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Paul Coro over at AZ Central takes a look at Mickael Pietrus’ increase in playing time of late. Pietrus is brimming with confidence, telling Coro that he’s “a certified winner.”

If you’ve got a layover in Las Vegas on your way to the All-Star festivities in Los Angeles, Online Sportsbook Pro has their take on the game tonight against the Mavs. Their advice? Take the favorite.

Please don't have me silenced for talking about gambling, Mr. Stern!

How good is Channing Frye? According to Cory Williams, he’s a top-tier center and a valuable fantasy acquisition. While I’d quibble slightly with labeling Frye as a top-10 center when he gets so many minutes at power forward, there’s no doubt that Frye’s improved play could mean the difference between the Suns making the playoffs or ending up in the draft lottery.

Finally, Vince Carter hasn’t played a single minute in the fourth quarter in the last four games. Our friends at Valley of the Suns put together a short video explaining why in both text and game footage.

• ESPN Insiders ought to check out this column Professor Hollinger wrote about The Disappearance of Rudy.  Here’s the money:  ”Fernandez has been the Invisible Man, and the totals are train-wreck bad: 36 points, 10-of-30 shooting and — get this — just six 2-point field goal attempts in five games. He’s been strictly a spot-up shooter, and not an accurate or threatening one.”  Yeah, that’s not so good.  Hollinger also discusses how surprising it is that, given Rudy’s apparent unhappiness in Portland, he’s not going all-out to try to show what he can do.  But if the Suns are able to completely shut ‘Dre down again, and Bayless has another crap game like he did the other night, the Blazers need to get something out of Rudy.
• Speaking of Hollinger, he’s got a little post up about Channing Frye and his love of Portland (this one is free to all).  It’s a good little read, but the gist is that Frye loved Portland in his brief time there.  He married a Portlander, kept his condo there, and plans to return to Portland for the summer once his season with the Suns is finished.  My favorite part: “Teammate Jared Dudley wasn’t buying in either. I asked if Frye would be showing him Portland’s sights during the three days they’d spend in Oregon. ‘He’ll probably want to,’ said Dudley. ‘I won’t go with him.’”  Who knew Jared was such a hater?
• Accuscore’s simulations have the Suns winning tonight’s game 53.2% of the time.  You can check it out here, but according to their simulations, it’s should be a really close game.  It seems that they have the game being played at the Blazers’ pace, which I don’t think would surprise anybody, given the fact that 80% of the games they’ve played head-to-head this season have been played at turtle speed.
• Paul Coro’s got a little article up about the Suns’ much-improved field goal defense.  The best part?  ”After finishing 22nd in the NBA in defensive field-goal percentage last season, they were 12th this season – their best finish since landing 12th in 2001-02 when Shawn Marion, Stephon Marbury and Penny Hardaway patrolled the perimeter.”  Remember when Starbury and Penny played for the Suns?  That was weird.
• I thought this article from John Canzano was interesting.  It’s about a dude who lives in Mesa and is a Suns fan, but is a ticket broker who owns season tickets in other cities like, say, Portland.  He has an extremely part-time job with US Airways, which allows him to fly around to other cities for free to check out games whenever he feels like it.  Now that’s not a bad gig.
• Finally, yer buddy Señor Sun-N-Gun got a shout-out at one of his favorite blogs today.  That’s right, I was featured in the ticker at UniWatch.  I sent in a hot tip about Goran Dragic and his NOB (that’s name on back, for those who don’t speak uni).  During the season, Dragic’s name looked like this: DRAGIC.  You know, because it’s his name.  But now, in the postseason, it looks like this: DRAGIĆ.  I don’t know any details about that, but they’ve apparently decided to add that little accent over his C.  Nice.