• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Suns take playoff push to Cleveland

Mar 25, 2012 - 2:34 PM (Sports Network) - There is just over a month to go in the NBA regular season and the bottom half of the Western Conference playoff picture is as jumbled as ever.

The Phoenix Suns got themselves back into the postseason conversation with a strong March thus far and will finish up a tough four-game road trip in Cleveland on Sunday.

The Suns had won 11 of 14 before starting the trek with consecutive losses in Miami and Orlando. Instead of folding, however, Phoenix bounced back with an impressive 113-111 win over playoff-bound Indiana on Friday.

Steve Nash matched a season-high with 17 assists and Marcin Gortat had 23 points and eight rebounds in that one.

Nash added 12 points and Grant Hill netted 22 points for the Suns, who have won five of their last seven games overall and are two games behind three different teams fighting for the final playoff spots out West, Memphis, Utah and Denver. Houston, meanwhile, is also 1 1/2 games clear of Phoenix.

"We got back to playing good basketball," said Hill. "We didn't defend as well as we'd have liked, but we executed."

The Cavaliers, on the other hand, have hit the skids recently, losing two straight and five of six overall, including Friday's 93-80 loss in Orlando.

Antawn Jamison had 16 points in that one to pace Cleveland, which also received 15 points and 11 rebounds from rookie Tristan Thompson and 13 points, six assists and four rebounds from fellow freshman Kyrie Irving.

"We didn't play real hard, then we started playing real hard and then we went down again. We're not good enough to afford ourselves the luxury of trying to play that way, especially against a good team like Orlando," Cavaliers head coach Byron Scott said.

Cleveland guard Daniel Gibson missed his second straight game against the Magic with a sprained left ankle and is listed as questionable for today's contest.

The Cavs have won five of their past seven with Phoenix, including a 101-90 win in the desert back on Jan. 12.