Matt Guokas

The Suns are headed for a second straight Pacific Division crown, an impressive feat since they have played this season without one of the league's top players Amare Stoudemire, who went down with a knee injury in the preseason.

But as well as Phoenix has performed, the team's success is not likely to translate into a NBA title since the playoff brand of basketball is not at all like the style played by the Suns in the regular season.

Nash as good as ever
As was the case last season, a huge reason why the Suns are among the NBA's elite teams is the performance of their point guard Steve Nash, the reigning MVP. If a MVP vote were taken today, Nash would probably win the award again.

Nash has had another stellar season despite being banged up. He's had to deal with a  troublesome hamstring and a hyperextended knee, and most recently a rolled ankle.

Nash is 32, and he has his good days and bad days as most players that age and older do when they are hurting.

But obviously even though he's far from 100 percent physically, Nash is still very, very good and very effective. Besides Nash, others have shined for the Suns.

Shawn Marion was the Western Conference player of the month in February. He leads the league in double-doubles, and is bidding for the rebounding title. His overall superb play has his name mentioned in talk over the league MVP.

Boris Diaw, who at 6-foot-8 was the Suns power forward until center Kurt Thomas recently went out indefinitely with a stress fracture in his right foot, is now the Suns center. His versatility and his passing have been fabulous, but there is no making up for the height he lacks inside.

Not built for a title run
The Suns are very confident in their style of play, and they are going to stick to it. But let's face it, they play a very unorthodox style with a very unorthodox lineup, and while this is effective in the regular season, to say it translates to a deep playoff run or winning a championship is not realistic because in a seven-game playoff series, the basketball is totally different than that which is played during the regular season.

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In a seven-game series against a quality team that has time to prepare, the games will slow down. Good, smart defense by Phoenix's opponents will seek to force the Suns to keep the ball on one side of the floor.

And all the things that go into playoff basketball which aren't prevalent in the regular season are going to work against the Suns -- as they did last year, when Phoenix lost to San Antonio in five games in the Western Conference finals.

One of those things is the Suns lacking a true big man. To get rebounds, they try to scramble and outhustle opponents to balls, but they know they are going to get beat up inside by stronger teams.

There's no telling what Stoudemire can give them once he returns. Last year's leading scorer for the Suns (26 ppg) could be back by late March or early April with a surgically repaired knee, which would ease the loss of Kurt Thomas.

But with the severity of Stoudemire's knee injury it would be unrealistic to expect him to be in top form once he returns.

Slowing Shawn down
Phoenix won't have to face the Mavericks or Spurs in the first two rounds. That gives Stoudemire more time to play his way into shape and the Suns a decent shot to return to the conference finals.

They'll attempt to do so by playing games at their tempo, their pace, and also by continuing to shoot the ball at will -- with whoever is open not being shy about taking the shot.

If it's Dallas and not San Antonio taking on Phoenix for the best in the West, the Mavericks could take a page from the Spurs' strategy against the Suns in last year's conference finals. That's when the Spurs put Bruce Bowen on Marion, and Bowen's defense basically took Marion out of the series.

The Mavericks don't have Bowen, but they do have Josh Howard, who while not the defender Bowen is, is still a very good defender, who I think could slow Marion down over a seven-game series.

But the bottom line is that even with a healthy Stoudemire, the Suns are a very good and very entertaining team, but I don't think they can win a championship.

Q: What is your take on the chances of the Cleveland Cavaliers at winning a NBA championship in the next couple of years?
—Jay Hsu, Marlboro, N.J.

A: I would say not good. I thought at the beginning of this season that the Cavaliers were showing signs of becoming an elite team in the league, maybe climbing to a notch or so below Detroit or Miami in the Eastern Conference. But their play has certainly leveled off, and the injury to Larry Hughes has hurt them.

Cleveland has not been the defensive team that many thought it would be mainly because the Cavaliers can't settle on a tempo. And offensively, they are not getting enough from Damon Jones and Donyell Marshall, both of whom were pretty good scorers early in the season, but both have since cooled off.

Their starting power forward Drew Gooden becomes a restricted free agent this summer, and if some other team makes Gooden a huge offer, the Cavaliers will probably not be able to match it because they already have a ton of money tied up in Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Hughes, and they need to be in position to max out LeBron James, who becomes a restricted free agent in the summer of 2007.

So if they lose Gooden, the Cavaliers are probably going to be a weaker team next season.

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