PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns won a game without Steve Nash in convincing fashion, and no, that’s not an April Fools joke.

Sure, it was just the Los Angeles Clippers, a squad the Suns have now beaten in 11 of their last 12 meetings, but Phoenix’s sound 111-98 victory represented the first time the Suns have shown a pulse offensively without Nash this season.

In the Suns’ previous four games without Two Time, all losses, they mustered offensive efficiencies of 100.0 at Orlando, 106.1 at Charlotte (in a game the defense collapsed), 90.7 vs. Orlando and then 96.9 at Houston. Only the Rockets game was even close as the Suns seemed utterly lost without their floor general.

But tonight Aaron Brooks and Zabian Dowdell combined for 26 points and 11 assists and Grant Hill and Jared Dudley played strong games as well as the Suns led by as many as 25 in a game that was never close in the second half.

Along the way they recorded an offensive efficiency of 113.3 and earned just their fourth double-digit victory of the 31 games Nash has missed since 2004.

“I thought we played well from start to finish,” said head coach Alvin Gentry. “Aaron stepped in and did a good job. I thought between he and Zabian we did a pretty good job — obviously you’re not going to replace Steve, but I thought they did a pretty good job running the team and being aggressive offensively, and then making plays.”

Added Brooks, “We just moved the ball and played as a team.”

After the Suns took a 25-23 lead after one, the game turned during the second period when Dowdell sparked Phoenix with 10 points, three assists and effusive energy. The Suns shot 61.9 percent in the quarter and seemed to develop the kind of rhythm and flow they have often lacked without Nash, who missed tonight’s game with the flu.

Dowdell was itching to make an impression after his two-minute stint Wednesday against the Thunder was interrupted by his incident with Ken Mauer in which the official “disrespected” him and then tossed him from the game.

Dowdell answered the bell by scoring a career-high 14 points to go with five assists in 24 minutes as Gentry played his point guards in shifts, with Brooks taking the first and third and Dowdell the second and fourth. The one downside was his five turnovers, but Zabian was a difference maker in the Suns’ game-changing second quarter with his energy.

“That’s something I always try to do, bring energy to the game, try to be aggressive on both ends,” Dowdell said. “I had a chance to make a couple plays tonight and was able to convert.”

Hill said he was feeling great physically in this one, and it showed as Grant went for 19 points in his 25:31 of action. Hill chased Eric Gordon through screens all night and even ran into press row trying to corral a loose ball.

His energy was contagious for an otherwise young Phoenix team that showed the kind of fight I wasn’t sure we would see. The Suns have collapsed during their previous four fourth quarters to drop them out of the playoff hunt, but instead of suffering from an elimination hangover the Suns played this one as if it were a must-win game.

“We came out good tonight,” Hill said. “We came out with really good energy. Everybody contributed and played hard. The goal is – I don’t know if we’re mathematically out of it yet, but the goal is just regardless just to play hard and feel good about ourselves either going into the summer or going into the postseason. We can control that. We’ve just got to go out and play with a lot of effort, a lot of energy, compete and give ourselves hopefully a chance to win some games.”

Dudley chipped in as well with 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists, giving him five straight 15-point efforts for the first time in his career. Four have come since he joined the starting lineup, and this from a player who had scored 15 or more in just nine games all of last year.

The rest of the season is now about looking ahead to next year, and Jared Dudley is certainly playing like an NBA starter, even if his teammates teased him pretty good about a layup the official scorer ruled a dunk.

For the Suns’ backup point guards, the rest of the year is about proving they deserve a contract with Phoenix next season either as a backup to Nash or as part of the solution in replacing him.

Although you can’t draw many conclusions from a victory against a Clippers squad that just dropped to 8-29 on the road, tonight the Phoenix point guards helped the Suns show their first signs of life without Nash.

“Overall it was a big win in the sense that it’s good to get a win without Steve here, it gave us confidence,” Dudley said. “You see when opportunity comes knocking, certain players, they stepped up. I thought Zabian played tremendous for us coming off the bench, giving us a spark and kind of helped will us to get this win.”

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The Suns held Blake Griffin to 6-for-15 shooting and through three quarters when the game was still in doubt limited the Clippers to 39.7 percent shooting. Three of their four opponents during their losing streak shot at least 50 percent. … Gentry had not heard anything on the subject of the league disciplining Mauer for disrespecting Dowdell during Wednesday’s game, and he said the Suns did not call the league about the issue either. … Former Duke track coach Al Buehler, the subject of Grant Hill’s movie “The Coach Buehler Story,” attended Friday’s game. You can see the film, of which Hill is an executive producer, on Monday at the Harkins Cine Capri. … The Suns are 10-21 without Nash since the start of 2004-05. Tonight was their third-largest victory in such games. … Hill has scored 18 or more 19 times, his highest single-season number since doing so 21 times in 2006-07.  … The Suns have won eight home games in a row against the Clippers. … Mr. ORNG was Mr. GRN, decked out in green Suns gear, with tonight being Green Night in US Airways Center. … Dudley on whether he dunked: “I’m a prideful dunker so I would say no.” As for Hill: “What dunk? He dunked?”

