History has proven the NBA season in many ways is like science lab.
Rarely do all the components immediately blend together in harmony.
Actually, more often than not, parts become highly combustible.
The Phoenix Suns’ main scientists: general manager Ryan McDonough and head coach Jeff Hornacek knew adding high-scoring guard Isaiah Thomas to an already crowded backcourt could be a tricky and delicate balancing act.
Through the first two months of the season at times it was as Thomas vented about his minutes and role in the offense as Phoenix sputtered to a six-game losing streak in early December.
But the new calendar year has brought a bit of prosperity for the Suns (26-18), who are 8-2 in 2015 and riding a four-game win-streak heading into Friday night’s showdown against James Harden and the Houston Rockets.
Along the way the trio of Thomas, Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe have learned to not only play with one another, but off each other as well as Hornacek has gone stretches with all three guards on the floor together.
“The three guard set is good,” Suns television analyst Eddie Johnson explained to Sports360AZ.com’s Brad Cesmat in a recent phone interview. “It has more good days than bad. If you’re the Suns you don’t want to mess up something that’s going good most of the time.”
Johnson knows, despite the current streak, Phoenix still sits in the eighth and final playoff slot in the Western Conference and right now, is far from being a contender among the heavyweights ahead of them.
So don’t be surprised to see McDonough make a move or two for the stretch run of the season as the Suns look to increase their visibility in the standings before the post season.
“I don’t expect the Suns to be quiet at all through this whole process,” Johnson explained to Cesmat. “They’re going to continue to try and tweak and see if they can get this team back to the level we saw during the Steve Nash years…that’s the success this city sees and they remember.”
Phoenix is about to embark on one of their toughest stretches of games over the next two weeks.
We’ll have to wait and see what the scientists come up with.
