Gentry ‘optimistic’ about Suns playoff chances
Feb 29, 2012, 2:47 AM | Updated: 3:02 am
Five teams. Four games. That’s what separates the Suns from returning to the playoffs after a one year absence.
“I’m going to be optimistic,” head coach Alvin Gentry said Tuesday after the team’s first practice since the All-Star break. “I’m going to think we’ve got a chance all the way up until the time where they put that ‘X’ by our name and say ‘eliminated from playoffs’.”
The playoff push begins in earnest Thursday against Minnesota.
The Suns will practice once more before then, marking the first time since the season started Steve Nash and his teammates will be on the practice court at US Airways Center on back-to-back days.
“We just want to try to make all the improvements we possibly can to give ourselves a chance to get back in it,” Nash said.
Those chances would improve dramatically if the Suns can improve their play at home, something Gentry has harped on since day one.
“I say that and we probably play better on the road then we have at home,” Gentry stated.
The Suns are 7-9 at home. Only New Orleans (3-14) has a worse home mark among Western Conference teams. Together, they are the only teams out west with sub-.500 records at home.
The Suns play nine of their next 11 games in downtown Phoenix.
“You’ve got to think,” said Gentry, “that at some stage—we’ve always done that here where you can win five, six, seven games in a row. And if you do that and you’re back at five-hundred then I think all of a sudden you are in the mix.
“Until we’re eliminated,” he continued, “until we’re mathematically eliminated, I’m going to always think that there’s a way that we can make the playoffs.”
The Suns have not missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons since they failed to do so for three seasons in a row from 1986-1988.
