You can take the half-full/half-empty look at Wednesday’s win over Indiana on several fronts:

 *The Suns defense was downright horrible in the first half, and those who have doubted the impact of Grant Hill this season needed only to see the Pacers (without Jermaine O’Neal) shoot 68 percent from the field in the first quarter and feast on the Boris Diaw-Amare Stoudemire-Shawn Marion front line.

 Troy Murphy had 15 rebounds, five on the offensive end. Yuck. Danny Granger and Jeff Foster had 11 each. Double yuck.

 But once again, the Suns played better defense as the game went along and reeled in a 16 point deficit within minutes once they clamped down. They caught a break when Jamaal Tinsley decided that letting Granger (9-for-18) and Shawne Williams (9-for-12) shoot down the stretch was foolhardy and missed eight straight shots of his own, but holding a team to just one free throw over the final five minutes is still pretty good.

 And wiping out a double-digit deficit without Hill and Nash and with Marion and Leandro Barbosa hurting shows the Suns do have plenty of fight in them.

 Other thoughts:

 *What a great time for a Raja Bell sighting. In what will be a key to watch over the 2-3 weeks Hill is out (and maybe a little longer, since the Suns will be very cautious with him) Bell moved as well as he has all season and not only hit six 3-pointers but looked good on almost all of the 11 he took. The Suns can’t count on Marcus Banks as a consistent 3-point threat. Bell and Barbosa have to carry the load and push back toward the 40-percent they’ve averaged in their careers.

 *You look at the 12 shots Stoudemire got and feel he was underused. But he also went to the line 12 times (hitting 11) and the Suns leaned on him heavily from the fourth quarter on.

 *Barbosa can monopolize the offense at times, but Indiana had no answer for him in the second half and overtime. After a 1-for-5 first half, he was not only 6-for-12 from the field but 11-for-12 from the line, aggressively driving to the hoop and drawing calls. The Suns are at their scariest when Barbosa is attacking.

 So another win that was harder than it had to be, but at 25-10 the Suns sit atop the West. With no Hill and likely no Nash tonight (he didn’t fly to Salt Lake with the team after the game, but could fly there today if the flu runs its course), the Suns will have their hands full with a Jazz team that starting to come out of a month-long tailspin.

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