Bell's shooting, defense vital in Suns title hopes

Steve Nash is the playmaker. Amaré Stoudemire is the scorer. Shaquille O’Neal is the presence. Leandro Barbosa is the speed.

But when it comes to whether the Suns finally can break through in the Western Conference this season, is Raja Bell the difference?

Coach Mike D’Antoni frequently calls Bell the heart and soul of the Suns. But more than any other player, he is also their pulse and rhythm. When Phoenix is running and the ball is dancing from hand to hand, Bell winds up shooting more and scoring more while the Suns go from formidable to almost unbeatable.

When Bell reaches 20 points, the Suns are 11-0 this year. And during the last 13 games — as Phoenix has regained its mojo while working O’Neal into the offense — Bell is shooting 49.3 percent from 3-point range (compared with 37.2 percent over the first 50 games). The Suns are 10-3 during that span and are edging up to Golden State in the race for the league scoring lead (110.5-110.3 points per game).

“When he’s shooting the ball, it’s so good for our team,” Nash said. “We need him on the floor for his defense, we always make money on that deal. But when he’s hitting his shots, he’s a different player and we’re a different team.

“When he’s physically healthy and feeling good, we’re hard to beat.”

But keeping Bell healthy hasn’t been easy. He went down in the 2006 Western Conference finals with a calf injury, then limped through last year’s playoffs on a right knee that required surgery in the offseason.

He’s played in 68 of Phoenix’s 75 games this season, but a series of ankle sprains and accompanying back problems have had him gutting through more than a third of the games. The last sprain, two weeks ago in Seattle, looked at first like it might be the worst, but Bell missed only one game.

“We don’t play well because I’m scoring, I score because we’re playing well,” Bell said. “We also win games when I score three points. We can do it. But those nights when defenses can’t lock in on one or two guys and the outside shots are there in rhythm — that’s when things start to come for me.”

Bell also admits that he’s such a perfectionist that a few bad moments can snowball into a bad game — two bad shots can lead to poor defense, and vice-versa — and that his own personal rhythm is as important as the team’s vibe.

“The better we’re playing, the more I look to shoot. I’m not the kind of guy who can shoot us out of trouble,” he said.

Even if he never made a shot, the Suns couldn’t survive without their best defender. They certainly wouldn’t have even considered trading Shawn Marion for O’Neal without the confidence that Bell could step up against the league’s toughest small forwards as well as shooting guards. It was a task Bell wasn’t pleased with or excited about at first, but one he’s accepted and excelled at — while making new friends.

After holding Denver’s Carmelo Anthony to six second-half points Monday while the Suns rallied from 22 points down to win, Anthony induced a scuffle in the rematch Tuesday, leading to double technical fouls and, seconds later, Bell’s ejection.

“Carmelo came up to me and told me he was going to knock my teeth out of my mouth and I told him it wasn’t going to happen,” Bell said. “That’s where the (double technicals) came from. Then they threw the ball in and he posted me up again and I wanted to let him know I was still there, so I gave him a stiff arm (to the back) and took a foul.

“I looked at Amaré and we both started laughing. Ejection was the last thing from my mind. I know the games when I have had a dialogue with the referees and I’m teetering on the danger zone, but I didn’t say two words to the refs all night.”

Bell said the Suns have to get away from engaging the officials, which has led to 11 technical fouls in the last three games and 26 in the 23 games since O’Neal joined the team.

“We have to get back to playing ball,” he said. “Sometimes it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. You think you’re not going to get a call and when you don’t get it, you start crying about it and the refs don’t want to hear that. They have a hard-enough job to do. We have to be more professional, stop crying and play ball.

“You’re not going to be able to avoid it sometimes — if someone tells me they’re going to knock my teeth out, I’ll take the ‘T’ 100 out of 100 times — but the complaining stuff has to stop.”

BONUS SHOTS: Grant Hill was able to go through a full practice Thursday — including 30 to 45 minutes of scrimmaging and he expects to play tonight. The time off was good not only for his groin injury but his sprained thumb, since he was able to practice without a brace for the first time in three weeks. Hill missed the last three games due to the groin. ...

Kenyon Martin’s slap to the face of Boris Diaw on Tuesday wound up costing the Denver forward a one-game suspension, which he will serve Saturday when the Nuggets play Sacramento. Martin’s Flagrant I foul (costing him one “point”) gave him five flagrant points for the season, which results in an automatic suspension. Martin now faces one-game suspensions for each additional flagrant foul. ... This week’s “NBA Access with Ahmad Rashad (1:05 a.m. Monday on Channel 15) will feature a look at Shaquille O’Neal and his acclimation to Arizona — both on and off the court.

Timberwolves at Suns

When: 7 p.m. today

Where: US Airways Center

Radio: KTAR (620 AM)

TV: Fox Sports Net Arizona

Records: T-Wolves 19-55; Suns 50-25

Series history: The Suns lead the overall series 47-26 and have won nine of the past 13 meetings, but the T-Wolves have won two of three this season, both in Minnesota.

Scouting report:

T-Wolves – Minnesota has the third-worst record in the NBA and it isn’t likely to get much better with five of their last eight games on the road. The T-Wolves have some nice wins this season, including two over the Suns and an upset of Utah Sunday in Minnesota. But on the road, the T-Wolves are a league-worst 5-31 and they are 13-35 against the West. Al Jefferson is one of only four players in the league averaging 20 points and 10 rebounds. Randy Foye (11.6 ppg) will face the Suns for the first time after missing half the season with a stress reaction in his left patella.

 Suns – The Suns have won 10 of their past 13 and six straight at home, but need to keep winning to have a shot at home-court advantage in the playoffs and will have Grant Hill (groin, wrist) back tonight. They have had two nights off, but tonight starts another stretch of five games in eight days. Hill was named the Pacific Division winner of the annual NBA Sportsmanship Award. Hill won the award in 2005.