Steve Nash celebrated his birthday with a game-winning runner against the Bucks. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

The Milwaukee Bucks were on their way to spoiling Michael Redd’s homecoming and blowing out Steve Nash’s birthday candles early.

But after the Suns blew a 21-point second-half lead, the 38-year-old birthday boy saved the day as he banked home a six-foot runner with five seconds remaining to give the Suns a 107-105 advantage.

Phoenix then double-teamed Stephen Jackson off of a screen on the Bucks’ last possession and the veteran couldn’t get a shot off, allowing the Suns to sneak out of the Bradley Center with a 107-105 victory.

Nash celebrated his birthday with 18 points and 11 assists and Redd enjoyed his return to the tune of 14 points off the bench, 12 of which came in the first half.

Six Suns players scored in double figures and Phoenix posted a season-high 67 first half points as it built off the Atlanta victory to cap its first three-game win streak of the season.

Gotrat went for 21 and nine, Jared Dudley scored 19 points on only nine shot attempts, Channing Frye and Grant Hill combined for 27 points and nine boards and even Josh Childress chipped in with 12 rebounds in only 16 minutes.

Phoenix’s offense looked like the Suns teams of old and Alvin Gentry’s rotations are finally starting to take form. But while the victory and the Suns’ offensive resurgence is encouraging, their second half lull further validates this team’s biggest weakness — inconsistency.

The Suns led 67-50 at half and seemed poised to cruise to victory lane. They shot 62.2 percent from the field in the first half, drilled 5-of-9 three-pointers and had all the ingredients for a blowout win and early birthday celebration.

But while Phoenix went into cruise control, the Bucks crept back into the game. In seemingly the blink of an eye Milwaukee turned a 73-52 deficit with 10:15 left in the third quarter into a 94-90 lead with 7:31 remaining in the game.

During that stretch the Bucks outscored the Suns 42-17, forcing the Suns into one of the offensive lapses that’s characterized this team early in the season. Phoenix relied heavily on the jump shot, resulting in 8-of-30 shooting over the course of Milwaukee’s 12-minute, 44-second run.

And offense wasn’t the Suns’ only problem. Phoenix allowed a mediocre Bucks team missing its best player in Andrew Bogut to score 42 points in 12:44 while shooting 16-of-26 from the field and drilling four triples. Add in that Brandon Jennings took only four shots in the game and the Suns’ second-half lapse is that much more worrisome.

The Suns made Drew Gooden, Mike Dunleavy and Ersan Ilyasova — who combined for 59 points — look like LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, and the Suns’ stellar offensive half was nearly outdone by their second-half disappearance.

But despite the inconsistency and second-half lapse, the Suns will take a win any way they can get it. No matter the opponent or how it happens, the fact that the Suns won on the road in their fourth game in five nights is a major feat.

In a season of ups and downs, the Suns have as much momentum as they’ve had all season and Gentry is starting to figure out what lineups are the most productive while Nash and Gortat continue to dissect teams out of the pick and roll.

The Suns have a chance to use this momentum to catapult them into the playoff picture as they make a pitstop at home to play the Rockets before taking on the Kings, Warriors and Nuggets on the road — all four very beatable opponents.

Phoenix won’t have the same success against better teams if it can’t close out games. But regardless of the struggles, the Suns are finally starting to mesh and regain their form on the offensive end, something that seemed nearly impossible throughout January.

And 1

• Redd received a solid applause from the Bradley Center and made his former fans miss his scoring ability. Redd drilled six of his first seven shots, scoring everywhere from in the mid-range to on the block. The sharpshooter has now scored in double figures in each of his last three games.
• Hakim Warrick didn’t see any action for the third straight game, while Shannon Brown rode the pine for the second consecutive contest. After sitting against the Hawks, Ronnie Price played two minutes and finished with a steal and a turnover.
• Although he missed all four of his shots, Childress was all over the place on the glass. He brought constant energy to the floor and finished with 12 boards and three assists. Childress’ 12 rebounds were a Suns game high and his first double-digit rebounding effort in purple and orange.

Suns

Bucks

Through 24 games the Phoenix Suns have been the model of inconsistency.

Only the Suns, Nets, Raptors, Cavs, Pistons, Wizards, Bobcats, Hornets and Warriors have yet to engineer a three-game win streak — not exactly the best teams to be associated with. But all of that can change tonight at 6 p.m. MST when the Suns take on the Milwaukee Bucks at the Bradley Center with a chance to build on a big road win against the Hawks en route to their third consecutive victory.

Phoenix looked like the Suns of old in Atlanta, knocking down 11-of-24 triples while mixing in enough defense to hold Joe Johnson and company to 39.3 percent shooting from the field and 6-of-24 from three.

