By Randy Hill
FOXSportsArizona.com
Dec. 22, 2010
After shaking the boxes for a couple of days, Alvin Gentry will be allowed to unwrap a couple of his presents two days before Christmas.
With a limited schematic at his disposal, we'll see if the Phoenix Suns coach can put enough of the pieces in place before the Grinchy ol' Miami Heat visit Thursday night for a nationally televised party.
"It's a great challenge," Gentry, the Suns' head coach, said of taking on a Miami team that's also scheduled to slug it out with the Lakers in Los Angeles on Christmas Day. "These are the teams you can use as something of a measuring stick."
Or something of an ugly stick.
When the Suns and Heat squared off in Miami last month, the team from Phoenix was treated to a 123-96 annihilation. Since then, Miami has experienced a losing skid that provoked finger-wagging around the league, a players-only meeting and an affirming 12-game winning streak that ended Monday when the Dallas Mavericks came to South Florida.
The Suns, meanwhile, engaged in a convincing stagger through mediocrity that inspired their leadership to enlist the Orlando Magic in a joint do-over built around Hedo Turkoglu.
Two of the three gifts from Orlando