Clippers

Suns

PHOENIX — With the Phoenix Suns mired in a four-game losing streak that has dropped them 5 1/2 games out of a playoff spot and caused the Hollinger Playoff Odds to decrease their chances of reaching the postseason to an honest 0 percent, it begs the question how much longer will Steve Nash continue giving everything he has for a season gone awry?

Nash admitted after Wednesday’s loss to Oklahoma City that he doesn’t “feel good, but just trying to do what I can to contribute. It’s very difficult and it’s painful and I’m not moving very well. I’m going to try to play.”

Nash cited the fact that it’s a pretty long summer without a postseason appearance — and that summer could be longer this year with the NBA likely to encounter labor strife — and he wants to be out there with his teammates and hopefully feel better as the season drags to a conclusion.

On the other hand, there really is no need for Nash to gut out meaningless games while he’s ailing and the Suns really could use a look at Aaron Brooks as a starter as they ponder what kind of offer they should make him this summer.

Nash admitted he could be shut down at some point this year with a grueling five-game road trip looming although it’s not what he would prefer.

“We’ll see,” Nash said. “I think it’s hard to say what that point is, but I’d like to hope that I’ll start to feel better and be able to play out the rest of the games the way I’m accustomed to playing and try to get some wins.”

Although the Suns are resigned to the fact that their season ends in less than two weeks, they still want to build some momentum heading into next season as the Clippers come to town tonight.

In a way this is a matchup of two teams headed in different directions, with Blake Griffin and Eric Gordon headlining a promising Clippers future, whereas Suns fans could be watching their final games of Nash before a potential offseason trade and franchise makeover.

It must be excruciating mentally for a team that just a year ago was a couple bounces away from an NBA Finals appearance to be resigned to a postseason-less fate with eight games still left on the schedule. I think their fourth quarter ineptitude the past couple games stemmed in part from this feeling, as the Suns just lacked any kind of killer instinct down the stretch. (Then again it was an issue the rest of the season as well to put them in this position.)

At this point Nash wants the Suns to just keep playing “with class and effort and passion and see what happens.”

With many players fighting for rotation or roster spots not to mention extensions for next season, some of the Suns still have lots to play for in the grand scheme of things starting tonight with the Clippers.

“We have to get better,” said Marcin Gortat. “We have to show that we belong on this team, that we want to stay on this team. This is the time for a lot of guys to show that we are good basketball players. I’m still going to try to prove that I can help this team. I’m still going to try to rebound the ball, do my things in the paint, try to be a defender, and I don’t care if we’re playing for playoffs or not, I’m still going to do it. I’m not going to let anybody punk me every night. I don’t care if we play a scrimmage game or not, street ball game, I’m going to step out of it and try to win the game.”

UPDATE: Nash to sit with flu

Nash was a late scratch after suffering from flu-like symptoms on Friday, meaning Aaron Brooks will get the start. When asked an hour before tipoff if Nash had the 24-hour flu, Gentry joked that he hoped it would be a nine-hour bug. Apparently it is not, and with no reason for Nash to push it he will sit this one out.

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Gortat said after Wednesday’s game he doesn’t know yet whether he will play for the Polish national team this summer in qualifying games for the 2012 Olympics. The Polish center said there’s “a big possibility” he won’t play if there is a lockout because of insurance reasons although he obviously would like to represent his country as the nation’s only NBA player. … Nash sparked some debate Thursday by posting on his Facebook page: “Man, this has been a really disappointing season. What do you think the Suns need to do for next year?” Channing Frye followed sut asking fans for similar suggestions.

Zabian Dowdell sparked the Suns during their fourth-quarter rally. (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)

Nursing a three-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, I wondered how long Alvin Gentry would wait to re-insert Steve Nash into a game his team couldn’t lose as it clings to playoff hopes that took a major hit during last week’s four-game losing streak.

But the only tough decision Gentry ended up facing this fourth quarter was whether to leave his bench in longer than usual after the unit stymied the Clippers with a 10-2 run during the first five-plus minutes of the period to allow the Suns to take a commanding lead they would never relinquish in their 108-99 victory in Los Angeles Sunday afternoon.

The bench forced eight straight misses to begin the final period before Eric Gordon finally made a layup almost five minutes into the quarter and the Clippers never got closer than three possessions from there on out.

The crucial sequence started when a Mickael Pietrus block led to a fast-break follow from Jared Dudley off a Zabian Dowdell miss. But that duo wasn’t done as Dowdell made a steal in the backcourt and Dudley dished it right back for another layup before JMZ hustled back to his bench for the ensuing timeout to a greeting from a mob of giddy teammates.

