent having a big second half, and it may be paying off for Manu in the form of a nice extension.

When Parker got hurt on March 6, I thought the Spurs would drop well below the rest of the West pack, but they’ve hung around thanks to Ginobili and the efforts of combo guard George Hill, who sprained his ankle Sunday in Los Angeles and will miss tonight’s contest.

In their last meeting, Robin Lopez at least made Tim Duncan work, providing a big body the Suns have rarely been able to throw on The Big Fundamental. With Lopez out, the defense of a guy like Jarron Collins could be critical and newly-signed big Dwayne Jones could get a few reps as well.

Jones, of course, went to training camp with Duncan and the Spurs and played all year with their D-League affiliate, a team that runs San Antonio’s system. That doesn’t mean he can necessarily stop the Spurs, but you’ve got to think that familiarity if nothing else will free him to play with more confidence than a guy in his situation normally would.

In some respects, Jones is kind of like a spy coming over to Suns camp after spending all year working with the enemy. Not that San Antonio has any secrets after all these years, but Jones definitely won’t be surprised by anything he sees from the Spurs. That is if he even sees the floor.

One big whom we know will see the floor is Amare Stoudemire, who torched Duncan and the Spurs for 41 and 12 on 15-for-28 shooting on Feb. 28 in San Antonio in the Jason Richardson missed dunk game.

This contest marks the start of Phoenix’s brutal five-game sprint to the finish, a schedule that features four teams with .600-plus winning percentages. Only Denver (.626) has a tougher finishing kick in the entire league than Phoenix’s .610 opponent winning percentage in its final five.

If the Suns don’t take care of business tonight, that brutal schedule could still push them to the bottom of the West playoff picture.

PHOENIX — In many respects Friday’s game against the Lakers felt like a playoff game. Heck, that notion was even written on the whiteboard in the Suns’ locker room before the game.

With Los Angeles being in town on a Friday night, the fans were jacked up during pregame introductions and the Suns started the game off with one of their better energy performances in an atmosphere that felt more like May than March.

But when the Lakers clamped down on defense and found good shots against the Suns’ zone, Phoenix could not hang with the defending champs, falling 102-96 to their Pacific Division nemesis.

“We played hard and did a good job, just couldn’t quite get over the hump,” said Suns head coach Alvin Gentry.

With the loss, the Suns fell a full game behind Oklahoma City for fifth in the West (and two games behind in the loss column). They are only a half-game ahead of No. 7 San Antonio (and one back in the loss column) and just one game up on No. 8 Portland. So much for winning 14 of 19.

This game illustrates why the Suns would be better off falling into the No. 6 or (at worst) No. 7 slot. Although having Channing Frye certainly would help, Phoenix just doesn’t have the horses to guard the Lakers’ bigs down low one on one. Combine that with the fact that nobody on the planet can guard Kobe Bryant and you have a problem.

The Suns counteracted that issue by throwing a zone defense at Los Angeles for extended periods of the game, and it worked for a stretch as Phoenix built up an eight-point lead in the second quarter, with much of the damage being done with Kobe on the bench with two early fouls.

But the Lakers eventually figured it out, and with the Suns focusing on Los Angeles’ bigs and Kobe, Ron Artest and Derek Fisher were left as open as you’ll ever see an NBA player for threes. You could say making those guys hit perimeter shots is a good strategy against the Lakers, but in this game they hit just enough for Los Angeles to win (three apiece).

All five Lakers starters thus managed to score at least 15 points, with Artest and Fisher benefitting from the lack of attention.

Los Angeles ended the first half on a 20-6 run as Phoenix’s engine stalled. After playing crisp basketball in the first quarter, the Suns just didn’t have it in the latter parts of the second.

“We just lost our flow and rhythm,” Steve Nash said. “We had a really nice rhythm going and we just kind of got stagnant. We missed some shots, but I thought more than that we lost our tempo and our rhythm, and we couldn’t get it back until the second half.”

The Suns trailed by as many as 15 points in the second half before battling back to take an 82-81 lead early in the fourth on a Lou Amundson alley-oop dunk that capped a 20-6 run for the Suns. However, the Lakers answered with a 12-1 run to put them up 10 with five minutes left.

