Suns using preseason to get familiar with each other, fine tune details

PHOENIX - The Phoenix Suns have completed half of their preseason and according to the coach are making progress and coming together as a team as the season opener approaches.

The Suns are 2-2 in their games played so far but look at their play rather than their record to measure their preseason success.

"I think at this stage right now we prefer to look at the glass as half full," Head Coach Alvin Gentry said after practice on Thursday. "There are a lot of positive things that are going on.

"There's some limitations that we have that we can't do anything about, we just got to do what we do, the things that we do well we just have to take advantage of."

One of the things the Suns hope to do well is score a high number of points - just like they did a couple of seasons ago.

With the likes of Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire, and Leandro Barbosa on the roster it would seem the Suns can pick up right where they left off.

Nash begs to differ as he knows that the group of guys around him right now are not the same faces he played with in years past.

"This is new ground for a lot of guys and the way this offense works I think it looks like it's run and gun," Nash said of the perception of their fast paced offense. "There is a method to it and little fine lines and details that are important and it just takes time to get there."

Through the four preseason games the Suns are averaging just under 107 points per game and giving up 99.5 points per game.

The Suns scored 110 on Wednesday night in Portland - the most against an NBA team as their 111 point outing was against Partizan Belegrade.

The offense will only get better as the team gets more familiarity says the floor general.

"Just cleaning up some little details that allowed us to take advantage of some things offensively - not only myself getting more comfortable but the team getting to a place where I think we have a much more potent rhythm to us," Nash said.

The Suns will host the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night before both teams leave for Mexico for a preseason game on Sunday in Monterrey, Mexico.

Sports 620 KTAR's Craig Grialou contributed to this report.