It was the kind of hustle sequence that epitomized the spirit of last year’s bench, something that has occurred far too seldom this season as the bench did what it did so often last season by turning a ballgame in doubt into a Suns victory this afternoon.

With Aaron Brooks suspended for throwing a ball at an official Friday against Golden State, Dowdell played his second straight superb game after being a critical part of the Houston rally on Monday with 11 points, five dimes and four steals. This time he finished with eight points (six in six minutes of the fourth) and a pair of assists but it was his energy and scrappiness that lit a fire under the second unit in this one.

Dudley served as a co-catalyst, Hakim Warrick chipped in with six points and Marcin Gortat nearly outrebounded the Clippers in the final quarter with eight of the Suns’ 13 rebounds, while Phoenix’s defense held Los Angeles to 36.8 percent shooting in the fourth.

For the game the Suns got 47.2 percent of their scoring from the bench with three guys in double figures, and Gortat (+12) and Dudley (+11) were the plus/minus leaders for the team.

The Suns surely didn’t miss Brooks in this one and the bench even seemed to play more cohesively with the high-energy Dowdell running the point.

The bench made the final push, but Steve Nash put them in that position with another game that proved he’s got to be feeling a bit better. Nash finished with 23 points, 13 assists and seven rebounds while shooting 8-for-13 from the field and 3-for-3 from deep a game after tossing up a 17-10-6 line in his second game back Friday after missing a pair of games with pelvic instability.

Two Time went for 15-7-7 in the first half alone and showed few ill effects of the injury that hampered him so much before his rest.

Gentry said before he sat out the two games that Nash had been either missing or failing to take shots that he’s been hitting his whole career, and Nash’s health can often be seen in his shot attempts, particularly from deep. Nash has now attempted three three-pointers in each of his three games since returning after combining for five in his previous four games before sitting out, and he’s hit 6-of-7 in the last two.

Perhaps some of Nash’s mastery in this one could be attributed to a porous Clippers defense that neglected to rotate time and time again on the pick-and-roll (the biggest no-no there is when defending Nash), but he looked like a different player than the guy we saw a week ago against Denver.

Along with Nash, Channing Frye’s shoulder sure looked healthy after a rusty first half in which he missed all four of his shot attempts (all threes). Frye exploded for all 19 of his points in the second half on 6-for-10 shooting with five long balls in the bunch, including a pair in the final three minutes to thwart any potential Clippers comeback attempt.

Today marked two weeks since Frye separated his shoulder in Oklahoma City and when he returned early I wondered if the aftereffects of the injury might alter his shot or lead him into one of the prolonged slumps he’s been known to be prone to. Those fears were exacerbated by clanking some open shots Friday and then missing his first five shots today, so perhaps his hot second half will prevent any kind of cold streak.

With so many tough games coming up against winning squads, the Suns could not afford a loss to the Clippers. The Hollinger Playoff Odds gave Phoenix just an 8.6 percent chance of reaching postseason play before this win that moves the team within two games of Memphis for the No. 8 spot, and they will need to beat many better teams as well in the coming weeks to have a shot.

The odds are certainly less than favorable with Houston and Utah in the hunt as well, but with a healthy Nash and Frye and a bench stepping up to win a few games in the fourth it’s not exactly time to start thinking lottery quite yet.

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Nash took a trip to Vancouver on Saturday for the inaugural game of the Vancouver Whitecaps, the MLS expansion team Nash is a part-owner of. According to The Associated Press, Nash “banged a drum in the Empire Field stands while wearing a Whitecaps scarf and a No. 13 jersey.” … The battle of the boards was even, 38-38. … Blake Griffin fouled out on a monster posterization of Marcin Gortat, in which Gortat stepped over to take the charge with the Suns up 13 with just over four minutes remaining. Said Gentry, “That was one hell of a dunk. I don’t care if it was a charge. That might be as impressive of a dunk as I have seen in the NBA in 23 years. I think that was the best dunk he’s had since he was in the league.” … The Suns kept Griffin in check all game, holding him to 17 points on 6-for-18 shooting to go with a career-low two rebounds. Eric Gordon scored only 10 on 4-for-11 marksmanship against Grant Hill’s defense.

Suns

Clippers

Just 15 games remain between the Suns and either an extra long offseason or an improbable playoff run.

That’s 15 games to make or break the entire season.

Friday started Phoenix off on the right foot.

A couple days after Steve Nash made his return, Channing Frye came back from a separated shoulder to help lift the Suns to a relatively easy 108-97 victory over Golden State.

“Our team just works better with Steve and Channing,” Marcin Gortat said. “If everybody is healthy then we can make the playoffs.”

Yes, health is crucial, but so is putting teams away when the Suns have a chance.

Against the Warriors, Phoenix let a 17-point second half lead shrink to just eight before the team finally regained its footing.