Channing Frye played arguably his best game of the year with 19-9-2 and the birthday boy Steve Nash was in MVP form, scoring 24 points, dishing out 11 dimes and drilling all four of his threes in 31 minutes.

So the Suns should be able to continue that play against an Andrew Bogut-less Bucks team that’s on a two-game slide, right? Not exactly.

Phoenix is playing its fourth game in five days and has yet to prove it can string together three consistent games in a row. The Suns are 3-3 in the second game of a back-to-back, however, and they already beat the Bucks 109-93 in US Airways on Jan. 8.

The Suns match up very well with the Bogut-less Bucks, as they shot 55.8 percent and drilled 10-of-22 triples against them in their last meeting. Milwaukee is one of the worst teams in the league at defending the pick and roll, ranking 25th in the NBA and giving up 1.07 points per possession.

As expected, the Suns have the third-best pick and roll offense in the NBA as they shoot 56.9 percent out of Nash and Marcin Gortat’s bread and butter play. If the Suns can avoid the inconsistency bug, establish the pick and roll and limit Brandon Jennings and company, Phoenix should be able to remove itself from that dreaded list that includes the NBA’s cellar dwellers.

Redd’s Return

Michael Redd will make what’s expected to be an emotional return to the Bradley Center, the place he called home for the first 11 seasons of his NBA career. The lefty sharpshooter will step foot on the floor in game action for the first time since Feb. 4, 2011, when he played his last home game as a Buck.

“It’ll be a unique situation,” Redd told Paul Coro. “Milwaukee will always be dear to my heart, always. Great people, great organization, great owner. Those relationships will never be severed but I’ve got to take care of business and I’m sure they’re thinking the same thing.”

Redd has begun to carve out a niche with the Suns as he’s topped double-figures in his last two games, scoring 17 as a starter in place of the injured Jared Dudley against Charlotte and dropping 10 against the Hawks on Monday. Over his last five games Redd is averaging 9.3 points on 46.4 percent shooting from the field and 46.2 percent from three in 14.3 minutes per game.

“You can see that he can help us,” Grant Hill said of Redd. “He’s finding his legs and his rhythm. He’s making his moves. He’s getting more comfortable out there. You’ve got to play him. We’re all very happy for him and hope he comes out and has a great game (tonight).”

Old man Nash

It’s already set in stone that Nash has passed the test of father time, but that sentiment is further validated as the former two-time MVP takes to the floor on his 38th birthday tonight in Milwaukee. While most 38-year-old point guards are riding the pine or providing a few minutes of spot duty, Nash is playing at an All-Star level that’s up there with the league’s elite.

Nash leads the league in assists with 10.0 and is the only player averaging a double-double of the points and assists variety. He’s also scoring 15.0 points per game on the year and is well on his way to another 50-40-90 season if he picks up his free throw shooting — right now he’s at 55.9-45.2-87.2.

Nash is a proven exception to the average NBA expiration date and has shown no signs of slowing down, averaging 17.8 points, 10.0 assists, 68.3 percent shooting and 72.7 percent from three in his last four games.

“I never thought I’d play this long,” Nash told The Republic. “I never really aspired to do that. I just kept playing and playing, and here I am. When I looked at [John Stockton] playing at 38, 39 and 40, I just assumed I’d be done.”

PHOENIX — When the Suns’ offense struggled to start the season, the team’s collective answer was that there was no reason for alarm, they were just missing shots they normally knock down.

Maybe they were right.

The Suns set a new season high for field goal percentage for the fourth straight game Sunday night and the Bucks had no chance to match the Suns’ suddenly scorching offense in Phoenix’s 109-93 blowout victory.

“I thought for the first time this year we shot the ball like we’re capable of shooting it,” said Suns head coach Alvin Gentry. “Obviously when we shoot the ball well we become that much better.”

The Suns shot 55.8 percent for the game and 62.3 percent through three quarters when the game was decided, including 10-for-22 overall shooting from three that was reminiscent of past Suns teams.

As usual, Steve Nash was the catalyst of the offensive explosion, dishing 17 assists and scoring 10 points on 5-for-7 shooting in a tidy 27 minutes. Nash set the tone early on by handing out five assists in the first 2:07 and nine in the first 6:19, getting everybody involved on a night in which all five starters scored in double figures.

“Steve was Steve,” Channing Frye said. “He’s a freak of nature, you know, he defies time and you’ve just got to make sure you get open.”

Added Gentry, “Steve is just a whole different animal when he’s in there.”

Nash’s ribs must not be bothering him much anymore as he’s now averaging 15.8 and 11.8 on 69.2 percent shooting — typical Nash numbers — in four January games after putting up 8.3 and 7.8 on 30.8 percent shooting in four December contests.

