The Phoenix Suns (10-14) played one of their best games of the season Monday night. They dropped the hammer on a pretty good Hawks team in Atlanta no less. They played hard. They made shots (51.9% of them). They played defense (hold the Hawks to 39.3% shooting). It was kind of fun to watch and also a bit of tease of what a decent basketball team can do when things are rolling.

Now it's Tuesday and that same Suns team is in the frigid confines of Milwaukee to face the Bucks (10-13) after a long night of flying and a morning meeting at the team hotel that was invaded by a pink gorilla playing a guitar to celebrate Steve Nash's 38th birthday.

Happy Birthday, Steve!

Head over to Bright Side for more Steve Nash Day celebrations.

Projected Lineups:

• Point guard: Steve Nash --- Brandon Jennings
• Shooting guard: Jared Dudley -- Shaun Livingston
• Small forward: Grant Hill -- Carlos Delfino
• Power forward: Channing Frye -- Luc Mbah a Moute
• Center: Marcin Gortat -- Drew Gooden
• Key subs: Suns (Markieff Morris, Michael Redd, Ronnie Price, Shannon Brown,Hakim Warrick). Bucks (Stephen Jackson, Mike Dunleavy, Ersan Ilyasova, Beno Udrih)

That Stephen Jackson guy, the one making $9m this year and $10m next year isn't really playing so much.

Suns vs. Bucks Preview: Michael Redd Returns To Milwaukee As Bucks Look To Snap Skid - Brew Hoop
Inaction Jackson. So when will we see Stephen Jackson on the court again? Who knows. Jackson did get on the court against Miami last week after Carlos Delfino's early foul trouble, but he's otherwise been notably absent from Scott Skiles' rotation for the better part of two weeks. The Jackson saga has surprisingly had little apparent(*) impact on the team's performance or chemistry, though it's not clear how long the Bucks can afford to keep Jackson rotting on the bench.

TV broadcast info:

The Suns game tips off at 6:00 p.m. Arizona time on Fox Sports Arizona. Arizona Sports 620 radio. Bright Side of the Sun will have the live game thread.

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