“When we miss a couple of shots we have to be able to guard on the other end,” Suns coach Alvin Gentry said. “We can’t give up the 10-0 runs.”

Although he scored 17 points, Frye missed a lot of open looks he’s used to making.

On the night, he went 5-for-12 from the field.

“It’s been a while since I missed that many open shots,” Frye said. “I’m just trying to get my legs into it. My legs were a little shaky but things were good, I just rushed a couple shots.”

And Frye will fix those little mistakes, it just might take a game or two.

“Some of the shots he missed, I’m not worried about,” Gentry said. “He’ll make those.”

Sunday is the next chance for the team to take a step closer to the playoffs.

The Suns will visit a Clippers team coming off an eight-point victory Saturday over the hapless Cavaliers.

Phoenix will be without the services of backup point guard Aaron Brooks, suspended by the NBA for his technical foul late in Friday’s game. 

Phoenix and Los Angeles have split the other two meetings so far this season with each winning on its home floor.

With all their pieces back together, the Suns should get back to a sense of normalcy Sunday. Roles for players should stabilize and get back to the way they were before Frye went down.

Gortat played incredibly well with Frye opening up space for him down low. The Polish Hammer dropped 18 points, including 10 in the third quarter.

Robin Lopez only got eight minutes of court time despite starting.

Gortat got the nod at the beginning of the second half and in the fourth quarter with the rest of the first unit.

Memphis won on Saturday, extending its lead over Phoenix to two and a half games for the final playoff spot in the West.

The Suns will have to pass the Grizzlies, who have clinched the season series, to make it into the eighth spot.

Blake Griffin destroyed the Suns and the Clippers barely staved off a Phoenix rally when he fouled out. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)

In Sunday’s 108-103 loss to the Clippers, we saw the Suns as equal parts naughty and nice.

There was the lethargic unit in the first half that appeared to enjoy too much Christmas ham as the Clippers ran circles around them and exposed the Suns as a group that couldn’t handle all the athleticism Los Angeles threw at them.

Then we saw a Phoenix squad that woke up in the third quarter with a spirited effort thanks to Grant Hill’s work on Blake Griffin and superb efforts from the Suns’ newcomers after their disappointing debuts to cut an 18-point deficit down to one at the end of three.

After making yet another comeback from 10 points down with two minutes left thanks to the ineffective defense of Clippers big man Jarron Collins and some clutch scoring from Steve Nash and Mickael Pietrus, this game came down to one possession and the Suns literally dropped the ball.

Following a Pietrus baseline drive for two and a long ball to cut the lead to one, the Suns had the ball trailing by three (after two Randy Foye foul shots) needing just one shot to send the game into overtime. They got the ball to Pietrus, who had the hot hand all afternoon, but Eric Gordon stripped him as he was preparing to go up for a game-tying shot and Al-Farouq Aminu’s slam closed the deal.

“They did a good job defensively,” head coach Alvin Gentry said of the final play. “The timing of the play didn’t go exactly as we would have liked. They played great defense on it and you have to give them credit for that. It shouldn’t have come down to the last play.”

Pietrus starred for the Suns offensively with 25 points on 9-for-14 shooting from the field and 5-for-8 shooting from deep in 27 minutes. He had the hot hand all game, but he’s really more of a catch and shoot guy than somebody you want to trust dribbling into a three in that situation.

The Suns had 19 seconds to play with at the beginning of the possession, so they could have easily gone for a quick two on a Nash drive, fouled and then seen where they were at that point. A heavily-defensed Pietrus heave seemed a little too desperate for that situation, but as Gentry noted the timing of the play didn’t go as the Suns would have preferred so perhaps the play was designed a bit differently.

The Suns flat-out lacked energy in the early going during their first afternoon game of the season as the Clippers built up a 51-33 lead with five minutes left in the first half while Blake Griffin scored every which way, including this YouTube-worthy jam.

“We were really lethargic in the first half,” Nash said. “You can use the excuse that it was due to the fact we were still adjusting to the new guys. We lost the game in the first half though.”

The Suns buckled down in the third quarter, holding the Clips to 18 points after their 61-point first half thanks to Grant Hill locking horns with Griffin and taking him out of his game a bit. The Blake went for 19 and eight in the first half but had just two points and three boards in the third.

It would be amazing at any age for a guy to have to defend everyone from LeBron to Durant to Manu to Dirk to Blake during a stretch, but for that man to be a 38-year-old small forward makes it even more incredible. The Hill-Griffin matchup led to things getting a little feisty on both sides and both players nearly fouling out (Griffin did while Hill had five), as the Suns fed off Hill’s energy on the defensive end and played a superb quarter of basketball.

“He is a physical player,” Hill said of Griffin. “He is a strong player. I was doing all I could to help us fight back and keep him off the boards. I try to be physical with other players in the league but with a player like Blake Griffin there is no point.”