The Suns still had their chances, as Nash just missed a three that felt good leaving his hand with a minute left that would have cut the lead to one and then Grant Hill could not handle a Nash pass 24 seconds later with the lead still at four.

“We had a chance to win the game and we just didn’t make the plays when they counted,” Nash said.

You certainly cannot blame Lou Amundson for that. In fact, the game never would have been this close if Lou hadn’t hustled all over the floor during 28 of the final 36 minutes. After not getting any burn in the first quarter, Gentry couldn’t take Lou out. Amundson finished with just his second double-double of the season and third of his career with 11 points, 10 boards and four blocks, including two on the same possession against Gasol and Bynum.

He dove into the stands for a loose ball, dunked on people and overall did everything he could to get under the skin of the bigger Lakers.

“I was just going out there and really trying to give us a spark,” Amundson said. “We started the second half a little lackluster, and we were kind of lacking energy in the first few minutes, so I was just trying to come in, give us a spark, give some energy and make some plays.”

Added Nash, “It was big tonight for us in keeping us in the game and giving us energy.”

The game started as the Amare Stoudemire Show, as Phoenix got a monster 17-point, eight-rebound first quarter from Stoudemire. STAT slowed after that insane opening 12 minutes, but he still recorded game highs in points (29) and rebounds (16). Amare took the ball right at the longest front line in the league, mighty impressive considering his 2-for-15 performance in a game earlier this season in Los Angeles.

“I was ready from the start, from the jump ball, even before the jump ball,” Stoudemire said. “I was ready when I drove in.”

But it was not enough.

This game will not decide the Suns’ playoff fate, and nobody can blame them for losing to the defending champs while perhaps being a bit rusty from their six-day layoff. It certainly didn’t help having Channing Frye suspended, especially when Robin Lopez picked up two early fouls and then failed to grab a single rebound in 18 minutes.

Still, a second win against the Lakers would have done wonders for this team’s confidence, although Nash doesn’t plan on putting too much stock in the end result.

“We had our chances, and we lost the game,” Nash said. “I don’t put too much more on it than that.”

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• Gentry was ejected with 5:06 remaining when he felt a hard Pau Gasol foul on Amundson should have been ruled a flagrant. Gentry raced to midcourt to argue, quickly drawing the ejection. After the game he was in no mood to speak about the incident. “I will not talk about it,” he said. “Let the NBA look at it and see and see what they think. They’ve got all the answers, go let them decide.”
• Nash said his back felt “pretty good,” although he was a little sore from working out so much this week. It wasn’t stiff, and after really struggling with the health of his back and lower abdomen Saturday against Indiana, he said he didn’t feel that pain at all in this game. “My back felt a lot better, and hopefully I can get some rejuvenation in my legs, my back will continue to feel good, and I can finish strong,” Nash said.
• I know, this always happens when the Lakers are in town, but there were a ton of visiting fans in US Airways Center tonight. At one point I was looking down at the Daily Dime Live chat not paying attention to Derek Fisher’s free throws and thought that he missed it because the crowd cheered. Turned out the crowd was cheering a make. The “MVP” chants for Kobe at the end of the game did not exactly appeal to me either.
• Jarron Collins had played just three minutes since January, but he came in and gave his team 12 solid minutes, grabbing three rebounds, dishing a pair of assists and taking two charges. “He’s a real pro,” Gentry said. “There’s a reason that he stays in the league, there’s a reason that he’ll be in the league.”
• J-Rich on Amundson: ““It’s very important, we need that every night from him. He came in blocking shots, getting offensive rebounds. He kept us in the game with his energy. He got the crowd into it, and that’s what we need from him every night.”
• The Suns lost to a Pacific Division rival for the first time in 15 games. The Lakers were the last division rival to win in USAC, with that victory coming back on Nov. 20, 2008. … Phoenix finished 7-1 against its division at home for the second year in a row. … The Suns were held under 100 points for just the third time in 33 home games. … Richardson called this probably the Suns’ best defensive effort of the season. … Phoenix shot only 40.8 percent in its three losses to Los Angeles this season. … The Suns lost their first game in which they won the rebounding battle since Jan. 22 against Chicago.

