Suns believe they can run all the way to the Finals

	Since Steve Nash arrived in Phoenix in 2004, Mike D'Antoni has won 73 percent of the games he's coached with the Suns. Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images

Also in this column:
• Defending Kobe's suspension
• Best quotes of the year -- so far
• Bright spot for hapless Celtics

The numbers are staggering. Two winning streaks of at least 15 games. A 20-1 record against the Eastern Conference. An 8½-game lead in the Pacific Division. A winning percentage of .800.

By any measure, the Phoenix Suns are blazing a trail through the 2006-07 season that few teams have ever traversed.

But as daunting as the arrival of Steve Nash and his running partners are in an opponent's locker room, the challenge the Suns face in graduating from regular-season carnival act to NBA champion is equally onerous. For all that the Suns have dazzled under coach Mike D'Antoni's European-flavored run-and-gun system -- leading the league in scoring for the third consecutive season, winning at a pace that could secure homecourt advantage throughout the Western Conference playoffs for the second time in three years -- Phoenix has to prove its style can win in June. Indeed, the past two seasons have seen the Suns stopped in the conference finals by the Spurs and Mavericks, respectively. Further, the recent body of NBA evidence doesn't lead one to conclude titles are won with flash.

Over the last three campaigns, defense has won the day. The Pistons of 2003-04 and the Spurs of '04-05 each led the league in scoring defense en route to the trophy, while last season's Heat team was second in that category in the playoffs.

D'Antoni, now in his fourth season in the desert, believes a win in the Finals isn't a matter of style as much as timing.

"Two years ago the geniuses said this system wouldn't work through December," D'Antoni said. "Then [after a 62-win regular season] it was, 'It's definitely not going to work in the playoffs,' and that Memphis would sweep us. Well, we swept them. Then it was, 'It's not going to work against Dallas.' Well, we beat them 4-2. Then it was, 'It won't work the next year without Amaré [Stoudemire]'. Well, it did work. So now until we win the Finals, it will be, 'Well, it doesn't work in the Finals.'

"Give me a break. It doesn't work in the Finals because there are other great teams and other great players. If we hit the right shots and get lucky, we can win it all."

Every champion needs its steppingstone, every Bulls needs its Pistons. But the Suns face a conference with a host of accomplished rivals -- three alone in Texas -- every bit as talented as D'Antoni's group. And unlike an entire conference of Eastern teams too bogged down by its own inconsistent play to slow down the Suns, the West's likely playoff participants know this Phoenix team like a next-door neighbor. And if this season's results are any measure, it appears they want the lawn mower back; the Suns entered Thursday's matchup with San Antonio a combined 0-6 against the Mavs, Spurs, Jazz and Lakers.

Truth be told, though, all but one of the losses came in the opening weeks of the season, when Phoenix was getting reacquainted with Stoudemire after the 24-year-old big man missed all but three games in '05-06 while recuperating from microfracture knee surgery. His presence, and return to playing 31 minutes a game, has given Phoenix a boost defensively, helping the Suns rank 13th in the league in defensive field-goal percentage, an improvement from 17th last season. That growth has been obscured, though, by the Suns' fast pace, which provides both teams more chances to score, and hence, more points.