Ho hum. Five wins in a row. Four game road winning streak. 5th place in the west. Defense. Rebounding. Spirit and spunk.

Will the real Phoenix Suns, please stand up.

That by the way was a cultural reference dating back to a kinder, gentler time when men were men pretending to be other men for fun.

This sure has been a funky season. A real roller coaster ride if you will. I didn't think the team was as good as its 14-3 start or as bad as its 14-18 December and January.

Although I did giggle when Grant Hill talked post game last night about getting out of the "slump". When you are a sub-.500 team for 2/3's of the season, that's not a slump. That's a suck. The Suns were playing like suck and now for the last five games they are not playing like suck. That does not constitutes either a slump or a slump busted.

Lets not forget that the Mavs are slumping and just lost to the Wolves. The Rockets are a scrappy team but beating them isn't exactly a major accomplishment. The Hornets without Paul is a solid win as is the Nuggets without Melo but both of those games were very winnable and then there's the Kings. Enough said about them other than to say that Nash has absolutely OWNED Tyreke Evans which is simply a fact that can't be repeated often enough and probably won't be repeated again next year.

We now will wait three full days before the next game against the Trailblazers who will be without Brandon Roy (or Oden, Pryzbilla or Outlaw) but do have Nic Batum back who should do a great job locking up Grant Hill and Earl Clark? Rudy vs Goran will be fun to watch. Amare vs Aldridge is always a treat. But the match-up I am most looking forward to is Robin vs Juwan Howard. If Robin isn't spending the next three days licking his lips waiting for this feast then he's not nearly the psycho machine we think he is.

Then comes more days off followed by one of the easier post-all-star schedules in the West. Plenty of time off. A home heavy schedule. And only one game against an "elite" team. It should all be down hill from here except for...

Le' Sag'a Amar'e

Will he. Won't he. Who the hell knows but until he either agrees to an extension, is traded, or the deadline passes this team is as firm as a piece of pineapple trapped in a lime green jello mold placed on a washing machine on spin cycle.

Fortunately, there's only four more game before now and the deadline but for the next two weeks be prepared to get your jiggle on.

Have a happy and safe Super Bowl Sunday. Here's to plenty of beer, pizza, chips and wings...Suns practice tomorrow. I'll be there.

Oh, and it is Steve Nash's 36th birthday tomorrow to raise a glass to him. Just don't try and light birthday candles for him. We don't want anyone's house to burn down.

• No Amore for Amare - Blazersedge
  Maybe I'm old-school, but I'm so sick of hearing this from today's players. There are two situations in which it's legitimate to employ that phrase. If you're LeBron James or Kobe Bryant, clearly the best of the best in this league, and your team has utterly failed to build around you for years then I can buy in. Alternately if you're a franchise player pushing 40 who has never won it all and you have something to give as a role player that would be valuable to a contender but doesn't help your current team much then I'm OK with the request. You've given your prime and years of sweat and devotion to a franchise. They can do something back for you. But outside of those two situations "I want to be traded to a contender" is almost always code-speak for "I'm a loser." Here's a guess: If Amare Stoudemire used his athletic prowess to play defense anywhere above the level of a Jell-o Pudding Snack Pack he'd already be on a contender
• A Brief History of the Orlando Magic's Blown Leads This Season - Orlando Pinstriped Post
  The Magic are a great defensive team and they've blown a lot of big leads this season. What do you make of that? huh? well?
• Conversation and Talk With Daryl Morey - The Dream Shake
  Dreamshake conversation with Rockets GM Daryl Morey
• The Long, Depressing NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement Fight Begins - SB Nation
  Well then. Something tells me the Players Association won't be too keen on these conditions. This is only a first proposal, but let's just say that things are not off to a good start if you're an NBA fan worried about an impending lockout.
• Twitter / Kelly Dwyer: RT @WojYahooNBA: Asked hig ...
  RT @WojYahooNBA: Asked high-level team exec. about actual docu of NBA's proposal to union. "It's just a photocopy of Stern's middle finger."
• KTAR.com - Suns Spotted Around The League
  Sports 620 KTAR's John Gambadoro believes the Suns will sit down with Amare Stoudemire and his agent next week to begin discussions on a possible contract extension. The extension would be more than $10M per year. The Suns are not interested in giving Stoudemire a max deal and want to see if he would consider an extension of this sort. Yes, that would mean Stoudemire would agree to a pay cut, as he makes more than $16M this season and has a $17.7M option for next season. With that said, the Suns' offer is likely to be in the $11-14M range.
• Suns' Robin Lopez - Channing Frye combination works at center
  With Robin Lopez starting at center the past 10 games and Channing Frye becoming his backup, the Suns' new center tandem look has averaged 24.8 points, 10.4 rebounds and 2.1 blocks. It has become part of the reason the Suns are playing their best basketball of the season, with their first four-game winning streak since November and first one against all winning teams since the 17-win streak of 2006-07.