Yes, this is no average night in Phoenix with the Los Angeles Lakers in town.

However, in tonight’s contest the Suns of course will be without Channing Frye, suspended a game for throwing a punch Saturday against Indiana, and that means Alvin Gentry will have to switch up his big man rotation. Along with Amare Stoudemire getting a bit more burn, Gentry said he will look deeper to his bench, possibly calling on Jarron Collins for a few minutes, saying the Suns will need to be able to rebound the ball against “the longest, most athletic team in the league.”

As for what the Suns lose with Frye sitting at home, Gentry said, ”We’re going to miss Channing because he’s a big part of what we’re doing. It’s like a great receiver. At the end of the day he caught two passes. Yeah, but he probably was responsible for the other wide receiver catching five passes because with Channing you have to guard him out on the floor, so it opens things up. We’ll miss Channing, but we have to find a way to compensate for that.”

Below find some highlights from the rest of Gentry’s pre-game talk with reporters:

On Kobe: “The big thing for us with him is to try to keep him off the line. Usually he has the monster games when he’s shooting 12, 15 free throws. If you can make it so he’s making all jump shots and he takes 25 shots to get 30 points, you’ve done a great job.”

On the Lakers: “They obviously struggled a little bit on the road, but I don’t think any team out there if they had to play them now and beat them four out of seven games, I don’t know if that’s possible, and they’ve got a completely different agenda than what we have. We’re trying to play ourselves into the playoffs. They’re trying to get themselves ready for a championship run. Whatever happens in the West, it’s still going to go through LA. I still say whatever happens you have to win some games in LA to get to where you want to get to.”

On the strategy against Kobe in a game-winning situation: “He’ll have to make a shot over four guys, which I’m not saying that he can’t do that either.”

On practice this week: “We didn’t do a whole lot from the standpoint of really hard practices because we had Steve trying to recover and we had LB and we had Goran and we had J-Rich also. We did a lot of things from the standpoint of trying to clean up a few things defensively and also executing offensively. It was good for us as a recovery thing more so than having practice. At this point in the season you’re not going to go in and make it like a training camp.”

On if Nash feels better: “We hope so, he feels better I think. We’ll see how it all goes, but obviously he’s very, very important to our team. He’s the engine that drives our car, so we need for him to be healthy.”

On the health of the Suns: “Everybody’s fine. Goran feels good. I think the ankle is pretty healthy. J-Rich has had a few back spasms, we just kept him out one day. I think health-wise we’re in pretty good shape. Amare has a little trouble with his toe, but I think Joe Dumars said it best. He said, ‘You’re 100 percent your first day of training camp your rookie year, and then you’re never 100 percent again.’ That’s probably true from the standpoint of just the little bumps and bruises, you always have something, but you just play.”

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Gentry is not sure yet if Leandro Barbosa will return Sunday against New Orleans. … The Suns have won 14 straight against the Pacific Division at home, including a perfect 7-0 mark this season. They have won their home divisional games by an average score of 117.3-101.0 this season … That means the Suns have not lost a divisional home game in 478 days since the Lakers beat them back on Nov. 20, 2008. Besides Phoenix, only the Lakers and Bulls are undefeated at home against their own division. … Amare Stoudemire has not scored 30 or more in four straight games since Dec. 20-28, 2004, a feat he can accomplish tonight. STAT is averaging 27.3 ppg in March, fifth-best in the league. … Grant Hill has scored 16 or more in four straight, which ties his longest streak as a Sun. … Gentry will coach his 500th regular season NBA game tonight.

Alando Tucker

I’m often asked on Daily Dime Live chats about what trade the Suns need to make to vault them to contender status.

This one isn’t it, but the Suns did save a few more dollars by jettisoning seldom-used guard Alando Tucker to Minnesota with a conditional second-rounder and cash for Jason Hart, whose non-guaranteed contract was immediately waived.

According to The Arizona Republic, Minnesota will get the Suns’ second-rounder if it’s not in the top 40 or Cleveland’s second-rounder from the Shaq deal if it is. Along with the Cleveland pick, the Suns also are owed Charlotte’s second-rounder from the J-Rich deal, so they are flush with second-rounders although Oklahoma City owns their first-rounder.