After finally tying the game at 85 with 7:54 remaining on a Pietrus triple, the Clips went on a quick 8-0 run before eventually staving off the Suns’ final rally.

Along with Hill’s excellent defense, the other bright spots came in the form of the Suns’ newcomers. After combining for six points on 3-for-11 shooting to go with four rebounds and one assist in their underwhelming debut, both players were noticeably more comfortable in this one.

As mentioned earlier, Pietrus’ 25 points and clutch scoring made him the offensive player of the game, and Gortat enjoyed a solid all-around game with 11 points, five boards, a steal and a block, although he was a -19 in his 27 minutes.

More than anything Gortat provided an interior presence that the Suns have often lacked, especially when Robin Lopez has been on the bench. Although he couldn’t handle Griffin, he played solid defensive possessions against the other Clippers big men, playing straight up defense on Ike Diogu before getting a block on one possession and providing a solid rebounding presence.

Both players looked much more comfortable, although there were some growing pains seen through turnovers. Pietrus in particular displayed the kind of confidence with his shot that he just didn’t possess on Thursday night, and with two more practice days before Wednesday’s game they should get even better.

It’s always disappointing to drop a game against a losing team like the Clippers, especially considering how bad the Suns played in that first half. This is a game they should have won, and now they’re three games under .500 for the first time all season thanks to the loss.

But Vince Carter is on the mend and should return in the next week and the Suns got a glimpse of how well Gortat and Pietrus might fit to provide a silver lining on an afternoon in which the Suns blew a winnable game.

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Robin Lopez played just 10 minutes, Josh Childress nine and Hakim Warrick seven as the Suns’ newcomers played 27 apiece. I’m surprised Lopez didn’t play more, but I could see Childress and Warrick start to get squeezed out of the rotation when Vince Carter returns, although knowing Gentry minutes will likely often depend on matchups and who is going well (which Pietrus was today). … Nash missed his first seven shots before connecting on a four-point play set up by Goran Dragic. He still finished with a fabulous game by going for 21 points, 15 assists and four boards without a turnover while connecting on eight of his last 13 shots. … The Suns lost for the first time in their last 10 meetings against the Clippers.

Suns

Clippers

PHOENIX — Inconsistency.

It’s an issue that’s plagued the Phoenix Suns for countless seasons. For a quarter they look like the best team in the NBA, but soon enough the wheels fall off and all hope is lost.

In past seasons, however, the Suns have been able to remain a respectable team despite that inconsistency. But this season it’s worse than ever, continually holding the Suns back from capturing big-time wins and maintaining leads against teams they should take care of.

“My goal right now is that we’ve got to try and find a way to get consistent, consistent in what we think we’re going to be able to do night in and night out,” said head coach Alvin Gentry. “I don’t feel that we’ve reached that yet.”

That inability to sustain runs and find a solid identity as a team stems from the bench struggles. The Suns scored only 12 bench points in Thursday’s loss to the Heat, and no Phoenix reserve scored more than four points.

Steve Nash and the starters jumped out to a 21-12 lead against Miami, but when Nash went to the bench the offense stalled. The Suns scored only three points in the next six and a half minutes and the Heat held a 32-28 lead by the time Phoenix’s starting five was back in action.

The Heat loss magnified the Suns’ bench issues that have been a problem since the season opener. While they’ve shown flashes of the unit that propelled the Suns deep into the playoffs last season, the inconsistency remains.

“The thing we still keep harping on is the consistency with the second unit,” Gentry said while shaking his head.

“We’ve been struggling all year. We struggled last night. We turned the ball over, taking bad shots, defensively we’re terrible,” added Jared Dudley. “I think we miss Lou’s energy, his blocks, making up for our mistakes. Hopefully now with Gortat, he can help fill that role. Offensively we just need to get into a better rhythm because the rhythm is terrible out there.”

That lack of rhythm has a lot to do with the new faces in new places, and that may not improve quickly with Marcin Gortat, Vince Carter and Mickael Pietrus now in purple and orange. But ultimately it falls on the shoulders of third-year point guard Goran Dragic, who’s scored only seven points on 3-of-11 shooting in the past two games.

“I can’t play Steve 48 minutes, I can’t play Steve 40 minutes because that’s unfair to him to try to ask him,” Gentry said. “As much as he does and as hard as he plays, it’s hard to play him 40 minutes. Somewhere along the line we’ve got to get somebody running the team and getting it done, 17, 18 minutes.”

Dragic is clearly that “somebody” but he has yet to show it. But the third-year backup point guard and the Suns can find that consistency against the Clippers — winners of three of their last four — on Sunday afternoon. They’re still working out rotations with the new guys, and it becomes even more difficult if Carter plays as he’s a game-time decision.

But as Dudley said, the Suns are running out of time and for Phoenix to become a complete team the bench needs to right the ship against Blake Griffin, Eric Gordon and company this afternoon in Staples Center.

