The Phoenix Suns are 6-11 having just lost their third-straight home game to a team with a record even worse than their own. They had a lead on the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday night before the energy gave out and the game slipped away in the third quarter. Just another tough loss in a season with too many of them already.

Steve Nash pointed out the obvious, saying, “We just don’t have the talent to go out there and win games. We’ve got to find a little bit something extra; we’ve got to find a little magic and our chemistry and cohesion and we haven’t found it yet.”

Nash also admitted that it’s difficult to build chemistry when you are losing games. It’s a Catch-22.

So what do you do?

“You got to just keep your head down and keep working and keep believing and if you do that long enough, good things will happen,” Nash explained.

Coach Gentry had a similar response in his postgame comments, vowing to never give up the fight.

“There’s nobody that’s going to quit. We’re not going to let anybody quit and we’ll continue to try to figure it out and we’ll continue to try and turn our season around. No one’s going to throw in the towel, I know that. I’m not going to allow that.”

So there you have it. Your Phoenix Suns. Not enough talent to just win games without a little magic but refusing to quit.

It’s good to hear that players and coaches making millions and millions of dollars to play a game won’t be quiting anytime soon…as for the rest of us, when does Spring Training start?

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Read More: Andrea Bargnani (F – TOR), Markieff Morris (F – PHO), Phoenix Suns, Toronto Raptors, Toronto Raptors at Phoenix Suns, Jan 24, 2012 7:00 PM MST

The Phoenix Suns really needed to get a home win against a 4-13 Toronto Raptors team. Second of a back-to-back coming off a five-game road trip or not, this was a game the Suns needed and blew thanks mostly to another horrible third quarter (see also Dallas, game, loss). The final score in the miserable affair was 99-96 and dropped the Suns to 6-11 on the season.

The Suns took a four-point lead into the second half thanks to 53 percent shooting show and capable defense against one of the league’s worst offensive teams. Then things fell apart and fast as the Suns gave up 18 points to Andrea Bargnani in the third quarter with the skilled Italian put another page rookie Markieff Morris’ “NBA Defense” lesson book.

The energy and chemistry was horrific at the end of the third and start of the fourth until Alvin Gentry called a timeout and threatened, cajoled or otherwise motivated the Suns into showing signs of life. The push cut into a 12-point Raptors lead with the Suns finally showing the kind of fight they needed to have for the entire 48 minutes.

Things got a little interesting in the final minute when Jared Dudley (finally) hit a three to cut the Raptors lead to four and then stole an inbound pass and dunked the ball to cut the margin only two points with 23 seconds on the clock.

But Bargnani made his two free throws after being intentionally fouled and Nash missed a fairly open layup to end the Suns’ chances of a miracle comeback in a game they didn’t deserve to win.

Steve Nash finished with 17 points and 14 assists and Marcin Gortat had his ninth-straight double-double with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Bargnani scored 36 points in his first game back after missing the last five due to injury. Leandro Barbosa added 19 against his old team.

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By Seth Pollack

– Regional Sports Editor

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Jan 23, 2012 – The Phoenix Suns (6-9) have won two out of two games on their five game road trip with a very nice chance of coming home 3-2 for the trip. They face the Dallas Mavericks (10-7) Monday night who will be without their star Dirk Nowitzki who is sitting out four games with a sore right knee / poor conditioning.

The Suns caught a break in Chicago when Derrick Rose was out with a foot problem. The Suns lost. They caught a break in Boston with Rajon Rondo was out with a wrist problem. The Suns won. That sets up this game as the tie-breaker for both the overall road trip record and as the rubber match facing teams without their best player.

Helping the Suns even just a little more, they are coming off two full days of rest for the first time this season. The Mavericks last played Saturday, just barely edging New Orleans 83-81.

Projected lineups:

It looks like Alvin Gentry will stick with changes to his starting lineup.

The Morris – Odom match up should be another fun one for the kid who’s hopefully recovered from his flu bug. Starting point guard Ronnie Price along with Steve Nash at first seemed to be…questionable. But it’s turned out well so far with Price adding a bit more play-making early in games and a lot more defensive energy to the back court. As long as the Suns keep playing teams with small shooting guards (like the Mavs) it makes sense.

TV Broadcast info:

The game tips at 6:30 p.m. Arizona time on Fox Sports Arizona and on the radio at Arizona Sports 620. Live game thread will be available at Bright Side of the Sun.

Phoenix Suns At Dallas Mavericks Game Preview: The Road Home – Bright Side Of The Sun
if the Suns hope to finish off their road trip with a win against Dallas before returning back home to play the Toronto Raptors tomorrow, the Suns will need to keep their energy and intensity high and continue to play great defense like they did over their last two games. The Mavericks are still a dangerous team even when Dirk-less, so the Suns need to come out strong and keep the pressure on throughout the game.

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Read More: Dirk Nowitzki (F – DAL), Derrick Rose (G – CHI), Dallas Mavericks, Phoenix Suns

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By Zachary Lee – Bulls Contributor

Read More: nba 2011, Vince Carter (G – PHO), Carlos Boozer (F – CHI), Channing Frye (F – PHO), Steve Nash (G – PHO), Jared Dudley (G – PHO), Joakim Noah (C – CHI), Aaron Brooks (G – PHO), Marcin Gortat (F – PHO), Derrick Rose (G – CHI), Omer Asik (C – CHI), Phoenix Suns, Chicago Bulls, Toronto Raptors, Phoenix Suns at Chicago Bulls, Apr 5, 2011 7:00 PM CDT

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Apr 5, 2011 - Without subscribing to it, allow me to present a theory that’s floating out there on the Interwebs these days: Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer, two of the biggest names on the 2010-11 Chicago Bulls, can’t co-exist on the floor together.