Phoenix will also pay Tucker’s $1.07 million contract and send the Wolves $100K, but they will save about a million.

“We want to thank Alando for his service to our organization,” Suns GM Steve Kerr said in a release. “He is a high-character person who has been a good teammate and a hard worker since arriving in Phoenix and we appreciate all of his efforts. We wish him well in Minnesota.”

This also ends the discussion on whether the Suns should keep Jarron Collins. The Suns traditionally only keep the the 13-player roster minimum, which is what they are down to after the trade. Collins was picked up as No. 14 when Robin Lopez was injured during the first month of the season and he has stayed on despite diminishing minutes upon Lopez’s return.

Collins essentially won a game in Houston with his size down the stretch and is an invaluable mentor to Lopez. He’s also the type of big who could go months without playing and then come up huge in a critical spot down the stretch.

At first glance, the Suns gave up a guy they’re not playing, a crappy second-rounder and a bit of cash to save a bit more cash. That in itself means this trade was inconsequential. Tucker’s option for next year has already been declined, so he’s been a lame duck whose biggest contributions have come through starring in Steve Nash’s video productions.

The deal is most meaningful in that it guarantees the Suns will keep Collins for the season, and unlike Tucker — a player stuck behind a glut of guards — Collins could come up useful when the interior-deficient Suns need it most.

Griffin back to Iowa

The Suns also announced that forward Taylor Griffin has been sent to Iowa for a 12-game stint.

Griffin averaged 13.5 points, 8.0 boards and 4.0 assists in a previous two-game run with the Energy.

This can only help Griffin’s development being that he only gets burn in Phoenix in the most lopsided of blowouts. A mix of NBA practice instruction and now D-League playing time should help Griffin improve greatly as a rookie.

Jarron Collins

We are still a week or so away from the Suns having to make this decision, but with Robin Lopez returning to practice on Friday for his first full-contact workout since fracturing his foot during training camp, the Suns will soon have to decide whether it’s worth keeping Jarron Collins around.

ValleyoftheSuns’ Michael Schwartz and Tyler Lockman debate what the Suns should do with their veteran center once Lopez proves his health.

Pro: Just look at the Houston tape

When the Suns claimed Collins’ non-guaranteed contract during the preseason, I wondered why they even bothered since he seemed like the antithesis of a player who would thrive in the Suns’ system, particularly since head coach Alvin Gentry said he didn’t think Phoenix should sign a guy unless he could crack the rotation.

There’s certainly nothing flashy about Collins’ game, but unlike Stromile Swift last year, Collins can help this basketball team. He’s spent eight years with Utah and Jerry Sloan and in that time has seen it all, and he’s seen it in the Western Conference.

He’s a guy who can handle not playing for days at a time and still stay ready to step in when foul trouble calls to contribute to a win, as he did with six points, six boards, two blocks and solid defense in 13 second-half minutes Tuesday in Houston.

Most of all he’s a calming veteran influence who can be more of a mentor to Lopez than the selfish Shaqtus ever was, and he’s a reliable insurance policy in case one of Phoenix’s bigs go down for an extended period.

In reality most NBA rosters hold more than the minimum, although the Suns have always kept to the minimum the past few years largely for financial reasons. A full year of Collins at the minimum, offset by what the NBA contributes, is about $825K, so even with the luxury tax you’re only looking at about another $2 million. If need be they can cut the useless Taylor Griffin to save a chunk of that change.

If the Suns are the Western Conference contender they seem to be, Jarron Collins is the kind of player who will come in handy in a clutch situation later in the year. You don’t want to be wondering “what if?” if the injury bug bites again and Collins is nowhere to be found.

– Michael Schwartz

Con: The minutes aren’t there

There is no doubting that Jarron Collins brings a veteran presence and a wealth of knowledge to the Phoenix Suns, but with Robin Lopez returning soon, there will simply be no place left for him on the team.

Channing Frye is the starter for now and he is getting more consistent as he adjusts to the Suns’ system. Lou Amundson has been a very capable backup, pulling 5.1 points and 4.2 rebounds in about 15 minutes per game. More than that, he has been a defensive asset, blocking shots and making stops.