PHOENIX — After the Suns blew a 23-point advantage in Wednesday’s loss to the Bulls, they worried about becoming a team that earns a reputation for coughing up such leads.

They may have taken the victory Friday against the Clippers, 116-108, but the Suns did nothing to remove the label of a team for which no lead is safe.

The Suns once again ran out to their biggest first quarter of the season, opening up a commanding 42-21 lead after one during a fantastic quarter in which the team played solid defense, ran and spaced the floor, hit five threes and looked generally unstoppable.

Phoenix led by as many as 25 in the first, but wouldn’t you know it the lead dropped to 14 in the second quarter and eventually four midway through the third before the Suns squeaked out the victory.

“We just got to find a way to maintain it a little bit,” said head coach Alvin Gentry. “We’ve got to play a little more consistent than what we’ve been doing. I thought we were great [in the first quarter]. We got out and ran, did a good job in the first quarter, and we didn’t play that badly in the second quarter, we just gave up 30 points. We just didn’t maintain it.

“We’ve just got to do a better job of closing out games, but the positive is we’re good enough to get out to the leads that we are the last two nights. We just have to learn to build from that.”

Following a 20-8 spurt to begin the second half for the Clippers, the Suns responded with a 15-3 run to get the lead back up to 16, but they let it drop as low as six in the final minute before Channing Frye hit a huge mid-range jumper to ice it.

After the Suns played their near flawless first quarter, I felt they needed to make sure that the fourth quarter would be Garret Siler time. They needed to make this one a laugher for their one psyche and to show teams they aren’t the lead-blowing artists the Bulls made them out to be.

But the Suns, who allowed the Clippers to shoot better than 50 percent in the matchup of the league’s two least efficient defenses, took counterpunch after counterpunch every time they made a run to the extent the Clippers had a chance in the final minute of a game they had no business being in.

“You could just tell in guys’ eyes that we didn’t want to lose another game like that where we’re beating a team down and have them come from behind and win, so we got some stops and we pulled the game out,” Jason Richardson said. “We didn’t let up the lead this time, and guys kept on being aggressive, but we’ve still got to figure out what’s wrong with the first five minutes of the third quarter where we’re letting teams cut the lead in half.”

Perhaps it’s part human nature, especially for a bad defensive team that doesn’t rebound, but the Suns just have not been able to sustain excellent play for any length of time.

Before the game I asked Gentry about the first quarter in the Bulls game, and he opined that when the Suns are running, spreading the floor and shooting open shots they are “pretty doggone good.” He pointed out that the Suns did exactly that to beat the Lakers, and we saw that Suns team on the floor in the first quarter the past two games.

It’s startling to consider the difference between the Suns team that combined for 78 points on better than 60 percent shooting while hitting eight threes the last two first quarters and the Suns team from the other six quarters (and two overtimes) the last two nights. Really that starts on the defensive end, as the Suns held their opponents to 33 percent shooting in the last two first quarters while winning the rebounding battle, which let them get out and run.

Steve Nash dished out nine assists in these first quarters as the Suns ran the ball down their opponents’ throat and looked unstoppable. But they have just could not maintain that level of play in either game.

“We’ve just played well,” Nash said. “We came out sharp, made plays and got stops. Our defense was key. On the other hand we’ve just done a poor job in second quarters and it’s kind of changed the whole momentum of the game.

“We had opportunities to really step on them in the second quarter and we just didn’t do it. I think we learned a lesson by not kind of relinquishing so much of the lead and that energy.”

Richardson keyed the hot start with a 17-point first quarter in which he knocked down 7-of-9 shots, including a trio of triples, and scored Phoenix’s first nine points.

“Really aggressive coming out from the start,” Richardson said. “Things were going, Coach was calling my number, guys were finding me, so felt good in the first quarter.”

Hakim Warrick also continued his strong play of late with a Suns career high 25 points off the bench on a night he hit 13-of-14 free throws. That’s the most foul shots taken by a Suns reserve since Danny Manning in 1998 and the most of any Sun not named Amare since the 2008-09 season finale when Grant Hill was chucking at will for a salary bonus.

That marks the second straight night Warrick has gone for a season high, as he scored more points than he did all of last season and recorded consecutive 20-point games for the first time since March 2008.

On the other side, Eric Gordon (32 and six assists) and Blake Griffin (20 and 14 rebounds but only one offensive board) kept the Clips in the game surprisingly along with Brian Cook (16 and 10) and Ryan Gomes (20).  Yes, you know you have issues when Brian Cook goes for 16 and 10.

Playing against a Clippers squad that’s winless on the road and beat Sacramento in the late national TV game last night, the Suns got a second chance to right the wrongs of Wednesday night and knock out a reeling opponent after their sterling first quarter.

Instead Gordon and Griffin led a comeback that fell short but once again made a statement that the Suns lack a killer instinct.

