Against the Utah Jazz on Wednesday, in a game that had big seeding implications for both teams, the Suns looked like a supremely confident squad, cruising to a 100-86 win in Salt Lake City and locking up the number-three seed and home-court advantage for at least the first round of the playoffs.
The Jazz walked away from the loss with the fifth seed and will face the Denver Nuggets on the road Saturday.
On Wednesday night in Utah, Amar'e Stoudemire led the way for the Suns with 20 points and seven rebounds in just 32 minutes, and Steve Nash had 11 assists in just 28 minutes. With the game in hand, Coach Alvin Gentry gave the Suns bench mop-up duty, with five second-teamers playing at least 19 minutes each and three of them (Goran Dragic, Jared Dudley, and Channing Frye) scoring in double digits.