Suns Picked to Win Western Conference

PHOENIX -- It feels like just yesterday the Phoenix Suns were reeling and barely hovering around the .500 mark.

The team simply couldn't stay healthy - and when they were - fell way short of expectations.

Fast-forward to today, where the Suns are on a six-game winning streak and playing some of the best basketball in the league. Phoenix's stars are finding their footing while role players are ascending at the right time.

Just how good can this Suns squad be? The Athletic believes they can make a push to the NBA Finals.

"I think the Suns, which have quietly won seven of their last 10 games, will continue on this upward trajectory and stabilize themselves come postseason time," wrote Kelly Iko recently.

"Head coach Frank Vogel deployed Durant at center for a stretch in the comeback win over the Kings and it certainly looks like a tactical weapon to keep. Between Durant and Devin Booker alone, they have enough firepower to give any opposing team fits over a seven-game series.

"Can Bradley Beal be healthy and available? That’s the real question. But the Suns’ two-headed monster can beat you from anywhere on the floor and has shown enough playmaking to take a backseat and facilitate when the other is heating up. I don’t love their depth outside of the starters (Grayson Allen!) and still think they need to make one more move before the deadline, but I wouldn’t want to be on the other sideline against these guys in May."

Phoenix is riding high after yet another 20-point comeback win, this time coming against the Chicago Bulls:

“The emotions are all positive right now. We got a great deal of belief with our group, with our togetherness and our cohesion, the way we were in the fight together in those huddles and everybody pulling in the same direction, not losing our mind when things weren’t going our way; which a lot of times that happens, guys just kept trying to figure out the game," said head coach Frank Vogel.

"Credit to the Bulls, they came out and gave us their best shot. We have a team that we are going to get a lot of teams best shot and those guys played terrific. They made threes, they brought defensive pressure, they played a terrific game, but we stayed together and we learned last week against Sacramento that we’re never out of a game, we don’t give up and we’re going to have a chance if we stay with it.”

Currently, Phoenix sits as the No. 5 seed in the West with a long road-trip ahead, starting Wednesday in Dallas.