Steve Nash was not happy with his team's effort in Thursday's loss to the Hornets. (Photo by Max Simbron)

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Unlike last week when the Suns came home from a road loss to the Lakers and took Friday off before a Sunday game, today they went hard for a full two hours.

The media are let in for the last half hour of practice which almost always is just guys taking shots on their own or in small groups and perhaps a group of four or six of the younger players doing some extra work with the assistant coaches.

Today though Coach Gentry had the team going hard in five on five scrimmage with an 18 second shot clock. Everyone but Nash participated with Barbosa taking his spot on the starters squad and Taylor Griffin subbing in and out for Grant Hill. Nash was fine by the way - obviously there's no need for HIM to get in extra floor time.

The guys were into it and it was great to hear communication on the defensive end and see Gentry really lay into guys when he didn't like what he was seeing. At the same time between plays there was still some joking around.

It was nice mix between intense focus and loose camaraderie.

The highlights of the scrimmage were:

• Earl Clark throwing down a massive jam which drew plenty of oohs and aaahhs
• Robin Lopez practicing with the team for the first time and moving well. Offensively, he hit a nice mid-post hook shot which drew a sharp clap of approval from David Griffin and then on the very next trip down missed a wide open reverse layup which also drew a reaction I won't bother repeating
• It was fun seeing Jason Richardson argue (loudly) for a goal tending call on an inside look by Amare
• The highlight though was in the last couple of plays which were end of game side line out of bounds situations. Gentry had JRich inbound the ball off of Dudley's ass (if you notice he often turns his back to the inbound passer). Jason caught the ball and nailed the three and was fouled by Dudley who turned to contest the shot...laughter ensued as did a joke about the ball almost not bouncing back which you can interpret for yourself
  
• Practice ended on another inbound play that had the ball going in and Amare setting a screen on Dudley as Jason got open in the corner for a three. That certainly ended the tough work-out on a high note

Steve Nash had some interesting thoughts on the game in New Orleans. I love how he's willing to call out his team for a poor performance and not sugar coat anything. The Suns played poorly. They weren't prepared to battle. They were a little complacent with themselves.

Great to hear Steve acknowledge that:

"If we're honest we didn't deserve to win. We came out lackluster. We got ourselves back in the came but never really curbed the ills that we started the game with. We didn't really have any attention to detail and we gave up a lot of rebounds so our concentration and effort weren't good enough."

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More photos » by Layne Murdoch - NBAE/Getty Images

Peja showed that he can still shoot the three.

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During this game, The Phoenix Suns were victims of a severe case of Amnesia. They forgot to not underestimate an opponent. They forgot that they need to earn every win. They forgot to do the little things that have led them to have a good record to start the season. They forgot that they still have a lot to prove.

The Suns went to New Orleans with a 10-2 record, tied for the best record in the NBA with The Atlanta Hawks and had a chance to improve to 11-2 facing a young team without their best player. Most of us thought this game was going to be easy for The Suns. There's nothing wrong with that. We are fans and after comparing their team to ours you can say it was a logical and educated guess. But Basketball is a crazy game and unlike fans...professional players can't afford to think like that. You actually have to play and earn it, because regardless of who you're facing, this is the NBA and any team can beat you. Any team.

Back when I was in High school, we were playing in a Tournament Finals against a team who was clearly inferior to ours. So we showed up to the game feeling good about ourselves and thinking that it was going to be piece of cake. We were relaxed and some might even say that we were cocky at times.

And so the game started and everything was going their way. Shots were raining, three point plays, fast breaks, steals. We couldn't by a bucket to save our lives but even under those circumstances we were thinking: "they can't stay this hot for a long time" or "our defense will get better" but none of those things happened and we ended up losing the game. We argued every single whistle that was called against us, our coach was thrown out of the gym and I fouled out of the game with still 10 minutes to play. My dad, who was watching from the bleachers, had to listen to me bitch about the refs on the way back home until he said the following:

"Jose, the refs didn't make you lose that game. You guys lost it. You didn't hustle, you didn't execute, and you didn't rebound the ball. It's like you were expecting them to suck at some point but it never happened. The fact that all of you, including your incompetent coach, were arguing calls throughout the whole game and blaming them for your misery just proves the fact that you are so arrogant that you can't even tell that you were beaten by the better team tonight and that it had nothing to do with the refs taking it away from you. Suck it up and learn from it"

Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting the Suns were cocky tonight but it certainly looked like they were thinking (just like we did back then) "They can't stay this hot all night"

But they were wrong and just like me...they need to suck it up and learn from it.

That's enough of my stories. Let's talk hoops now.

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More photos » by Bill Haber - AP

See, Sean Marks everyone! (AP Photo/Bill Haber)

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My how the mighty have fallen. The New Orleans Hornets plight is one that every Suns fan can relate to. Sucking, then becoming a contender, and then sucking again. Going through a coaching change, etc. Of course the Hornets  descent from up-and-comers to down-and-outers was much shorter than the Suns. What in God's name happened to these guys? In 2008 the Hornets picked up 56 wins, and barely lost in the Western Conference Semifinals to the dreaded San Antonio Spurs. That team was 5th in the league in offense and 6th in the league in defense. That lineup included the youngster CP3, the up and comer David West, the tenacious Tyson Chandler, and Peja Stojakovic. On the bench was Pargo and Bonzi. That year they owned the Suns, taking all 4 of the match-ups.

But last year the Hornets were one and out in the playoffs. Tyson Chandler fought the injury bug. CP3's main target for assists was gone, leaving David West to shoulder the scoring burden, while the gimpy Peja Stojakovic and James Posey attempted to carry the offensive and defensive load.