It certainly helped that when Nash dished it to an open Frye, the Suns’ forward found the bottom of the net. The UA product busted out of his season-long slump by drilling 6-of-7 shots, including 4-of-4 threes, to score a season-high 16 points in just 19 minutes of play. Frye knocked down as many threes in this one as he did in his previous seven games when he attempted 23.

Frye said he had better balance tonight and thanked the Suns for sticking with him during his struggles.

“It’s great,” Nash said. “He’s a terrific shooter and a big part of what we do spacing the floor, so to see him make some jump shots I think is good for the team, but it’s also good for Channing to take some pressure off to enjoy his game.”

Added Marcin Gortat, “That opens up the floor for me personally if he starts nailing those jump shots then obviously I got a couple good looks inside so I’m glad he’s finally starting to hit those jump shots.”

Frye opened things up for Gortat to score a game-high 18 points on 9-for-10 shooting, making him an 83.3 percent shooter the last two games (15-for-18) since losing the brace on his shooting hand.

Gortat said it feels “great” not to have the “plastic thing” on his finger and that it’s really helped him catch the ball.

Grant Hill added 14 and Jared Dudley 11 for a starting lineup that decimated Milwaukee’s top unit. Hill was a plus 28 while Nash, Dudley and Gortat were plus 26 and Frye checked in at plus 17.

The starters helped the Suns set or match a season high in scoring for the fifth time in six games. In addition, the Suns have averaged 29.8 points on 63.3 percent shooting over the first and third quarters of the past two games when the starters have received the bulk of the time.

The offensive effort should not overshadow a Suns defense that held its fourth straight opponent under 100 points after never recording a streak over three all of last season. They are also limiting opponents to a very un-Suns-like 91.5 points per game, least in franchise history.

The Bucks shot just 39.7 percent through three quarters as once again the Suns’ defense shined. Sure, some of that could be attributed to dead legs with Milwaukee playing its fifth game in seven nights (not to mention the absence of Andrew Bogut and Mike Dunleavy) but the Suns’ defense is clearly making strides.

“We knew they were coming on five games seven nights, but it wasn’t about them it was about us improving defensively,” Dudley said. “You can obviously see the improvement with getting at it and starting to make shots.”

Gentry has been harping all along that the Suns’ early offensive struggles have nothing to do with their increased focus on defense, and after stringing together a pair of complete performances (albeit against exhausted opponents) we’re starting to see the potential of this Suns team.

With a healthy Nash creating open looks and his teammates finally knocking them down on top of the improved defense, the Suns suddenly look like a legitimate playoff contender, which is a far cry from what they seemed to be following their opening pair of home losses.

Gortat cautioned fans not to get too excited because this is just two games but he feels if the Suns continue to bring this kind of energy on both ends there’s no reason to think they can’t continue to win games.

With a visit to the Lakers coming up Tuesday and then a vicious five-game road trip starting next week, we will soon find out whether the Suns were just taking advantage of the schedule or if this weekend’s sweep portends a complete team that can be the playoff squad the Suns would be if the season ended today.

“Our defense has improved, our offense is coming around,” Nash said. “We’ve had some times to get in a little bit of a groove here, but we’ll be tested soon so we’ve got to keep it moving.”

And 1

• Yes, the Bucks lost again in Phoenix. The Bucks dropped their 24th straight contest in Phoenix, meaning it’s been 9,087 days since Milwaukee emerged from the Valley victorious. The 24-game streak ties the Suns’ longest home winning streak in team history (Sacramento, 1988-98) and is already the longest in terms of days. Only the Spurs’ 27-game run against the Warriors is a better active streak.
• Frye said his slump was in some respects “a blessing in disguise” because it caused him to focus on other areas of his game such as defense and rebounding. “I think the biggest thing last year was everybody’s like, ‘What are you going to do when the shot’s not falling?’ I wanted to work on other things and continue to be a better player,” Frye said.
• The Suns are back to .500 for the first time since March 27 of last season. … Grant Hill knocked down his first trey of the year after missing his first 10 attempts. He raised his arms to make the three-point signal after canning the shot. … Nash’s 17 assists were one shy of an NBA season best. … Markieff Morris earned his first career double-double with 13 points and 10 boards along with his third outing of 3-for-4 shooting from deep. … Shannon Brown scored a season-high 14 points for the second straight game. … Josh Childress played his first minutes of 2012 with six minutes of garbage time. He recorded a steal but no other stats.
• Gentry pregame: “This is a game that we should win. If we’re going to be a playoff team, this is a game we’ve got to try to take care of.” Mission accomplished.

