"The Suns are like all basketball players. Given a ball and an open floor, most gravitate to the 3-point line for a shot.

The Suns just do it better. Like a team exceeding expectations, Phoenix is the NBA's top 3-point shooting team at 44.4 percent and is on an NBA-record pace of 10.4 makes per game.

Of the 42 NBA players making at least 40 percent of their 3-pointers, seven are Suns. They ended last season with only Steve Nash at better than 40 percent, not counting pre-trade Raja Bell (46.8) or Amar'e Stoudemire (3 for 7). In 2007-08, only Nash and Bell hit 40 percent.

This group did not figure to be the Suns' best 3-point shooting team, but it is beating them all. Jared Dudley was a career 33 percent 3-point shooter and is the team leader at 49 percent, ranking eighth in the NBA. Channing Frye made 20 3-pointers in four seasons with a 29 percent clip but is now at 44 percent, with 38 made. Goran Dragic ranked 11th in the NBA at 46 percent after making 37 percent as a rookie.

"We do have a lot more weapons from 3 than we thought," Nash said.

Leandro Barbosa has not hit 40 percent in the past two seasons but is at 40.6. Grant Hill added the shot two years ago, hit 32 percent the past two seasons and is 5 for 12 this season. Jason Richardson is making a case for his All-Star 3-point contest wishes by making 45.6 percent, close to the clip he had last December, when he led the NBA before fading. Nash has not shot below 40 percent in 10 years.

"The threat of the 3 is just as important as the 3 itself," Nash said."