Suns team goal: Play best at playoff time

Preaching patience as the Suns are doing these days is the antithesis of their on-court reputation.After all, they didn't attain their elite status by sitting back and waiting for the best shot.

But as they reinvent themselves somewhat while incorporating center Shaquille O'Neal, allowing time for cohesiveness is the logical approach.

"There's going to be a little bit of a transitional period, and we knew that," coach Mike D'Antoni said.

Now the questions are, how long will that transitional period be, and with the Western Conference as bunched up as it is, how long can Phoenix afford it to be?

"I think it's going to take us a lot of time to really find out how we can best complement each other," point guard Steve Nash said of himself and O'Neal. "I'm confident we'll come to some sort of understanding out there that's going to be very difficult to contend with."

While the Suns want to ensure they are playing their best basketball, and the best of anyone in the league when the playoffs arrive in two months, they can't sacrifice too many victories along the way.

The West is so competitive that Sunday's loss to Detroit dropped Phoenix from the second seed to the fifth. With the top nine teams in the conference separated by just 5 1/2 games coming into Monday, any loss can have a drastic effect on the standings.

The way D'Antoni sees it, attaining a high seed won't be the determining factor in how Phoenix fares in its quest for its first NBA title.

"If we come in fifth or sixth or eighth, so be it. We've just got to be ready when that moment (the postseason) hits," he said.

"We've had home court for a couple years, and it didn't help us at all. We would love to have it, but we have to be realistic. We changed our team up. We think we can win on any court. We have a good road record (17-10); we always have.

"We have people like Steve and Shaq and Grant (Hill). They're veterans. It would be better to play at home, but that's not a determining factor. Our factor is whether we're playing well when it's time to go."

O'Neal, who has won four rings, said he agrees with D'Antoni for the most part but believes the Suns need to be a top four seed.

"Whoever's playing the best basketball at a certain time is going to win," he said. "I think if we have some sort of home-court advantage, and I know we will, we'll be fine."

Recent history suggests Phoenix will have to grab one of the top three spots to win it all. Since the Chicago Bulls dynasty came to an end following the 1997-98 season, a team seeded lower than No. 3 has reached the NBA Finals twice, Dallas (No. 4) in 2005-06 and New York (No. 8) in the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season. Neither won.

Being a No. 1 seed, though, doesn't guarantee success. No top seeds have reached the Finals since San Antonio in 2003, and in the past nine years No. 1 seeds have won titles just as often as No. 2s and No. 3s, three times each.

Working against Phoenix in its push for a favorable seed is its remaining schedule is the third toughest (behind San Antonio and New Orleans) among West playoff contenders.

Additionally, of the 26 remaining games, 21 are vs. the West, against which the Suns are only 16-15, and 12 are vs. the conference's other playoff contenders, against which they are just 6-13.

The Suns aren't putting too much stock into those performances from the past, knowing that the ones in the future are the more important.

"By playoff time, I'll be well in tuned to what's going on," O'Neal said. "I'll be on the same page. That's why I'm not really worried.

"Once I master the offense like everyone else, we're going to be a dangerous team."

Tough road ahead

Of the top nine teams in the West, all of which were within 5 1/2 games of each other entering Monday, the Suns have the third toughest remaining schedule. Opponents' winning percentage does not include Monday's games.

Suns at Grizzlies

When: 6 p.m. today
Where: FedEx Forum, Memphis
TV: KUTP (Ch. 45)
Radio: KTAR (620 AM)
Records: Phoenix 38-18, Memphis 14-42
Line: Phoenix by 9
Series history: This is the first of three meetings this season. Phoenix has won five straight and leads 35-11 all time, including 15-7 on the road.

Scouting report:

Suns

Phoenix is 1-2 since Shaquille O'Neal joined the lineup, but those three games were against the top three teams in the league (Boston, Detroit and the Los Angeles Lakers). O'Neal is averaging 8.7 points and 11.3 rebounds in purple and orange. The Suns are looking to erase the taste of their worst loss in nearly two years against a team they haven't lost to in more than two years. Phoenix, which also plays Wednesday, is 10-1 in the first of back-to-back games. It has been held to under 90 points the past two games and is now 3-9 when it fails to reach triple digits.

Grizzlies

Memphis has lost five straight, scored fewer than 90 points in four of those games and is 1-9 in its past 10. The Grizzlies, who had a fire sale around the trading deadline, start an all-rookie backcourt. Point guard Mike Conley, the No. 4 overall pick, leads all first-year players with 4.6 assists and is also averaging 10.3 points in the 20 games he has started. Forward Rudy Gay leads the team in scoring (20 ppg) and is the only player to rank in the top 25 in dunks and 3-point field-goals made. Ex-Sun Casey Jacobsen is averaging 2 points in 36 games this season. Former Suns assistant Marc Iavaroni is in his first season as coach.