Preview: Suns Enter Crucial 6-Game Road Trip

The Phoenix Suns begin a critical six-game road trip tonight against the Milwaukee Bucks as they look to remain firmly in the Western Conference playoff hunt.

After winning four of their last five games, the Suns (37-27) are just 1.5 games back of the Denver Nuggets (39-26) for the sixth seed in the West, which would move them out of the top play-in spot.

The Suns, who have been the seventh seed in the West for all but three days since Nov. 29, actually have a great chance to tie or leap Denver in the standings early in the road trip.

Phoenix has two very favorable matchups to kick off the trip against the Bucks (27-36) tonight and then the Indiana Pacers (15-49) Thursday, while the Nuggets play a very tough back-to-back Wednesday and Thursday against the Houston Rockets (39-24) and San Antonio Spurs (47-17).

The Suns will close out their trip with four difficult matchups against the Toronto Raptors (36-27) Friday, then the Boston Celtics (43-21) and Minnesota Timberwolves (40-24) in another back-to-back Monday and Tuesday and finally with the Spurs next Thursday, so it will be important for them to build some momentum early.

What to Expect from Suns' Road Trip

This will be Phoenix's second six-game road trip of the season after it went 3-3 from Jan. 13-Jan. 23 against all Eastern Conference opponents on its other six-game trip earlier this year.

As has been the theme all season, the biggest question for the Suns during this trip is: Can they stay relatively healthy, especially with the injuries they are already facing?

Dillon Brooks (left hand fracture) and Mark Williams (left foot third metatarsal stress reaction) will likely remain out the entirety of the trip, but the Suns did upgrade Jordan Goodwin (left calf strain) to questionable against Milwaukee after he missed the last seven games, as well as Grayson Allen (right knee injury management), who was a late scratch for Sunday's 111-99 victory over the Charlotte Hornets.

Phoenix has had some players step up in a major way as of late because of the injuries, which most notably includes rookies Rasheer Fleming and Khaman Maluach, so coach Jordan Ott will have to try to find minutes for everyone he can once the Suns get healthier.

The win over the Hornets, who have been one of the hottest teams in the NBA the last few months, was a great way for the Suns to build for the road trip, as they played a very complete game on both sides of the ball, highlighted by their physicality on the defensive end.

It will important for the Suns not to overlook their opponents early on in this trip, especially with Giannis Antetokounmpo back healthy for the Bucks tonight.

The Suns will also hope Jalen Green continues to progress after scoring 49 points over the last two games following a very lowly shooting slump as he works his way back to his old self after missing 48 games so far this season due to injury.

The biggest goals for the Suns on this road trip should be just to not have anymore injuries and to do their best to come out of it with a winning record by picking up a couple big wins as they look to move out of a play-in spot by the season's end, which is just 18 games away.