Phoenix, AZ (Sports Network) -
The playoffs are likely a foregone conclusion for the Phoenix Suns, who resume a season-long seven-game homestand tonight against the Western Conference's worst team, the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Suns improved to 2-2 on their latest residency on Sunday when Amare Stoudemire scored 36 points, pulled down 12 rebounds and sank all 14 of his free throw attempts, as Phoenix ran past the New Orleans Hornets, 120-106.
Jason Richardson had 20 points, while Steve Nash tallied 13 points and 12 assists as the Suns won for the ninth time in 12 contests and moved a half-game ahead of San Antonio, into sixth place in the West.
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Losing starts at the top
By John McMullen, NBA Editor
Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) -
March is when college basketball vaults to the top of the sports scene. It also happens to be when I really start to pay attention to the college game with an eye on June's draft.
Conventional wisdom says college hoops is the "coach's game" while the pros is for the players. For the most part, I agree with that. The real stars of college basketball are the mentors calling timeout after timeout to extend a 13-point game with the hopes some athletic director at a bigger school is so impressed, he gets offered a deal to flee from the same teenagers he recruited a year ago with the promise he would always be there for them. On the other hand, the NBA is all about Kobe, LeBron, CP3 and Dwayne Wade.
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