The team attempted to return to the Western Conference finals, where they were eliminated in six games by the Dallas Mavericks in the previous season.
After an excellent regular season in which they posted a 61–21 record, in a rematch of last season's first round where they came back from a 3–1 deficit, they defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in the opening round of the playoffs in five games, but were narrowly defeated in the Western Conference semifinals in six games by the more experienced, heavily favored, and eventual NBA champion San Antonio Spurs.
The Suns' previous record was the 14-game win streak of the 1992–93 team, which made the NBA Finals but lost to the Chicago Bulls.
The win against the Cavs also marked the 20th victory in 21 games this season to date against Eastern Conference teams.
Up to that time, the only other teams in NBA history with 17-game win streaks were the 1946–47 Washington Capitols, the 1959–60 Boston Celtics and the 1995–96 San Antonio Spurs.
We've got a lot of improving to do.As noted by Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic, the Suns franchise has had nine double-digit win streaks in its history to date, with four of them alone under coach Mike D'Antoni since 2004–05.
It was also announced that he would miss the following night's game against the Portland Trail Blazers (guard–forward Eric Piatkowski started in his place) [6].
Both Nash and D'Antoni criticized the rest of the team for uninspired play during the first half, in a game that All-Star Allen Iverson and Marcus Camby did not participate in.
In addition to Nash's injury, Boris Diaw missed a second straight game due to back spasms; F Kurt Thomas has been out since January 15 with a sore right elbow.
Nash eventually was forced to withdraw from the 2007 NBA All-Star Game (played February 18 in Las Vegas).
Despite the setbacks, as of the end of play on the 14th, the Suns enjoyed a 10-game first-place lead in the Pacific Division over the Los Angeles Lakers, and after the Suns struggled going 1–3 without Nash, he returned to action against the Los Angeles Clippers in a game played at Staples Center on February 20; Nash scored 13 points and had 12 assists in a decisive 115–90 victory, a game made famous with Amar'e Stoudemire airballing a free throw with the Suns up by 21 points drawing laughter and groans from the crowd.
Conversation thus began on a possible third MVP award for Nash (which would place him in the same company as NBA legends Bill Russell, Larry Bird and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), and a possible competition between him and his close friend, Mavericks' star forward Dirk Nowitzki, for the honor (Nowitzki would go on to win the MVP award on May 11)).
The thriller ended 129–127, with the Suns edging the Mavericks to make the season series 2–1 favoring Dallas (it was the Mavs' first home loss in 24 games).
(They played again on April 1 in front of a sellout crowd and national ABC Sports audience at US Airways Center, Phoenix, to end their season series match-up; the Suns won that game decisively by a score of 126–104.
In a home game played on March 20, the Suns defeated the Timberwolves 108–90 to clinch their third consecutive Pacific Division championship (and sixth overall for the franchise).
Phoenix ended its regular season on April 17 with a 103–99 home loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Suns went on a 27–9 scoring run to take a 55–34 lead with 4:50 to go in the first half, and that seemed to set the tone for the rest of the game.
Game 3 The Los Angeles Lakers rallied to beat the Phoenix Suns by a score of 95–89 in front of their initially displeased home fans at Staples Center, getting the series a little closer by a margin of 2–1.
The Suns lethargic play was no match for the Lakers' desperate aggressiveness, especially from big men Kwame Brown and Lamar Odom.
Game 5 The Suns achieve a 4–1 series victory at home (by a score of 119–110), despite late fourth period back-to-back three-pointers by Bryant that brought the Lakers close enough to turn the tables.
Mike D'Antoni's decision for Kurt Thomas to guard Tim Duncan helped Amar'e Stoudemire to focus on offense, scoring 21 of his 27 points in the second half.
On May 15, the NBA announced that Horry would be suspended two games for flagrantly fouling Nash and striking Bell's shoulder.
Amar'e Stoudemire and Boris Diaw were suspended one game each for leaving their bench during an altercation in violation of league rules.
[7] [8] Coach D'Antoni was not happy with Stoudemire and Diaw's suspension, as they were critically important members of the Suns' squad: We have the most powerful microscopes and telescopes in the world in Arizona, (and) you could use those instruments and not find a shred of fairness or common sense in that decision", D'Antoni said after the Suns' morning shooting session (May 16).
After leading by as many as 16 points in the second quarter and ahead 79–71 with 5:18 to play, the Suns collapsed and lost the game by a score of 88–85.
With 2 fresh players coming back, in Boris Diaw and Amar'e Stoudemire, Phoenix was very anxious about this game.
In his book, Donaghy claimed that his supervisor, Tommy Nuñez, disliked team owner Robert Sarver while also enjoying the lifestyle of San Antonio to the point where he wanted the Spurs to continue leading their playoff stretch.