Bucks

Suns

PHOENIX — The last time the Milwaukee Bucks won a basketball game in the city of Phoenix, Grant Hill was a freshman in high school, Steve Nash was a middle schooler and Robin Lopez and Markieff Morris were not even born yet.

Indeed the last 23 seasons the Milwaukee Bucks entered the Valley of the Sun, they exited with a loss, dating back to Feb. 21, 1987. That’s the second-longest active home winning streak in the NBA, trailing only San Antonio’s 27-game run over Golden State that nearly ended this past week, and the second-longest in franchise history. The Suns can tie that mark of 24 straight home wins over Sacramento from 1988-98 with a victory tonight.

But don’t try telling Alvin Gentry that has any bearing on tonight.

“To be honest with you guys, I don’t care if they didn’t win during the Millard Fillmore administration,” Gentry said. “All I know is that we’re playing this team tonight, and that’s the only thing that matters. These guys weren’t born when the other ones lost, so it doesn’t matter how many games they lost here or whatever, I just know we’re playing this team tonight and this is the team we have to beat.”

The Bucks enter this game cold on the season as well, having lost four in a row on their Western road trip that concludes tonight in Phoenix.

Just like on Friday against Portland, a weary opponent will be invading US Airways Center tonight. The Bucks dropped a 92-86 game at the Clippers last night that started at 8:30 p.m. Arizona time, so like the Blazers they arrived in Phoenix in the wee hours of the morning. The Bucks have also played three games in four days and five in seven this week on their trip.

The team has been without star center Andrew Bogut the past three games and will be tonight as well as Bogut is currently on his way back from his home country of Australia where he returned to take care of some “personal issues,” according to his manager via The Associated Press. Milwaukee will certainly miss its leading rebounder at 10 a game and shot blocker at 1.8 per contest.

Drew Gooden has taken Bogut’s starting spot and stepped up to the tune of 20.0 points and 11.3 boards over these past three games.

Milwaukee is led by point guard Brandon Jennings, who averages 20.0 points and 5.6 assists per game but has been even better in his last two, scorching the Kings and Clippers for 26.0 points and 7.0 assists per. As has been his MO throughout his career, Jennings is an inefficient shooter, knocking down 41.1 percent of his shots overall and 28.9 percent of his threes.

Just like last season the Bucks are a superb defensive squad that really struggles on the offensive end, an issue only exacerbated by the loss of Bogut. The Bucks are struggling to score even more than they did last season, when they ranked dead last with an offensive efficiency of 99.0. This year they rank 27th at 95.0.

The Bucks couldn’t even score on Phoenix’s forgettable defense last season in US Airways Center, as the Suns held them to 86.5 points per 100 and an effective field goal percentage of 33.9 percent, a season low for a Suns opponent.

They are rock solid defensively, however, yielding 94.9 points per 100 possessions, good for fifth in the NBA. This is no mirage as last season they ranked fourth at 99.9.

The Suns, on the other hand, are starting to find their groove offensively. They have set season highs in field-goal percentage in three consecutive games, and as Schmitz explained yesterday the resurgence of Steve Nash is at the heart of the improvement.

Milwaukee plays one of the slowest tempos in the NBA at 92.1 possessions per game, and they figure to be even slower tonight coming off the brutal five games in seven days road trip.

The Suns’ blueprint to a 24th straight home victory over Milwaukee, therefore, should be be the exact same plan they executed to perfection on Friday: jump on the Bucks early by pushing the pace and then never let them off the mat.

And 1

• Before Friday’s game Gentry hinted at the possibility of a lineup change but said before Sunday’s contest that won’t be necessary if the starters continue to open as well as they did Friday night.
• NBA fans voted the Suns’ tilt on Tuesday against the Lakers onto NBA TV as part of the network’s Tuesday night “Fan Night” in which fans vote for a game that will be shown on the channel. The game can also be seen on FSAZ.
• Gentry does not see much value in looking at how well a team defends the three: ”The worst stat in the NBA is defending the three. It’s just not a stat I think is relevant at all.” For the record, the Suns rank seventh in this category, holding opposing three-point shooters to 29.9 percent shooting.

The Phoenix Suns signed former Milwaukee Buck guard Michael Redd on Thursday.

PHOENIX — Following two disastrous knee injuries, it feels like Michael Redd hasn’t made a blip on the national radar since being a key contributor on the 2008 Redeem Team.

The former All-Star isn’t done yet.

The Phoenix Suns officially signed the veteran guard on Thursday and the pairing couldn’t be more perfect for either party.

“It’s a rebirth,” Redd said on Thursday. “It’s been a roller coaster three years. At one point you’re at the pinnacle of your career and then the next moment you’re at the bottom with the injuries.

