Suns Ready For Massive Test to Finish Season

PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns have ten games remaining on their schedule.

Had Phoenix made good on their star-studded potential, the Suns would have been sitting pretty in the standings entering the final stretch of the season.

Rather, they're sitting with the No. 8 spot in the West and a 42-30 record to their name, far below what nearly anybody had hoped for at the beginning of the season.

Suns guard Bradley Beal says despite the slow start, Phoenix is ramping up for a photo finish ahead of what will surely be a tough postseason.

“Well, it’s all hands on deck,” Beal told Andscape in his latest diary entry for the website.

“Sense of urgency at the end of the year, that’s our approach to every game. We got [10] games left. So, every [game] counts. You can win a game and move up three, four positions. And you could lose a game and be out of playoff contention or be in the play-in.

“So, every game matters and our schedule is the hardest schedule, if not one of the hardest schedules, left throughout all the teams. We play all playoff teams pretty much, and it’s a good test for us. So, we’ve been in some rough waters over the last a few spurts of games, but I think these are all just battle tests for us that are preparing us for the playoffs to come.”

According to Tankathon, the Suns have the toughest schedule remaining in the NBA.

Phoenix appears ready to embrace a de facto postseason before the real show gets here.

"I think everybody’s feeling the pressure of the In-Season [tournament] when you should just control what you can control and go out there and play," Kevin Durant said after the team's most recent loss to the San Antonio Spurs.

Phoenix begins their gauntlet of a schedule tonight against the Denver Nuggets.