As Charlie Walters of the Pioneer Press reports Dallas All-Star guard Steve Nash?s career could have at least started out with the Minnesota Timberwolves, and if it had who knows what things would be like today.  

Back before the 1996 Draft the Phoenix Suns offered their first round pick, 15th Overall, for guard Chris Carr.  The Timberwolves rejected the deal and the Suns drafted Nash, the rest is history.

Nash and the Dallas Mavericks now head into Minnesota for Game 3 of their first round series, which Chris Carr is now out of the league.

What is the common denominator linking the success of the Nets, Pistons, and Celtics?  Peter May of ESPN.com has an answer that might surprise you: the Phoenix Suns.

The three lottery teams from a year ago all made trades with Phoenix that helped turn their teams around.  The Nets doubled their win total with Jason Kidd, the Pistons turned their record from 32-50 to 50-32 (largely thanks to the addition of Cliff Robinson), and the Celtics have a .642 winning percentage since trading for Rodney Rogers and Tony Delk in February.

So maybe Jerry Colangelo should be nominated for Executive of the Year.  After all, he did get three teams into the playoffs.  Unfortunately none of those teams played in Phoenix where the Suns were 15 games worse than a year ago.

PHOENIX ? By the time the Mavericks started the second half Wednesday, they knew their fate. Which meant that by early in the third quarter, all the Mavericks starters were on the bench, resting for the opponent that took 82 games to identify ? the Minnesota Timberwolves.

San Antonio beat Utah, so the Midwest Division would not be the Mavericks', no matter what they did at America West Arena. That achievement ? not moving up from the No. 4 spot that the Mavericks secured in their 89-76 loss to Phoenix ? was the Mavericks' main goal.

"It's exciting to have such a close race," Raef LaFrentz said. "But we just wanted to win the division."
With the team's fate sealed, coach Don Nelson was content to let Steve Nash rest his sore back, let Dirk Nowitzki keep his sore left ankle from further aggravation, and even let Michael Finley rest to prepare for a battle against the fifth-seeded Timberwolves that begins Sunday at American Airlines Center.

The (AP) reports: The Phoenix Suns, who failed to make the NBA playoffs for the first time in 14 years, will bring back Frank Johnson as coach next season.

The team scheduled a Thursday news conference. The subject was not revealed, but sources within the organization, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was to announce the rehiring of Johnson.

Johnson, 43, took over on Feb. 17 when Scott Skiles left the job by mutual agreement with the franchise. The Suns went 11-20 under Johnson but the team played with noticeably more enthusiasm.

"The chemistry got a lot better," the Suns' Dan Majerle said after the team's season-ending victory over Dallas Wednesday night.

Johnson wouldn't confirm his re-hiring Wednesday night, but he was all smiles and said he expected an announcement on his future "in the next day or two."

In the final minutes of their 95-71 layup drill of a victory, the Spurs' thoughts were already 270 miles away in Dallas, where the Mavericks were building a double-digit lead against Utah.

Having received no help from the Jazz, the Spurs will likely have to take care of business themselves tonight in the Delta Center if they want to win the Midwest Division.

The Spurs closed out their final regular-season game at the Alamodome in front of 30,186 by holding the Suns to a season low in points, three more than their franchise record. The Spurs' eighth consecutive victory ? also their 13th straight home win ? also left them just shy of their third division title in four seasons.

The Nuggets take on the Phoenix Suns tonight at the Pepsi Center.  This will be the 2nd to last home game for Denver.  Neither team will be going to the playoffs.

Denver doesn't have a very good record in the 2nd game of back to back games.

For the first time in long time, everything seemed to come together for the Jazz.

And they still nearly lost.

Utah did hold on to beat Phoenix 97-96 Thursday night at America West Arena, snapping a three-game losing streak ? but only after the Jazz let a late 11-point lead slip, and Dan Majerle's potential game-winning 3-point try bounced harmlessly off the rim.

"We almost gave that one away," said 40-year-old point guard John Stockton, who did his part to avoid just that with 18 points on 8-of-8 shooting, 11 assists and not a single turnover.

Three weeks past his 40th birthday, John Stockton went 8-for-8 from the field, scored 18 points and handed out 11 assists Thursday night as the Utah Jazz snapped a three-game losing streak by beating Phoenix 97-96.

The NBA's oldest active player scored nine in the fourth quarter on four driving layups. The last one was a three-point play that put Utah up 97-88 with 1:34 remaining.

Stockton had three steals and no turnovers in 37 minutes.

The Suns nearly stole a game from the Utah Jazz, but in the end there was just too much John Stockton and Karl Malone for the Suns to overcome.

Malone, 38, scored 26 points and had five assists and seven rebounds. Stockton, 40, scored 18 points, handed out 11 assists and made three steals.

"They're a combination that will go down as one of the best in history," Suns coach Frank Johnson said. "They understand each other as well as anyone that has ever played, and that's why they've been able to remain constant in the way they run their offense."

During a timeout with 1:37 to play Thursday night and the Suns trailing the Utah Jazz 97-88, coach Frank Johnson had a simple message for his team.

"The game's not over," he said.

He should have told them it was just getting interesting.

Not until Dan Majerle's three-point shot at the final buzzer hit the rim and came off did Utah escape with a 97-96 victory at America West Arena.