“This is a new day, new age for me and I’m excited about it.”

And for a team that’s missing a go-to scorer, signing a 32-year-old who is coming off two serious ACL tears to his left knee isn’t as big of a risk as it may seem. With Redd signed to a one-year, veteran’s minimum contract, the Suns are hoping their training staff can bring the former All-Star back to his old self, though expectations haven’t been set that high just yet.

Head coach Alvin Gentry doesn’t have a timetable for Redd’s insertion into the lineup, and President of Basketball Operations Lon Babby said Redd won’t travel with the team on this road trip. He’ll join the squad on Monday.

The 6-foot-6, 220-pound guard is still a couple of weeks away from getting into basketball shape, Babby added. In fact, the Suns’ workout of Redd on Tuesday was his first contact practice since April, when he was on the comeback with the Milwaukee Bucks.

“Because I was a free agent, I didn’t want to play 5-on-5 and have something happen,” Redd said of his summer. “Just individual workouts and trained all summer — not therapy but trained.”

So Redd is actually far removed from his injuries time-wise. His first setback came in January of 2009, and his second ACL tear occurred in January of 2010. This second time around, Redd isn’t pushing anything, and taking 14 months off before coming back toward the tail-end of last season was only helped by the prolonged summer break and lockout, he said.

The former 20-plus point scorer played 10 games with the Bucks at the end of last season and averaged 4.4 points in 13.4 minutes played, giving more evidence that he’s healed.

“I took off 14 months between the surgery in (2010) to this year,” Redd said. “Came back in April and played, and by the time my legs started getting back into it, the season was over.”

As for Tuesday’s workout, Babby said Redd looked fine as far as mobility was concerned.

Redd added that his first contact practice since the end of last season went well, especially from a mental standpoint.

“I didn’t even think about my knees,” he said of Tuesday’s workout. “It wasn’t even a thought, which was good for me, not to be in that mindset about this move or the next move.”

Quotables

Redd on if he thinks he can get back to his old self:

“I want to play at that elite level I’m accustomed to playing at. I asked all the doctors, this last surgery, ‘Can I play at the level I’m accustomed to playing at?’ They said, ‘Yeah.’”

Redd on how, like Grant Hill, he doesn’t have the mileage his age suggests:

“I haven’t played the last couple of years. Grant was huge last year; we were at Milwaukee, and he came up to me and said, ‘You’ll get those years back, you know, if you do it properly and you do it right.’ That was big of him to come and encourage me like that.”

Babby on the signing in general:

“This is not any way, shape or form a reaction to the first couple of games. We’ve been talking to him a long time.”

“If we can get him completely right and back to himself, he’ll be a great asset to us.”

“As Cotton Fitzsimmons said, you can never have too many shooters.”

Babby on the Suns’ medical staff:

“Our guys are the best at putting a guy back in a position to where he can play. I’ve been through that personally through Grant (Hill), and I suspect that this is the next chapter in the history that goes back to Antonio McDyess and Grant. If anybody can do it, our guys can do it if he’s ready to put in the work. I have absolutely no doubt he’s willing to put in the work.”

Mickael Pietrus exploded for 20 in Vince Carter's absence and lifted the Suns with 17 second-half points. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

That’s why they play all 48 minutes.

For the first half of play in Milwaukee, the Phoenix Suns clearly looked like a team playing its fifth road game in eight nights.

Steve Nash committed seven first-half turnovers, and everyone not named Channing Frye (who scored 14 in the first half and 20 in the game) combined for 38.7 percent shooting and 31 points.

Brandon Jennings and the NBA’s lowest-scoring team drove to the hoop at will, and also scored nine points off of Suns turnovers and 11 in transition to lead 48-45 by halftime.

But the Suns eventually woke up as they came out scorching in the third quarter, shooting 11-for-18 from the field and ripping off a 19-0 run to eventually put away the lesser Bucks, 102-88, and move to 4-1 on their six-game road trip.

Mickael Pietrus, who started in place of a concussed Vince Carter, racked up 17 second-half points after scoring only three in the first half. The sharpshooting swingman also corralled eight boards and provided constant energy for a once-lethargic Suns team.

Nash also regained traction after one of the worst halves of basketball he’s played in recent memory. He dished out eight assists in the second half, while committing zero turnovers to finish the game with eight points, 13 assists, seven turnovers and a game-high +26.

As Nash improved, the Suns improved (go figure) and went on a monster 31-6 run that changed the game from a 53-45 Bucks lead with 10:52 left in the third quarter, to a 76-59 Phoenix lead with 2:35 left in the quarter.