“We knew they were going to fight back,” Warrick said. “It’s the NBA, it’s a game of runs, but we’ve got to do a better job of just sustaining our leads and continue to be the team that got us the lead.”

And 1

The Suns have won nine straight against the Clippers, their longest active winning streak against a West opponent and their second longest overall behind a 12-game winning streak over Toronto. … The Suns have won 27 straight divisional home games against teams not called the Lakers. They last lost to a non-Lakers divisional rival April 17, 2007, when the Clippers beat them. … The Suns have won seven straight home games against Los Angeles. … Phoenix has won five straight games against West opponents. … Gentry improved to 7-0 against his former team since taking over for Terry Porter. The Suns have won those games by an average of 20.4 points per game. … Warrick has scored at least 20 three times in 16 games after only doing so seven times all of season. He also has six games of at least 18, which he only accomplished eight times last year. … Nash has reached double figures in assists in six of his last nine games.

Clippers

Suns

PHOENIX — The best news about the Suns’ monumental collapse Wednesday against the Bulls was that their next opponent will be a Clippers team coming off a rare late national TV game the night before.

Aside from that, I can’t find many positives after Hakim Warrick stopped dominating the Bulls late in the second quarter.

But they might even be getting the Clippers at the wrong time as they come in hot, for their standards at least, after beating the Hornets on Monday and smoking the Kings last night following 13 losses in their first 14 games.

Aside from that, the Clippers’ 3-13 overall record and 0-7 road mark is a bit misleading because they have played the league’s third-toughest schedule. You can say the same thing about the Suns after they have played the NBA’s second toughest schedule to date.

Even when Los Angeles had just one win in 14 games, it had to have been the most exciting 1-13 team in NBA history.

After all, the Clippers boast a lineup full of exciting players in Blake Griffin, Eric Gordon, Eric Bledsoe, Al-Farouq Aminu and DeAndre Jordan. If Chris Kaman and Baron Davis, both out with injuries, can ever get healthy and rolling, this could be a dangerous Clippers team.

It goes without saying that none of those Clippers scare the Suns nearly as much as Taylor Griffin’s little brother, who should decimate the Suns’ withered front line. His astonishing combination of speed and athleticism is something you just have to see in person, and I shudder to think what he might do if matched up against Hedo Turkoglu.

Griffin averages 3.9 offensive rebounds per game, sixth in the league, and about 2.8 SportsCenter worthy plays per game. They might need to create an entire episode on Griffin just from this game based on the interior work done in recent weeks by the Suns’ bigs, especially with The Blake averaging 31 and 14.3 his last three games and 19.3 and 11.3 overall.

But don’t let all that Griffin love fool you into thinking the Clippers are a decent basketball team. Their whole is much less than the sum of their parts at this point.

Only the Suns, dead last in the NBA in defensive efficiency, yield more points per possession than the Clippers (109.3 per 100 possessions), and their offense isn’t much better at 28th and an average of 99.3 per 100, putting them at the bottom of the league with Minnesota in efficiency differential.

There’s no way Los Angeles will stop the Suns, and considering both teams’ defensive rankings I wouldn’t be surprised by another shootout.

Although he would surely take any win, Alvin Gentry isn’t exactly hoping for a shootout. He’s steamed that the Suns allow opponents to shoot a league-best 48.9 percent against them and score more per 100 possessions (110.1) than anyone else in the NBA.

“We don’t want to be last, that I can tell you,” Gentry said about defensive field-goal shooting. “To me realistically last year we got to the point where we almost made the top 10 (finishing 11th). If we’re a middle of the pack team then I think we’re in good shape because I think we’re a good offensive team. We can’t be dead last, and that’s where we are right now. I’ve just been very disappointed because I thought we would take another step forward defensively this year, and we have not done that.”

If the Suns do a decent job of defending the Clippers, their offense will lead them to a much-needed victory after the kind of collapse that can derail a season Friday night.

Over the course of an NBA season teams will lose games they have no business losing and win games they have no business winning. By my count, the Suns are now .500 in that department in light of the luck involved with their Memphis double overtime win.

We should learn something about this basketball team as we find out how the group bounces back from such a crushing defeat.

“It’s got to be something that hurts,” Hill said of Wednesday’s loss. “With that said, we have a game coming up and we can’t be so crushed and so low after this game that it affects our confidence on Friday.”

And 1

It will be interesting to see how Gentry handles his bench. The Clippers are certainly younger than Phoenix, but the Suns should have an edge with Los Angeles playing the second game of a back-to-back.

The Suns could not take advantage of that situation against the Bulls, as Chicago seemed to get stronger as the game went on, but perhaps the youthful bench can push the tempo and put a big run on Los Angeles.

Gentry did not trust his bench against the Bulls for one of the first times in his tenure. The bench must regain that trust for the Suns to reach their potential.

