As speculation about Mike D’Antoni’s job security has increased the last few days, this is what we’ve heard from Suns owner Robert Sarver and general manager Steve Kerr: Nothing.

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They haven’t rushed to D’Antoni’s defense or offered assurances that he’ll return next year.

Instead, Kerr publicly countered D’Antoni’s belief that the Suns’ offense was to blame for the losses in Games 1 and 2.

Broadcaster Tom Chambers, a team employee, went on the radio and questioned D’Antoni’s tactics.

And there have been whispers within the organization that D’Antoni has been out-coached by San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich.

All of which means one thing:

Tonight’s Game 5 against the Spurs may be D’Antoni’s final act as the Suns’ coach.

As I’ve said before, I hope that’s not the case.

D’Antoni is not only one of the classiest men I’ve ever met in professional sports, but two Western Conference Finals appearances and three straight Pacific Division titles should protect a coach from the pink slip.

Does D’Antoni need to do a better job developing young players so they can contribute in the postseason? Absolutely. Does defense need to be a greater priority? Definitely.

But let’s not forget that D’Antoni’s record over the past four seasons is 233-95, and he might be a championship coach today if not for the suspensions of Amaré Stoudemire and Boris Diaw in the playoffs last year.

How do you fire a coach with that kind of résumé?

“Why is it a players’ league until you lose, and then it becomes a coaches’ league?” said ABC/ESPN analyst and former coach Jeff Van Gundy. “To me, more than a players’ league, it’s a 'who picks the players’ league? I love Steve Kerr and I think he’s done a good job in a short time. But was it Mike D’Antoni who decided Joe Johnson shouldn’t be here for 5 million dollars more? He’s a very good player who would fit very well here. He’d give them versatility, give them a backup point guard.

“I think it’s unfair that when you lose, it becomes a coaches’ league and the coach’s fault.”

Maybe so, but there’s no question D’Antoni’s job is on the line.

Want to know why?

Because if it weren’t, wouldn’t Kerr just say so?

D’Antoni, as you might imagine, is angered by the rising tide of opinion against him. He told The Sporting News that the talk “more than ticks me off,” and when asked Monday about the criticism leveled at him, he said, “I don’t want to talk about it,” and walked away.

You have to understand how radical a departure that is for D’Antoni. He is the most accessible coach I’ve encountered in my 20-plus years in the business. He will take a reporter’s calls day or night and will answer every last question fired at him, even on the worst of days.

For him to brush off a reporter speaks to his frustration and resentment.

“I’d be ticked off, too,” said Dan D’Antoni, Mike’s assistant and older brother.

Dan D’Antoni believes his brother is being unfairly maligned, both in terms of strategy and expectations.

“Reporters and people who see games, they see snippets and try to paint the picture,” Dan D’Antoni said. “If you get it right, you were lucky. Most often, you got it wrong.

“Mike is a hell of a coach, but the expectations here are to win a championship, which is probably arrogance to begin with. Championships are very difficult, and you have to be very lucky and very fortunate to get them. It’s an impossible standard. ...

“You have to look at whether a coach is doing his job, are the players playing hard for him, does he come out and work hard, do they play basketball the way it ought to be played? Then you judge him. And if you do that, any knowledgeable person will tell you Mike does one hell of a job.

“But if they want to set the standard at an impossible level and criticize, so be it.”

Dan D’Antoni isn’t alone in his belief that his brother deserves better than the shots being taken at him.

“I’ve been around a lot of guys, a lot of coaches, and he is the right guy,” Shaquille O’Neal said. “He is an excellent, excellent man. He has a great rapport with the players. ...

“There are a lot of teams that have never gotten over the hump. ... I think Mike D is the guy for the job. Luckily, I’ve been on four championship teams with some great Hall of Fame coaches. I’ve got to put Mike D in that category.

“It’s never the coach. It’s always the players.”

But the Suns can’t fire the entire roster if they’re eliminated by the Spurs.

And they’re so squeezed by the salary cap that it’s unlikely they can make any major offseason moves to improve the team.

Sarver and Kerr, then, are left with this question:

Do they believe Mike D’Antoni can lead the Suns to a championship?

If they do, they need to let him off the hook by publicly expressing their faith in him moving forward.

And if they don’t?

Well, their silence says something, doesn’t it?