52-28, 2 days ago the Utah Jazz, Denver Nuggets and the Phoenix Suns were all deadlocked with this record; tied for 3rd place in the wild Western Conference. The Denver Nuggets were able to break this tie by defeating the Memphis Grizzlies Monday night. However, the Nuggets luck in terms of scheduling ends there, as they had to fly into Phoenix yesterday to face the Suns. The Suns were able to easily vanquish the Denver Nuggets 123-101. This appropriately has left the Phoenix Suns vs. Utah Jazz as a duel for 3rd place in the Western Conference. As I have mentioned in previous blogs, this would prevent the team from having to face the Los Angeles Lakers until the Western Conference Finals. This 3rd position was highly coveted by all 3 of the aforementioned teams to say the least. Of course, there are scenarios for all of the 3 teams to fluctuate from the 3 to 5 seed in the playoffs. However, the only important scenario for the Suns is the same as Adrian Balboa said in Rocky 2 as she came out of her coma to Rocky “win”.

Winning the 3rd seed would also allow the Suns to likely draw the injury riddled Blazers in the opening round of the playoffs. This should be an easier series now that Brandon Roy is likely out for the postseason and will require surgery on a torn meniscus. Rumor has it that Roy wants to play on anyway. This on the surface seems heroic, however if the Blazers value their future, they will not let him out of a nice suit on the bench. Athletes who are injured already tend to place a lot of stress on the rest of their body often leading to additional injuries. I would understand this if they were in the NBA Finals already, however for the 1st round of the playoffs no way.

The Suns got a little bit of bad news today as Robin Lopez will not be ready for the 1st round of the playoffs. I guess the good news in this scenario is that he did not need another epidural and will be re-examined in 1 week.

Tonight the Suns face the Utah Jazz. Carlos Boozer is questionable for tonight’s game after straining his right ribcage. Boozer was taken to the locker room for X-rays at the start of the second quarter and didn’t return. He declined to comment as he slowly left the locker room, but gave a statement to the team.”I’ve got a sharp pain in my right side under my ribcage,” he said. “I will have an MRI (Wednesday) to see what it is. It happened at the end of the first quarter. I didn’t get hit. It just happened.” This is more good news for the Suns as he is a perennial thorn in their sides. This also leaves a significant match-up problem for the Jazz guarding Amar’e Stoudemire. Paul Milsap will likely start in Boozer’s place. Milsap is a solid player but will have a tough time dealing with Amar’e's quickness when he faces him up.

There has been some assertion in the local media here that the Suns should tank tonight’s game to eliminate any possibility of facing the Spurs in round 1. I think this is a horrible idea on multiple fronts. First and foremost, losing tonight could slow all the momentum the Suns have been building up over the last couple of weeks. In addition, as I pointed out earlier, the 4 seed would mean the Lakers in the 2nd round if we were able to get by the Nuggets in round 1. I say bring on the Spurs! It is time the Suns get past their nemesis on their way to a prolonged playoff run.