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Ouch....(Photo by Max Simbron)

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Basketball-Reference.com Blog " Blog Archive " Nash Gunning For a Third MVP?
The Suns' performance so far has been both surprising and commendable, but the jury is still out on whether they can maintain it, because the best predictor of future results says they're not quite as good as their record says they are.

I have to agree with this....The Suns have played great but in many ways it's been done with hustle and grit and a bit of smoke and mirrors. I am no where near ready to say that the Suns can beat the Lakers, Spurs or Nuggets in a playoff series. And as GREAT as Nash has been he has tendency to slow down as the season wears on.

Enjoy the early season success but this ride will still be more roller coaster than rocket ship....

Now go prove me wrong, Phoenix Suns and keep winning!

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The 2009/10 Phoenix Suns have shown tremendous resiliency and mental toughness in their 10-2 start to the season. (Photo by Max Simbron)

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Gone are the days when the Suns ran teams off the court with high-paced fun and gun basketball. This version of the Phoenix Suns has already proven to be more versatile, mentally tough and resilient than any of the earlier Nash-era teams.

Asked before Sunday's game against the Raptors what his favorite part of this year's team is, Suns head coach Alvin Gentry quickly mentioned the teams resiliency. His favorite win up to that point wasn't the big upset over the Celtics at the Garden. He was impressed with his team coming from behind in Philadelphia on the last night of a long road trip. It was a game the team easily could have let go but they battled back and got the win.

Five times in ten wins the Suns have been trailing going into the fourth quarter and five times now the Suns have overcome double digit deficits to get the win. Obviously the Suns don't want to have to come from behind but what it shows about this team are a few things that have been missing in Phoenix for the past 5 years.

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More photos » by Bob Levey - AP

BACK WITH A BEARD AND A VENGEANCE! (AP Photo/Bob Levey)

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Be honest, did you think the Suns were going to pull this one out? Of course you did, because this team never quits. Tonight the Suns overcame a very slow start by outscoring the Houston Rockets 33-23 in the fourth quarter to win 111-105.

Tonight encapsulated the Suns season of a new hero every night. We could credit any of a number of players with the hero tag:

• Steve Nash with 16 assists
• Amare Stoudemire with 23 points
• Jason Richardson with 20 points
• Leandro Barbosa with a key block on an almost certain Chase "Air Bud" Budinger layup
• Jarron Collins with 6 big points and 6 big rebounds in place of the foul plagued Channing Frye
• Channing Frye with a huge 3 pointer before he fouled out to give the Suns a 5 point lead.

Or why not credit the whole Suns team? 10 players took the floor tonight, and 9 Suns had at least one rebound, and 7 players had at least 3 rebounds. The Suns tightened up the defense when it mattered, as usual this season, forcing the Rockets into jump shots down the stretch in the 4th quarter while containing Aaron Brooks and Carl Landry for their 10th win of the season. 

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JMZ bringing to you live from the Suns locker room...When getting done on the floor isn't enough, JD continues to hustle through the post-game interview session.

(Photo by Max Simbron)

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Note from Max: Sorry bout the delay guys, but I've been on a 5 day 9 game tear (plus my day gig). On a good note, I have shots of Gentry and some of the other coaches. I could probably do a Gentry only slideshow, there's happy, sad, angry, the whole 7 dwarves in there.

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Consider this your totally random question of the day.

After reading some comments about wanting Raja Bell back or not being able to get an early 2nd round draft pick that could have been used on Blair or Budinger, it got me thinking - just what are the biggest holes on the Suns roster?

Is it the back up point guard where the Dragic / Barbosa combination still leaves questions?

Is it the power forward depth where Lou is good but still....?

Or obviously is it at center where Robin Lopez has yet to play a game and is still a big "?"

In fact it is so obviously at back up Center that we will run this poll without that option.

The Suns bench has done more than cheer this season. Their play has allowed Phoenix to go 9 or 10 deep and has limited the minutes played by the starters leaving them fresh to close out games. (Photo by Max Simbron)

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The wonderful play of the Suns bench has been well documented and has lead to the Suns regularly playing 4 reserves (Barbosa, Dudley, Amundson and Dragic). With the pending return of Robin Lopez and the continued development of Earl Clark Gentry will easily be able to go 11 deep.

We've marveled at Jared's "athletic hands" and Lou's volleyball rejections but it is interesting to note how the depth of the Suns has impacted the minutes of the Suns starters.

Through 11 games the Sun with the most minutes per game is Amare Stoudemire at 34.5mpg which ranks 43rd in the NBA.The "aging" vets are even lower with 32.7 for Steve Nash and 30 for Grant Hill. This is the first time since the 1999/00 season that Nash is averaging under 33 minutes.

All this for a team that is 9-2 that has only played four times at home and has only had one two-day break between games so far.

While the Suns have looked flat on the second game of their three back-to-backs they've also managed to overcome double digit deficits four times and are holding teams to 41.6% shooting in the fourth quarter of their nine wins.

As further evidence for the benefit of being fresh there's this little fun fact from Paul Coro,

When trailing after three quarters, the Suns went 4-30 last year. They are 4-2 in that situation this season. And this is a team already on its eighth road game tonight.

Those are all signs of a rested team. Not once has Steve Nash had to play an entire fourth quarter and I can't even recall him entering the game with more than 8 minutes to go. Compare that to last season when the Suns often were forced to play Steve for the entire final period leaving him too gassed to perform late game heroics.

The depth is no surprise to Suns fans who understood that the bench was a strength of the team going into the season but the numbers are a bit startling when your top guy in minutes is only 43rd in the league.