Lopez, however, is the biggest reason to send Collins on his way. With a year of experience under his belt and (hopefully) improved strength, Lopez should move into the primary backup role once his tank is full. If his strength is there, he has the size to be a great rebounder. He should also bring an immediate shot-blocking presence.

Collins — though he averages just 1.5 ppg and 2.4 rpg — has been valuable in tight situations, like his six-point, six-rebound performance against the Houston Rockets when the Suns’ primary big men were in foul trouble. But Lopez can provide that and more.

Keeping three centers on this team just doesn’t make sense, and it’s unusual for the Suns to hang on to more than the roster minimum anyway. Although I’m sure the Suns are grateful for what Collins has provided thus far, I just can’t see them keeping him.

Plain and simple, there are no minutes for Collins in the purple and orange.

– Tyler Lockman

Should the Suns keep Collins or release him? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

Clutch defense from Amare and the Suns helped the team turn away the Rockets in clutch fashion and improve to a league-best 10-2. (AP Photo/Bob Levey)

Wins are coming so easy to the Phoenix Suns these days, it’s almost as if they feel the need to spot the opposition a lead.

That’s what happened Tuesday night when the Suns trailed the Rockets 49-34 midway through the second quarter after a Chase Budinger slam. Up to that point it had been all Houston, with the Rockets starting out on fire from three and getting to every loose ball on the rare occasion that they missed.

We should have known that was nothing for the Phoenix Suns to overcome, as was the case in the Suns’ 111-105 victory over the Rockets.

Phoenix immediately went to work with a 13-0 Amare Stoudemire-charged run and prevailed when the defense went into lockdown mode once again down the stretch, holding the Rockets to 9-for-28 shooting (32.1 percent) in the fourth quarter.

That’s been the magical combination, along with some clutch play at the offensive end as usual, for the Suns to become the Comeback Kids of the early going, as I wrote in Sunday’s Daily Dime.

After another late-game comeback, the Suns are now 5-2 when trailing after three. Last year they were 4-30 in such contests. The Suns have also trailed by double digits in five of their 10 wins after tonight’s comeback from 15 down. Last year they won only seven such games.

I really feel like the reason for that has to do with the intangibles. If you look at this team on paper, they switched Channing Frye for Shaquille O’Neal and went from above average to 10-2.

I don’t mean this to be a “pile on Shaq” session, but it’s amazing watching this team and just knowing there’s going to be a comeback. You could tell the players all knew, could sense it and just waited for that time to strike as they’ve done time and time again.

It’s a clutch quality possessed by some baseball teams, to switch sports on you real quick. For example, the 2007 D-backs were the National League’s best team despite being outscored because they were incredible in the clutch and had that feeling that the game wasn’t over so long as there were outs left to play with. The 2009 D-backs, on the other hand, always felt like they could blow it so long as there were outs left.

The Suns have come back from big deficits so many times already (and yes, we’re still a week shy of Thanksgiving) that it’s not just hope but a feeling of knowing that comeback is on the way.

Phoenix’s prowess of digging out of major deficits with ease goes back to something VP of basketball ops David Griffin said at the beginning of the season.

“I think you’ll see us at points really struggle, and that’s just how it’s going to be,” Griffin said, referring to points in particular games. “That’s how the ’04 team was. We’d go on an 18-point run, and we’d give up an 18-point run. We’ll probably play just like that.”

So far that’s been exactly how this team has played. No lead is safe, but neither is any opponent’s lead, and once a game gets close at the end the defense has tightened and Nash has ensured the offense executes.

After Sunday’s nail biter against the Raptors, I asked a few of the Suns what has made them so resilient all year in the face of major deficits.

“First of all we score,” Amare said. “We score easily, and I think this year defensively we’re stepping up. We’re taking it amongst ourselves to rebound and definitely get those stops down the stretch, so we’ve got to keep it going.”

Added J-Rich, echoing Amare, “Because we know we can score. Our biggest thing is getting stops. We know we always can make baskets, we’ve got a lot of guys who can do that, so we’re not really worried about that end. We’ve got to pick it up on the defensive end.”

