A fake news release was delivered Sunday to Suns' forward Grant Hill, who paused briefly on his first read of the headline.

It said, "Hill becomes the first NBA player named in Mitchell Report."

It was a practical joke by Kerr, but people might start grasping at such straws to explain Hill's season. All it took' Coach Mike D'Antoni's preseason All-Star optimism for him.

In November, Hill averaged 14.8 points, 2.9 assists and 0.5 blocks and shot 46.4 percent from the field and 30.8 percent on 3-pointers. In December, entering Sunday's game, Hill was averaging 17.6 points, 4.6 assists and 1.1 blocks with 56.6 percent shooting and 38.5 percent on 3-pointers.

"I'm more comfortable and getting more comfortable at both ends of the court," Hill said. "It's more instinctive. I'm developing that trust with teammates. I think it can get even better. December has been a lot better."

Once the end of the year came, P.J. Brown supposedly was going to be more ready to return to play after spending Christmas with his family.

With two months of the season behind them, the Suns were going to be able to show Brown, 38, how much they could use his veteran post play.

But between Brown's reluctance to leave the retirement recliner and Brian Skinner's emergence in the role of Suns reserve big man, the signing that Phoenix chased this summer appears as doubtful as ever.

"I've had no indication that P.J. is interested in playing," Suns General Manager Steve Kerr said. "It sounds as if he's retired. It's obviously less urgent with the way Brian has played. This is around the time we thought we could convince P.J. into play for us.

"That said, if he's interested, we'd still be interested in him. We don't have a lot of bigs. You'd always love to have depth inside and playoff experience."

On Thursday, Steve Nash was named one of the 2007 recipients of The Order of Canada ? the country?s highest civilian honor. He was selected not just for his fame but also for his many humanitarian efforts through his Steve Nash Foundation and the Canadian school system.

Other recipients included Walter Gretzky, father of Phoenix Coyotes' coach Wayne Gretzky, and United Nations human rights commissioner and former Supreme Court Justice Louise Arbour.

?None of my friends got it when I was growing up, so I didn?t know much about it,? Nash said with a smile. ?I?m just blown away and just extremely excited. It?s the highest honor in our country, and it?s just incredible to be recognized in that way. That puts me in some incredible company.?

Now 23rd on the all-time NBA list for assists (6,260), Nash?s 10 assists on Friday gives him 3,341 as a Phoenix Sun. That passes Walter Davis for third place on the all-time Phoenix franchise list. Only Alvan Adams (4,012) and franchise leader Kevin Johnson (6,518) have more helpers in a Suns' uniform.

Suns' Coach Mike D'Antoni cannot figure out why Boris Diaw is struggling to team with healthy All-NBA big man Amare Stoudemire.

"They should be really good together," D'Antoni said. "Boris facilitates the ball, and Amar? is one of the best finishers in the business. It's a little bit of a mystery."

D'Antoni remains confident that Diaw will figure it out.

"There's really no good reason for it," he said, adding that most of whatever problems the Suns have had are related to effort and focus throughout the lineup.

"That's kind of the story of our team right now," he said. "It just comes down to heart and soul - play hard, and let's go."

Kobe Bryant asked to be traded last spring in part because he wanted to play for a team that could contend for an NBA title.

He just might have gotten his wish by staying put.

Bryant scored 26 of his 38 points in the second half; Andrew Bynum had a career-high 28 points to go with 12 rebounds and a season-high four assists; and the Lakers beat the Phoenix Suns 122-115 on Tuesday for their ninth win in 11 games.

Suns' guard Raja Bell stayed on the sidelines of Friday's practice because of an ankle injury and wound up on the sideline for Saturday's game because of a back injury.

Bell missed five games in November when an ankle sprain eventually led to back spasms. It happened again Friday when he was exercising and went to the floor as the back spasms began. An MRI on Bell's back Saturday was negative.

The Raptors were a one-man show. That wasn't near enough with the Suns revved up and running.

The Suns raced past Toronto 122-103 on Saturday night despite Bosh's career-high 42 points.

Leandro Barbosa, starting in place of injured Raja Bell, scored 31 points; Amare Stoudemire added 28; and Grant Hill scored 25 as Phoenix swept the season series from Toronto for the fourth consecutive season.

The Phoenix Suns have assigned rookie D.J. Strawberry to their NBA Development League affiliate, the Albuquerque Thunderbirds, it was announced today by Suns' President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Steve Kerr. Strawberry is the 21st NBA assignment to a D-League affiliate this season. Before last night?s game against the San Antonio Spurs, the Suns recalled rookie Alando Tucker from the Thunderbirds.

Strawberry, a 6-5, 201-pound guard, was selected by Phoenix in the second round (59th overall) of the 2007 NBA Draft and signed with the team on Aug. 28, 2007. In six games with the Suns, Strawberry averaged 2.0 points, 0.7 rebounds and 0.5 assists in 6.2 minutes.

The Suns are known for their offense, but there are huge improvements to be made defensively.

"What frustrates me is we don't play hard all the time," Suns' guard Steve Nash said before Phoenix played San Antonio on Monday night. "We're small. We've got to play extremely hard to negate their size. But when we do play hard, we're a real good defensive team. But does that mean it takes too much out of us to play like that all the time? Maybe, but there's got to be somewhere in between where we can reach a level where even when we have lulls, we're still in tune mentally and focused, and we're an adequate defensive team."

"I really expect more out of us, and that's what is frustrating, not seeing a consistent effort and concentration."

Grant Hill scored 22 points, and the Suns handed the Spurs their first home loss of the season, 100-95, on Monday night.

Leandro Barbosa added 18 points for the Suns, whose win might have helped them get the bad taste out of their mouths they had after losing a controversial and testy Western Conference semifinals series to the Spurs last season.