Not Enough

The Suns fired coach Terry Porter after an All-Star weekend that saw Shaquille O'Neal share All-Star Game MVP honors with Kobe Bryant. Shaq tallied 17 points in only 11 minutes. Whether that's enough to be considered for MVP is certainly questionable, but maybe the fact that the game was played in Phoenix helped Shaq get a few votes.

With new coach Alvin Gentry at the helm, the Suns stormed out with impressive wins over the Clippers (140-100 and 142-119) and Oklahoma City (140-118) before being brought back down to earth at Boston, where they were pummeled 128-108. They followed that by winning two out of three, then upset the Lakers Sunday, 118-111.

That win against the Lakers is their only win against a half-way decent team since February 8th, when they won at Detroit, 107-97.

I'm impressed that they've been able to win a few without Steve Nash. I'm impressed that Shaq scored 45 against Toronto and followed that up with 33 against the Lakers.

I like that, from the free-throw line, Shaq shot 65.9% in December, 67.7% in January, and 62.7% in February. Great shooting, by his standards.

I didn't like that Shaq's 11 rebounds against Miami were offset by Shawn Marion's 11, and that the Big Fellah still averages under 9 per game. He only managed to pull down 7 boards in 35 minutes in the win against the Lakers.

I don't like that despite going 6-2 since the All-Star break, the Suns remain 13.5 games behind the Lakers in the Pacific Division, and 2 games behind Dallas for the 8th and final spot in the Western Conference playoffs.

There seems to be a glimmer of hope, but a look at the big picture indicates it'll be a case of "too little, too late." The next six games will tell a lot. Phoenix faces a four-game road trip, with trips to Orlando, Miami, Houston, and San Antonio. Then they return home to face Dallas and Cleveland.

Success during this stretch could put them into position to make the playoffs. But these six upcoming games are all against teams with winning records; 5 of the Suns' 6 wins since the All-Star break have come against the Clippers (twice), Oklahoma City, Charlotte, and Toronto. All bad teams.

The Suns' playoff chances still seem quite remote.