Beyond defense, the Suns were ferocious on the boards in the second half after a lackluster opening on the glass. The team’s balance on the scoreboard (five guys in double figures, 10 with at least five) carried over onto the boards, where five Suns pulled down at least five rebounds. Nobody collected more than Grant Hill’s seven caroms.

A day after his 27th birthday, Amare Stoudemire was about as close to beast mode as we’ve seen him all year. He scored a team-high 23 points with ease, and this against defensive stalwart Chuck Hayes. We even saw a bit of power from STAT, and once he really gets rolling this team will be scary.

Steve Nash also had the most productive 2-for-10 you’ll ever see, showing why he’s leading ESPN’s MVP Watch. Even on an off night he still dished out 16 assists and managed to score 12 points, all in the second half.

Nash’s nifty assist in traffic to Jason Richardson (20 points) put the Suns on top for good with three minutes left, and a dish next time down to Channing Frye for three all but sealed it.

After Frye fouled out on the other end, the game was iced by an unselfish pass from Amare to Jarron Collins for a most unexpected crunch time hoop. Collins, playing only because Frye and Amare got into foul trouble, delivered a performance clutch enough for him to be the Suns postgame show’s player of the game.

Collins entered with three minutes left in the third and Gentry kept him in most of the fourth because he played so well, finishing with six points, six boards and two blocks in 13 minutes, while contributing some typical tough defense. It’s the kind of unexpected contribution that winning teams get, and it’s a reason why Collins isn’t a bad insurance policy, stepping right in after sitting out the past game and a half.

All of that means the Suns have started a season 10-2 for the third time in six years, and like that 2004-05 squad they have the look of a team with staying power.

And 1

Former UA stud Chase Budinger scored eight points in 14 minutes. He looks like a second-round pick who will stick, but he will be on SportsCenter tonight after Leandro Barbosa came from behind to obliterate a Budinger layup. …

During Budinger’s freshman year, his Wildcats ran into an unheralded Purdue team that knocked them out of the NCAA Tournament in the first round. Those Boilermakers were led by a star named Carl Landry, an under-the-radar guy who has become another second-round steal for the Rockets.

The Suns had no answer for Landry, who went for a game-high 27 points and nine boards in 30 minutes, but he was also a game-worst minus 17. …

For pure comedy and the most real postgame analysis, there’s only one place to turn: JMZ. My favorite part is Nash’s, “No comment.”

Jarron Collins

The Phoenix Suns added some much-needed depth down low this afternoon when they claimed veteran center Jarron Collins off waivers.

The 6-foot-11, 249-pound center played four years at Stanford University next to his twin brother Jason before being drafted in the second round of the 2001 draft by the Utah Jazz. (Insert Phoenix Suns/Stanford twin center joke here.)

Collins went on to play eight seasons under Jerry Sloan before hitting the free agent market this summer. During his eight-year NBA career Collins has averaged 4.3 points and 3.1 rebounds in 16.9 minutes per game. The Suns are expected to offer Collins a non-guaranteed contract by tomorrow.

This move isn’t much of a shocker as it was clear that the Suns were interested in the former Stanford Cardinal when he was cut by the Portland Trail Blazers last week. Nothing to get too excited about with this news, besides the fact that the Suns need a big man, and Collins is exactly that.

He lacks offensive skill and quickness, but the Suns already have plenty of that. What you see is what you get with Collins. He’s going to use his big body to rebound and defend—exactly what the Suns need.

Collins will certainly not arrive in Phoenix and solve all of the Suns’ rebounding woes, but he is a big, active body. The 30-year-old veteran should come in and play a couple of minutes here and there with Robin Lopez on the shelf, but when Ro-Lo returns I doubt he will remain a Sun.

It is nice to see the Suns are making an effort to improve their interior defense and rebounding, but Collins shouldn’t make too big of an impact.

Lopez/Collins comparison

If the fact that they both played center alongside their twin brother at Stanford isn’t enough, take a look at how similar their collegiate numbers are:

Collins: 8.4 points and 5.5 rebounds

Lopez: 8.9 points and 5.6 rebounds

If Collins’ production is as close to Lopez’s in a Suns uniform as it was at Stanford, the Suns should certainly be more than pleased with their newly acquired big man.