Statistics to support it are sparse, and the sample size of games even more so. But watching Boozer go off these last few games while Noah wore a blazer on the bench didn’t help to quell this growing meme.

Then, Monday morning, the news came out that, while Noah is probably a go against the Phoenix Suns, Boozer has come down with the flu and will be a gametime decision. Conspiracy theories aside, with only six games left before the playoffs begin, the Bulls need as much time with both players on the floor as possible to iron out whatever kinks there may be in their two-man game.

In the meantime, Derrick Rose is in arguably his finest stretch of the season, finishing strong as every media darling, future NBA MVP should. Over the past five games, Rose is averaging 29.4 points, 9.8 assists and 89% from the free throw line. Unbeknownst to the rest of the world, apparently he felt slighted when the Toronto Raptors defeated the Bulls in late February, which led to 36 points and 10 assists in a virtuoso performance this past Saturday.

“I just remember them celebrating after they won back in Toronto,” Rose said. “When you see people celebrating when they normally don’t do that if you watch other games after they win, it kind of gets to you – especially being the person that I am,” he said. “I just try to feed off of anything, where by nature I’m just a quiet guy trying to get along with a lot of people.”

The lesson: if you are playing Derrick Rose, you’d best be polite. Otherwise this might happen to you:

Last time they played the Suns, the Bulls won one of their most thrilling games of the season in a double-overtime 123-115 victory that helped launch the team on it’s current dream ride.

The Suns play the type of Euro drive-and-kick style that the Bulls struggle with defensively. (See: Raptors, Toronto.) But Phoenix has just been eliminated from the playoffs, and team leader Steve Nash is questionable to play after missing the last two games with flu-like symptoms. When playing for pride and Vince Carter are uttered in the same sentence, wins seldom follow.

Suns To Watch For

As mentioned, the Suns and Nash are synonymous and, if he doesn’t play, the Suns are in trouble. Aaron Brooks would be his replacement, but he’s much more of a scorer than a passer and doesn’t facilitate the offense as Nash does. The Suns love the three-pointer, and forwards Jared Dudley and Channing Frye will camp out there and shoot all night. Marcin Gortatis Phoenix’s lone quality post presence, and even he has never seen regular minutes on an NBA team until two months ago. Vince Carter has always had the Bulls number to a certain extent, but he rarely plays his hardest – especially on a team with nothing to play for.

Bulls To Watch For

Joakim Noah. If he does play, and it seems likely he will, the Bulls need him to be an offensive threat – particularly if Boozer can’t go. Noah has more or less abandoned the elbow jumper he consistently hit before his thumb injury early in the year. It would be great for the team if he could find the range on his shot again.

Omer Asik will also have a chance to redeem some mediocre play of late, as the Suns have absolutely no one on their bench who can match up with him. The Bulls need Asik to start hitting a few more free throws (40% in March) so he’s not an offensive liability when out on the floor. This probably doesn’t need to be mentioned but, goodness gracious, DRose should have a field day with the league’s 27th-ranked defensive team.

Winners of 15 of 17 games, Chicago looks to increase its 2 1/2 game lead in the East against the Phoenix Suns, losers of five of their last six games. Tip-off at the United Center is at 7:00 CDT on WCIU.

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Aaron Brooks (0) of the Phoenix Suns drives against the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday in Phoenix. (P.A. Molumby/NBAE via Getty Images)

The Phoenix Suns were a tired bunch before and after their 114-106 win over the Toronto Raptors.

Winning will help the Suns sleep a lot better. They won a game they had to have to keep alive their postseason hopes.

Playing 20 hours and 21 minutes after their triple-overtime loss in Los Angeles Tuesday night, the Suns didn’t seem to have enough in the tank Wednesday, falling behind by 13 points late in the third quarter.

But backup point guard Aaron Brooks energized the team with nine of his 25 points over the final 2:30 of the third, and his 3-pointer with 54.9 seconds left in the game sealed the Suns’ win.

“I just wanted to be aggressive, as Coach asked me to, and if the shot was there, take it,” Brooks said. “We played hard. It was kind of hard. We got in late and we got it done.”

The Suns took a 110-105 lead on Brooks’ three from the left corner, and the Raptors couldn’t recover despite 27 points from forward Andrea Bargnani. Phoenix (36-34) remained three games behind Memphis for the eighth and last Western Conference playoff spot and extended its winning streak over the Raptors to 14, the longest active win streak against an opponent.

The Suns were already at a disadvantage playing so soon after a long night. Then they lost starting guard Grant Hill to flu-like symptoms and forward Mickael Pietrus to a sprained right knee before the first quarter was over, and neither returned.

That meant extended minutes for Brooks and the bench, which scored a combined 63 points. Marcin Gortat added 15 and Jared Dudley 13 and the Suns hit 12 of 28 3-pointers.

Coach Alvin Gentry called it the Suns’ best win of the year.

“After [Tuesday] night and the emotional drain, then coming away with nothing really tangible to show with the effort, I thought it was great to be able to come back and put in that kind of effort and win the game,” Gentry said. “We told them we can’t be tired. We take off more days than Johnny Carson did. There is no reason why we couldn’t finish the game and be active.”

The Raptors led for almost all of the first three quarters before Brooks helped tie the score at 86 going into the fourth quarter. Toronto (20-51) scored six straight points in 35 seconds to go up 103-97 with 4:25 to play, but a layup and blocked shot by Gortat set the stage for Brooks to hit the decisive three.

“We shoot a better percentage than them, we out-rebound them and they made 3-point shots, and that’s what this team does,” Raptors coach Jay Triano said.