Gentry: Won’t know until final games if playoff bound

It seemed like a long shot for the Phoenix Suns to make the postseason based on how they played in the first half of the season. But the Suns are 16-8 since the All-Star break and surging in an attempt to earn a playoff berth.

Suns coach Alvin Gentry said it’s going to come down to how the other teams in the Western Conference fare near the close of the regular season.

“I still don’t know what it’s going to take or what it’s going to do because you look at Utah still has games. We still have games with Utah,” Gentry told Arizona Sports 620’s Burns and Gambo.

As of Thursday, the Suns are 10th in Western Conference standings and need to get by the Jazz, who are ahead by half a game, to attain a playoff seed.

Utah has seven games left including match ups with New Orleans, Memphis, Dallas, Portland, Orlando and Phoenix.

But five of the seven teams on the Suns schedule are in the top eight in the Western Conference, and Phoenix is a combined 6-10 against them in previous meetings this season.

“I think we all know that it’s going to be a real tough situation,” Gentry said. “We have a game with Houston that obviously becomes like two games really, and the game in San Antonio becomes important.”

Oklahoma City and San Antonio are first and second in the West, respectively, and remain on the Phoenix’s schedule. Phoenix will also face the Nuggets, Clippers, Trail Blazers and Rockets.

“I don’t know really if you can tell what’s going to happen until the last couple of games of the season,” Gentry said.

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