What week five taught us about the Suns: Win big or go home

Week Recap: 4-0 with wins at home against Detroit and Memphis and on the road in Minnesota and Toronto.

The Suns Have An Equal Opportunity Offense

Four big wins, each game with at least five scorers in double digits and names like Goran Dragic and Earl Clark appearing on the list. The Suns offense is fun to watch and everyone gets a chance to participate.

Along with at least five scorers being in double digits in each game, only one game, against the Grizzlies, featured a Sun with more than 22 points. It’s really impressive when you consider that the Suns averaged 119 points for the week.

This week showed us that even when one of the starters, like Nash or Hill, doesn’t have a big offensive game, the Suns’ bench is ready to step in and make up for the lack of production. In Detroit Grant Hill didn’t have a big game but Goran Dragic added in 13 points off the bench. In Minnesota Nash didn’t score in double digits yet Earl Clark comes out of nowhere to chip in 14 of his own.

Steve Nash Is Well Rested

There is no doubt that Steve Nash has been the Suns’ work horse since returning to the Valley. He has averaged 34.58 minutes per game since returning to the Phoenix Suns in 2004. His lowest average per game in those five seasons was 33.6 minutes last season.

This week Nash averaged 29.75 minutes per game only playing more than 30 minutes once (Sunday in his home country of Canada). Along with a light week, Nash has had a realtively light season averaging 32.4 minutes per game. If Alvin Gentry can keep Nash’s minutes this low, it will be the least amount of minutes he’s played this decade.

And as we all know, a fresh Steve Nash could make the difference in a playoff series.

Amare Was Shot Efficiently

Amare Stoudmire lead the team in scoring twice this week, against Detroit and Memphis. Along with high offensive outputs, Stoudemire shot the ball with great accuracy this week. Amare was 36-for-51 from the floor for an impressive 70.5%. On the year STAT is shooting 58.4%.

The Suns Can Make Free Throws

Last week our very own Mark McLane wrote about the Phoenix Suns’ abysmal free throw shooting. The Suns are shooting 72.8% from the charity stripe for the season and have struggled most of the year.

Week five taught us that the Suns can actually make free throws. They shot almost nine percent better from the line, 81.4%, than they have all season. If this team has a weakness it’s free throw shooting. Hopefully this week is the beginning of a new trend.

Subscribe to your favorite Phoenix team or sport or Follow us on Twitter.