During that stretch the Suns made 11-of-15 shots (73.3 percent) while connecting on all five of their three-point attempts. The Bucks, on the other hand, were shut down by Phoenix’s newfound defense. Milwaukee went 2-for-10 from the field and committed four turnovers as the Suns closed off the driving lanes that were so open in the first half.

After their colossal quarter, the rejuvenated Suns led 76-63 heading into the fourth quarter. The Bucks wouldn’t get much closer, as the lowest they cut the deficit to was nine, and Garret Siler and Zabian Dowdell got a couple minutes of action in game that looked like it might be a nail-biter after the first half.

Phoenix finished the game shooting 50.0 percent from the field while drilling 11 of 24 triples — eight of which came from Frye (five) and Pietrus (three). While Nash’s ramped up play and Pietrus’ scoring binge were a huge reason for the second-half push, the bench did a great job keeping things close before turning it back to the starters in the third.

The bench mob of Brooks (seven points, three assists, two steals), Marcin Gortat (13 points, six rebounds), Jared Dudley (six points, four rebounds), Hakim Warrick (nine points, two rebounds) and Josh Childress (two points) combined for 37 points two nights after bringing the Suns back against the Celtics.

Although Frye set the tone with his sharp shooting and Nash and Pietrus sealed the deal, this was the epitome of a team win. A victory over a lowly, injury depleted Bucks team is definitely nothing to gloat about, but this is a game the Suns would have mailed in earlier in the season.

Nash looked exhausted after only seven minutes of play, and the Suns looked lifeless early on. But their depth, three-point shooting ability and second-half defense carried them over the hump as they’re now 12-4 in their last 16 games.

Phoenix is finally beating the teams its supposed to, which is usually the difference between a playoff team and a squad that’s on the outside looking in. The Suns now sit only a half game back of Memphis for the eighth seed in the West, and they are only 1 1/2 games back of Portland for the seventh seed.

Even if the Suns fall in Oklahoma City on Sunday night, a 4-2 road trip is certainly something to build off of, especially when Phoenix handled lesser teams like the Bucks.

And 1

Frye set the tone for the Suns, scoring Phoenix’s first nine points — all three-pointers. He also grabbed eight boards. … Pietrus has now hit double figures scoring in eight of his last nine games after doing so once in the seven games prior. This is the first game he’s gotten to the 20-point plateau since he dropped 25 on the Clippers in his second game with the Suns. … Childress’ left-handed layup was only his second bucket in the last 10 games. … The up and down Warrick is back on track, finding a way to contribute for the Suns. He’s averaging 7.6 points per game over his last six games. … Brooks did a nice job coming in early for Nash. He took a few questionable shots but ran the offense nicely and probed through the lane and kicked it out for threes on several occasions; many of the threes didn’t drop, however.

Suns

Bucks

Both the Suns and the Bucks are on the outside looking in on the playoff race.

Phoenix is ninth in the west, a game and a half out of eighth, while the Bucks are 10th in the East, three and a half games out of eighth.

When the two teams meet Friday night in Milwaukee, one squad will inch a bit closer to the final playoff spot in their respective conference.

On Feb. 2, the Bucks visited Phoenix and were shut down offensively, only scoring 77 points and shooting just over 31 percent from the field.

That night was during the run when the Suns were playing lights out defensively, holding Detroit to 74, Boston to 71, Utah to 83 and Golden State to 88.

Phoenix won that game 92-77, with Marcin Gortat leading the way with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

Gortat took advantage of the Bucks being without big man Andrew Bogut and dominated the game.

Expect the Polish Hammer to perform well again Friday with Bogut not playing again due to a chest injury.

Without their center in the lineup, the Bucks were out rebounded in Phoenix 54-39.

It was the 23rd consecutive time the Suns beat the Bucks at  home.

At the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Phoenix has won four of the last five meetings.

Overall, the Suns have won 34 of the last 39 games against the Bucks.

Yeah, I’d say the visitors have the historical edge.

Milwaukee has lost 10 of 14 and struggled mightily on Tuesday to defeat the Pistons by two.

The Bucks’ Drew Gooden will also be out for Friday’s contest, another blow to the upset bid for the home team.

The Suns are coming off a disappointing 115-103 loss to Boston on Wednesday.  The team’s starters didn’t play up to par and Phoenix only crawled back into the game when the bench came in and provided a late spark.

How the first unit responds Friday in the fifth game of a six-game road trip will likely determine the outcome.

The Suns can’t take the Bucks lightly and look forward to Sunday’s matchup in Oklahoma City with the Thunder.

In Phoenix’s last two games on this road trip against bad teams, Channing Frye needed to hit game-winning shots in both to save the Suns from suffering two embarrassing losses.

The newest Sun, Aaron Brooks, has gotten increased minutes in every game he’s played in a Phoenix uniform so far.

