PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns' family of sponsors includes the Arizona Lottery, which has a very familiar and effective marketing pitch:
"You can't win if you don't play."
For the past year or so, the Suns' unintentional itinerary has included the NBA Draft Lottery, an event that could be summed up with a slightly different battle cry:
"You can play if you don't win."
The Suns seem to be having a difficult time reserving a space in the draft lottery. With Wednesday night's 120-111 victory over the Utah Jazz, the Suns now are 6-2 since the All-Star break and slowly crawling up the Western Conference playoff-seeding ladder.
But they also gave us Monday's nuclear joust with the Minnesota Timberwolves (a 127-124 defeat), which served as another memorable and bitter home loss. We all remember those visits by the New Orleans Hornets, New Jersey Nets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Toronto Raptors and Golden State Warriors, right?
By beating the Jazz in the first stage of a back-to-back-to-back, the Suns are 20-22, pulling them into a 10th-place tie with Utah and a half-game ahead of the staggering Portland Trail Blazers, who spent Wednesday night getting clubbed by the Knicks in New York. The ninth-place T-wolves are a modest 22-21, and the co-stars for the seventh seed -- Dallas and Houston -- are a not-too-distant 24-20.
A Thursday night date with the Clippers in Los Angeles will precede homers vs. the Detroit Pistons (Friday) and Houston Rockets (Sunday). If the Suns are to continue irritating those followers who prefer stacking up losses to secure a more favorable draft position, making hay for the rest of this week is crucial.
Next week, if you hadn't noticed, may be a bit dicey. In a four-day span, the Suns will be in Miami, Orlando and Indianapolis. The road swing ends two nights later in Cleveland.
"It's a road trip against really good teams," Suns guard Jared Dudley said after knocking in 21 points against the Jazz. "You can't look too far ahead, but we know we've got it cut out for us."
To continue their modest surge in the standings, they'll have to cut out some defensive lapses that have been brutally apparent the last two games. Against Utah, a 20-3 Jazz run left Phoenix with a 13-point, first-half deficit that now seems like standard operating procedure during their recent success at home.
"Defensively, we have to get back to what we were doing," Suns coach Alvin Gentry said. "That is just way too many points in the paint."
Well, yeah. Even though Phoenix managed 52 paint points of its own, that was a dozen fewer than Gentry's team surrendered to Utah. Aside from slow rotation and recovery out of their semi-blitz tactic in screen-roll (although Utah sets relatively few ball screens), the simple act of stopping dribble penetration has been a problem.
"Don't get me wrong . . . we love the win, but for us we have to get back to doing a better job controlling the paint more, and we had too many points off of turnovers," he said.
"The last two games have been a little alarming."
Now let's look at the bright side. The last two games have produced an offensive average of 122 points and 54 percent shooting. Wednesday's 56 percent marksmanship included a 10-for-18 performance from Channing Frye, who dropped five of 10 from 3-point range, finishing with a game-high 26 points and 9 rebounds. Center Marcin Gortat, who had a nightmare game Monday, was resurrected by Utah's inability to handle the Suns' pick-and-roll, making 10 of 12 shots from the field (and missing half of his 10 free throws) to contribute 25 points.
So . . . what gives?
"Guys are being more unselfish," Dudley said. "Guys are looking to people when they're hot. It takes a while for a team building chemistry."
And it doesn't hurt that Utah aimed so little defensive pressure at Steve Nash in these screen-roll situations. With Nash (16 assists, 12 points) turning the corner at will, Utah's help defenders were stuck in long, guess-inspired rotations. When they moved to take away Gortat on the roll or slip, Grant Hill -- flashing to the opposite elbow as a pressure release -- was able to find Dudley or Frye loitering on the perimeter. When they stayed home on shooters, Hill had the option of going to Gortat.
Nash had four dimes in the opening quarter working against Jazz point guard Devin Harris. But Harris left for good after earning a technical foul at 10:35 of the third quarter. Backup Earl Watson already was a goner with an ankle sprain, leaving the task of chasing Nash to Jamaal Tinsley . . . and Tinsley rarely is confused with Gary Payton.
"You know when you've got two or three guys (scoring) in the twenties," Frye said, "I think it's a sign of Steve diming that thing, and we're playing very unselfish. Without (Gortat) rolling, I wouldn't get no shots."
Utah forward Paul Millsap offered this perspective from the losing locker room.
"It's tough because they spread you out," the Jazz power forward said. "They have four guys on the wing, and if not, then Gortat is driving down the lane. You got to pick and choose your timing and see who you want to let get off at the time."
On Wednesday, it was pretty much everybody.
