The Suns can accomplish simultaneous victories Thursday, one against the Warriors and one in the standings.

If Phoenix can beat Golden State, they will climb to 25-25, the first time they have achieved a .500 record since Dec. 15 at 12-12.

Suns center Channing Frye said reaching .500 would be nice but the ultimate goal is the playoffs.

“We’re not throwing a party or nothing for it, we should have been at .500 a long time ago but stuff happens and we lost some games we shouldn’t have lost,” Frye said.

“For us, we’re just trying to get to our goal and that’s making the playoffs.”

Suns guard Grant Hill echoed Frye’s thoughts.

“It seems like we’ve improved and we’re starting to play a lot better,” Hill said.

“We’ll see but I don’t think it’s a mental block or anything of that nature, we’re not going to do fireworks if we win tomorrow night.”

This will be the Suns second meeting with the Warriors in less than a week, after a 104-92 win in Oakland.

“It’s a tough thing to beat a team twice though, so it will be a good challenge for us tomorrow night and I’m sure they’ll be up for it,” Suns point guard Steve Nash said.

Nash scored 14 in the first meeting along with 15 assists while Frye put up 19 points and 11 rebounds.

The Suns will have to contain a talented Warriors back court, featuring Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry, who combined for 36 points, 13 assists and 14 rebounds against Phoenix last week.

Frye also said rebounding and post play will be important in the game Thursday.

Suns head coach Alvin Gentry joked about striving for .500 but also said he recognized the importance of making the playoffs.

“What does that mean? If we were 2-2, would you guys be talking about being .500? We just have got to continue to win at home and obviously we’ve got a mountain to climb to get in the playoffs.”

Sports 620 KTAR’s Craig Grialou contributed to this report

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