Against the Pacers, he played just 10 minutes, scoring three points.

In New Jersey, he played 14 minutes, scoring eight points and adding four assists.

And then Wednesday against the Celtics, Brooks finally got extended time on the court, playing 21 minutes, scoring 17 points and adding seven assists.

Look for that trend to continue Friday night in Milwaukee. If Brooks performs well enough, Alvin Gentry will want to keep him in longer to save Steve Nash for crunch time.

PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns better be careful. If they keep playing defense like this they may soon lose their reputation as an all offense, no defense basketball team.

As has often been the case during the Suns’ current stretch of eight wins in 11 games, defense carried the day in their 92-77 win over the Milwaukee Bucks, particularly during a first half in which the Suns held the Bucks to an opponent season-low 31 points on 24.4 percent shooting.

Yesterday I wrote about how the Suns’ 70.9 defensive rating and 34.2 percent opponent shooting percentage Friday night against the Celtics made that contest their best defensive performance of the Nash Era, but they were even better during a first half in which Phoenix ran up a 52-31 lead. For the game the team’s defensive efficiency of 86.5 was bettered only by the Boston game even after the Bucks scored six points in the final minute with the game long decided, and Phoenix held Milwaukee to an opponent season-low effective field goal percentage of 33.9 percent.

“I think, defensively, we’re getting better,” head coach Alvin Gentry said. “The last 10 games we have given up less than 45 percent shooting; that puts us in the top 10 (of the league in this time) and I thought we started out the game really focused and doing what we needed to do.”

When the Suns ranked at the bottom of the league in defensive field-goal percentage not too long ago, Gentry installed boards in the locker room displaying the team’s defensive field-goal percentage for the season and in the last 10 games.

Due to their porous early season defense, the Suns still entered the night 27th in the league in this category, but they have steadily moved up after holding an opponent below 43.4 percent for the sixth time in eight games. Overall the Suns have held their last eight opponents to 41.4 percent shooting, much better than their overall 47.2 percent, and that’s even with two of those eight opponents shooting better than 50 percent.

Those numbers certainly improved after the Suns held Milwaukee to 31.1 percent shooting, the lowest by a Suns opponent since limiting Denver to a franchise-low 26.3 percent shooting day on April 1, 2003, another date before the start of the Nash Era. The Suns have set a new season low for opponent field-goal percentage five times since Dec. 31 (17 games).

“We’ve taken a step,” Grant Hill said.

The one caveat in this one is that the Bucks were missing star center Andrew Bogut with a knee injury, John Salmons was gimpy and Brandon Jennings is still working his way back from an injury of his own. Even at full strength the Bucks rank only ahead of those poor, poor LeBron James-less Cleveland Cavaliers, shooting 42.7 percent entering the game, so it’s not exactly like this came against the ’92 Dream Team.

“They’re undermanned,” Jared Dudley said. “I thought that we did a good job of not playing down, coming out, setting the tone. Steve, Grant, everyone pushing the tempo, but defensively we got stops. It was kind of, I’m not going to say it was easy, but in the sense of they didn’t have Bogut there, they were trying to stretch and find and we did a good job with that.”

Without Bogut the Suns for once enjoyed a decisive edge inside, and they took advantage of that by pasting the Bucks on the boards, 54-39. Channing Frye ripped down 13 boards, his second best performance of the year, and the double-double man Marcin Gortat corralled another 11.

The Bucks had no answer for Gortat during his 12-point, six-board first half on 5-for-7 shooting, as he overwhelmed them with sheer physicality.

Afterward the Polish center said he would prefer to play against a prototypical big man because it was “really uncomfortable” going up against undersized bigs like Ersan Ilyasova and Jon Brockman due to their lower leverage and boundless energy.

Gortat still had no problem going for at least 19 points for the third straight game, noteworthy because his career high entering this stretch was 16. He’s scored in double figures in four straight for the first time in his career.

“My confidence is pretty big right now,” said Gortat, who was still disappointed in himself for failing to convert a handful of plays. “I have a lot of fun from playing basketball, my mind is really free right now, comparing to the ex-team. It’s just fun. Playing with Steve Nash, he’s going to always find you. I would say he’s 50 percent, at least 50 percent of the success for me. You’ve just got to catch the ball, finish hard and make sure that your teammates are going to be happy.”

Hill (16), Dudley (15) and Frye (14) joined Gortat in double figures while Nash dished 13 assists (the same number as the Bucks as a team) and the Suns shot 50 percent from the field, so the only negatives came in the form of some sloppy second half play when the Suns enjoyed a seemingly insurmountable lead.

