[Chron] Suns don't fear flying in playoffs

PHOENIX - For a moment, Robert Sarver had to put down his big foam finger and whatever courage was in his cup.

Sarver, the Suns' boisterous incoming owner, got up from his courtside seat, faced the Spurs' bench and flapped his bent arms chicken style, mocking San Antonio for holding Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili out from Wednesday's showdown.

Sarver explained later he was just disappointed to have had the last regular-season meeting of the NBA's best teams deflated.

But he might as well have been mocking the entire league, acting the fool with the comforting knowledge its most irrepressible force was standing behind him.

Say what you will. Others have before, and the Suns have heard it all. They don't defend. They don't rebound. They run, and playoff teams walk.

But you won't see any team looking forward to running with them when the playoffs begin.

Cue Sarver's chicken act.

"Everybody can say we don't run plays and we don't play defense and we won't be able to run in the playoffs," forward Shawn Marion said. "But in the playoffs ... we'll still be able to run. We'll be able to do what we do. We run on made shots, missed shots, turnovers and anything else that happens on the court. You can't stop that."

This is the way the Suns think these days. If they win 66 games, they would have the NBA's greatest single-season turnaround ever. That would require their winning 19 of the season's remaining 21 games (beginning tonight against the Rockets), but if asked, they would likely believe that, too, is in reach.

Without question, they believe the league's best record — they are tied at No. 1 with the Spurs at 47-14 — and championship can be theirs.


The will to win
" 'You can't do it in the playoffs. You can't do it against this or that team,' " Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said. "To me, it's all focus. You can do it if you have the will to do it."

The Suns seem to have the will to do it their way, as if that too is part of their challenge. They are the league's most prolific offensive team, averaging 110.7 points per game. But no top-scoring team has won a championship, or reached the Finals, since the 1996-97 Bulls.

"I've heard it all," Amare Stoudemire said. "We're a fast-break team. That's what we are. We've got guys that can get up and down the court so fast and score so quickly; that makes us a threat. Sometimes by being so offensive-minded, it takes away from our defense a bit. Once we get both of those down pat, we can be a great team."

The Suns are without question great at what they do. By moving Stoudemire to center, D'Antoni could play Marion at power forward, where he is fourth in the NBA in rebounding and too quick for most power forwards to catch. It also allowed D'Antoni to get Joe Johnson, second in 3-point shooting accuracy, on the court with Quentin Richardson, providing all kinds of spacing for Steve Nash to penetrate and create and for Stoudemire and Marion to cut to the rim to finish plays Nash starts.

Then, with the league's youngest team at the start of the season, the Suns added veterans Jim Jackson, Bo Outlaw and Walter McCarty and created a mix somehow grounded and high-flying at the same time.

"It's a talented group to play with," said Nash, who has become an MVP candidate for bringing it all together. "That makes it fun for me. They're good kids. They're talented guys. To see them improve and see them flourish is extremely rewarding for me."

Phoenix is so good at what it does that Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy, who has taken polar-opposite teams to the playoffs and Finals, said the Suns' style can work. They make 48.1 percent of their shots, second best in the league. And for all their pace and number of possessions per game, they average just 14.6 turnovers, sixth best in the league.

"If they tried to play different and more conventional, they wouldn't win near as much," Van Gundy said. "If they're not successful, it won't be because of their style. It will be because they got beat by a team that played better. But their style is sound. They get good shots. They take care of the ball."


Defense coming along
Even defensively, where the Suns give up more points than any other team in the NBA, they are 15th in field-goal percentage and second in 3-point percentage. And no team fouls less.

"We have a long way to go as far as improving defensively," Jackson said. "We have our negative moments like any other team. But we can hide them really well with how we play offensively.

"We're tied for the best record in the league. I think we are the best team in the league."

The Suns still have to prove that. But until then, they and their future owner will dare anyone to say they can't.

"We just have to keep playing our game," Marion said. "We're going to keep going out there and doing our thing."

jonathan.feigen@chron.com


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Rockets Summary
RESOURCES
TODAY: ROCKETS AT PHOENIX SUNS
• Suns update: The Suns struggled but beat the Spurs — playing without Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili — on Wednesday to tie San Antonio for the best record in the NBA. ... Quentin Richardson suffered a slight concussion Wednesday but is expected to play.
• The Suns must: Get in the open court. The Rockets' half-court defense was excellent against Dallas and in the second half against Seattle, but the Suns can put up numbers on anyone.
• Rockets update: The Rockets got what they needed to play the Suns: a travel day of rest, a day of practice and the likely return of Bob Sura. ... They will have their ability to stop playmaking penetration tested and also will be tested by the huge quickness advantages of Amare Stoudemire at center and Shawn Marion at power forward.
• The Rockets must: Rebound and take care of the ball. The Suns take off as soon as the ball changes hands. The Rockets can slow the break by hitting the offensive boards.
• Check out: The matchup of Amare Stoudemire and Yao Ming.
JONATHAN FEIGEN

Sura to start
Rockets guard Bob Sura was told Thursday he would be activated from the injured list today. He will start tonight against the Suns, but Sura said it would not be quite accurate to say he was told of that decision.

"I told him," Sura said of Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy. "That's more how it went.

"I did OK (at Thursday's practice). The conditioning leaves a little bit to be desired, but I feel OK. It should be all right. I've been out three weeks. I lost some of my timing. But it will be fine. I got a couple practices in and did some work, so I'll be OK."

Van Gundy said Moochie Norris would be moved to the injured list to make room for Sura on the active roster.

"He did fine," Van Gundy said of Sura's Thursday practice. "He'll start."


Parting words
Jim Jackson insisted he was no longer upset to have been traded by the Rockets, saying, "It is a part of history now. I just moved on." He added that he doesn't have extra incentive tonight against his former team.

But when it was suggested the Rockets have improved since the trade and that his own situation has improved since he moved to the Suns, Jackson said the trade had nothing to do with the Rockets' turnaround. The Rockets were 12-14 when they dealt Jackson and Bostjan Nachbar to New Orleans for David Wesley, 10-14 in games in which Jackson played.

"It's true they're playing better, but I don't think it's the trade," Jackson said. "I think Bobby (Sura) got healthy. When I was there, Bobby was not completely healthy, and Charlie (Ward) was out. Bobby played better as his back got better, and the team played better. I don't think it was the trade.

"If you look at Bobby's production before the trade and after the trade, Bobby was more productive after the trade because he was feeling better."

JONATHAN FEIGEN

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