Clippers: Clips Nation | SBNation Recap

Kings: Sactown Royalty | Cowbell Kingdom | SBNation Recap

Lakers: Silver Screen and Roll | Forum Blue & Gold | NBAtipoff | SBNation Recap

Suns: Bright Side Of The Sun | SB Nation Arizona | ValleyoftheSuns | SBNation Recap

Warriors: Golden State of Mind | SBNation Recap

Recaps: All Previews

Amare Stoudemire has been on a tear lately, and tonight was no different as he scored 30 points and hauled in 14 boards. (AP Photo/Jason Redmond)

It’s been said all season long: When the Suns rebound, defend and knock down shots they’re as lethal as any team in the NBA. After a mediocre first half, the Suns rallied together and mastered those three things en route to a 127-101 win over the Clippers in the Staples Center, a week after defeating them in Phoenix.

The Suns out-rebounded the Clippers by 20 (50-30), held them to 43 second-half points and stroked 12-of-23 threes on their way to their 13th win in the last 16 games. Yes, this is the 25-36 Los Angeles Clippers we’re talking about, but they were 10th in the league in boards per game during the month of February and allowed only 40.5 rebounds to their opponents during that stretch.

But for the second time in the last week, the Suns handled the Clippers to sweep the season series versus the lesser of the LA teams.

Phoenix’s success didn’t come instantly tonight, aside from Amare Stoudemire. STAT exploded for 15 first-quarter points, carrying the Suns to a 30-26 lead after one.

But Chris Kaman led the Clippers back, as he scored 12 second-quarter points (and 18 first-half points) to help LA to a 58-57 lead heading into the locker room. Kaman was dominating the paint, showing an array of post moves that Suns defenders simply couldn’t keep up with.

Eric Gordon also added 14 first-half points, and the Clippers ended the first half shooting 50 percent from the field. But the Suns, as they have done so well over the last month or so, came out of the locker room with a vengeance, snatching the lead from the Clippers by way of a 15-3 run. From that point on, the Clippers never had even a glimmer of hope.

After pasting 39 third-quarter points on LA, and limiting them to only 18 points on the defensive end, the Suns led by as many as 20 points while shooting an absurd 76.5 percent from the field during the quarter.

“When we shoot the ball well, we’re pretty good,” Alvin Gentry told The Arizona Republic.

The fourth quarter was much of the same, as Channing Frye and company nailed three after three. Frye, who finished with 23 points on 7-of-10 shooting from distance, knocked down four threes in 2:37 of the fourth quarter, helping the Suns to a 29-point lead. Even Earl Clark and Taylor Griffin got in on the action, combining for eight points, including Griffin’s third hoop as a Sun.

Tonight’s game was the definition of a team effort. The bench combined for 56 points, the Suns had five players with 16 or more, and they totaled a ridiculous 36 assists on the night (and only 10 turnovers) while shooting 55.6 percent from the field. The Suns were equally as effective defensively, holding the Clippers to 45.9 percent shooting from the field, including 7-of-19 shooting (36.8 percent) in the third quarter.

Amare was his usual beastly self, scoring 30 points and hauling in 14 rebounds in only 29 minutes. But that comes as no surprise, as Stoudemire is averaging 30 points and 12 rebounds in his last three games and has only failed to top the 20-point plateau twice in the last 16 games. Tonight was Amare’s sixth 30-point scoring output during the Suns’ last 16 games, in which they are 13-3. You think he’s important to their success?

Jason Richardson also poured in 22, Grant Hill added 16 and Jared Dudley was lethal all game long, scoring 17 points on only six shots in going 4-of-6 from the field and 6-of-6 from the line. Lou Amundson also pitched in with an impressive 11 rebounds in only 19 minutes of action.

Steve Nash finished with only two points, but added 13 assists in 27 minutes. Nash has now totaled 10 or more assists in 16 of his past 17 games. Although he’s failed to reach double-digit points twice in the last four games, I doubt the Suns can complain.

But the most impressive stat was the Suns’ rebounding advantage. Phoenix, once again, cleared the glass like a team that has been doing so for years. To limit any team to 30 boards, Clippers or no Clippers, is big time. And then add in that the Suns snagged 50 of their own and the board-work becomes even more impressive.

The team is playing its best basketball of the season and doing so in a way that will translate extremely well to the playoffs. The Suns were clicking on all cylinders in the second half and took care of business tonight. They now sit in fifth place in the Western Conference and can take over fourth place with a win tomorrow night over the Utah Jazz.

The Jazz are 14-14 on the road, and the Suns have a chance to make a statement to the Western Conference that they are not just on another classic Phoenix Suns hot streak. If this team can win by playing defense and rebounding, the sky is the limit.

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One of the few negatives of the night was the injury to Goran Dragic. Dragic sprained his right ankle with about three minutes left in the game and most likely won’t be able to go tomorrow night against the Jazz. Without Leandro Barbosa and Dragic, expect Grant Hill to see some time at point.