Nash committed five of Phoenix’s seven turnovers in the third and then Zabian Dowdell gave away two more in the fourth as the Suns allowed a 25-point lead to creep down to nine with 8:32 remaining.

But Alvin Gentry disgustedly called a timeout and brought back Nash, Hill and Frye to close out the deal.

It’s unfortunate the Suns failed to blow this one wide open when the game appeared to be over early in the third, but at least they didn’t allow the Bucks to come all the way back as they did last year in Phoenix in a game they led by 24 before ultimately closing it out. Such dispassionate play is often par for the course in the NBA when a big lead is rolled up.

The Suns have now won three straight and eight of 11 to vault just two games back of Portland for the eighth and final West playoff spot, including one game back in the loss column.

Most importantly, the Suns’ defense that was so maligned when the Orlando acquisitions first put on the purple and orange has started to transform into a very effective unit.

“It didn’t look good, but I believe we are way, way, way better team than a month ago, and now we’ve just got to stay like that and just keep playing hard,” Gortat said. “We made a lot of adjustments, everybody is playing way better, everybody has his own role in the team and everybody knows what they’re supposed to do.”

And 1

The Suns beat the Bucks in Phoenix for the 23rd straight time, dating back to Feb. 21, 1987. That’s the second-longest active home winning streak behind only San Antonio’s 25-game run over Golden State and one shy of the Suns’ franchise record (24 straight over Sacramento from 1988-98). “That’s a crazy stat,” Dudley said. … The Suns are 18-0 against the Bucks in US Airways Center, making them the only franchise without a win in the building. … Phoenix held its fourth opponent under 80 points, the most since 2004-05. The team also improved to 64-1 all-time when holding an opponent under 80 points, but that one was on the last road trip in Detroit. … The Suns are within one game of .500 for the second time since Dec. 20, the last game before the Orlando acquisitions arrived. … The Bucks made just 4-for-20 shots in the second quarter, as the Suns outscored them 27-14. … Dudley on the win: “It’s a team we should beat, we’re at home, we don’t want to slip up because we’ve already had too many slip-ups throughout the year.”

Bucks

Suns

Wednesday night’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks could follow one of a few recent trends for the Phoenix Suns.

It could be another loss to a losing team, which has been the case for three straight games against sub-.500 opponents.

It could be another game where Steve Nash plays up to a top point guard in Milwaukee’s Brandon Jennings, much like he did against Boston’s Rajon Rondo and New Orleans’ Chris Paul. Jennings, however, is only recently back from injury and isn’t likely to play extended minutes.

It could also be the start of a new trend for the Suns, one where they beat the teams they should and play with confidence acquired from wins over two of the NBA’s hottest team’s last weekend. The Suns have beat the Bucks 22 straight times in Phoenix, but after some of the worst losses in recent history coming this season, such streaks have come to mean less.

The Suns will likely benefit from the Bucks’ ongoing struggle to stay healthy. Outside of Jennings’ injury, forward Drew Gooden (foot) and guard John Salmons (hip) are out, center Andrew Bogut is iffy after injuring his knee Monday and guard Keyon Dooling is reportedly sick, but could play.

Without getting continuously gnawed on by the injury bug, the Bucks would likely be much better than 19-27. But the fact is they aren’t and the Suns get a favorable matchup that they’ll need to take advantage of.

If Bogut doesn’t play, the Suns get another advantage in the post — a rarity for them. The recent play of Marcin Gortat has shown the Suns what life is like with a productive, capable center.

As discussed on Valley of the Suns’ midseason podcast, it’s hard to find a negative thing to say about Gortat right now. He’s rebounding like the Suns haven’t seen from any player in recent years (17 boards against Boston?!), scoring at a career-best level (10.2 points per game as a Sun) and providing leadership on and off the court.

The ongoing development of Gortat will certainly be something to watch as the Suns move closer and closer to a turning point in the 2010-11 season, particularly as he continues to get more and more comfortable taking feeds from Nash.

The Bucks are also the league’s lowest scoring team at 91.9 points per game, while the Suns remain one of the league’s best, third with 105.4 points per game. Extending their winning streak to three could be a simple matter of finishing on offense and playing sufficient defense.

“They don’t score a lot of points, but they make it very difficult for you to score,” Suns coach Alvin Gentry told Suns.com. “They play 48 minutes. They really play 48 minutes, and I know that’s a cliche that everyone uses, but it doesn’t matter how far they’re down or how far they’re up, they still really, really compete and play extremely hard.”

Taking on a team like Milwaukee should be another chance for the Suns to build more momentum before Friday’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, but as we’ve seen, there are no guarantees with this enigmatic group.

UPDATE: Bogut out

Milwaukee Bucks center Andrew Bogut was a late scratch with a right knee injury.

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