The Phoenix Suns are learning that playing on the road can be a good thing for a struggling team.

Shawn Marion and James Jones each got 19 points last night and the Suns beat the Houston Rockets 100-88, improving to 3-1 on the road.

After hitting 8 of 42 from three-point range in the previous two games, Phoenix made 14 of 27 from behind the arc for a season-high three-point total.

Jones was 5 of 10 for the Suns, who are 3-4 at home.

'That's just an indication of our level of maturity,' Jones said. 'We're still maturing. On the road, it's easy to get up because everyone is against you. At home we have a tendency to relax and we have to find a way to stop that.'

Improvement is a good thing.

Last result: 4-3 win (OT) at Edmonton, October 18 Streak: Won 2
Next game: at Vancouver, October 20

The Coyotes matched their best offensive output of the season Tuesday with a 4-3 overtime win over the Oilers. Phoenix also scored four goals in a shootout loss to Nashville on Thursday. ... G Curtis Joseph stopped 27 shots to post his 399th career win. Joseph is one win away from becoming the ninth goalie in NHL history to reach the 400 plateau. He trails only Toronto's Ed Belfour and New Jersey's Martin Brodeur among active netminders. ... LW Oleg Saprykin, who had gone five games without a goal after scoring one in each of Phoenix's first two games, tallied twice in a 2:09 span midway through the first period Tuesday.

I have a feeling this will only make them stronger

Resigned to the fact that Amare Stoudemire will be out of action for four months due to microfracture surgery on his left knee, the Phoenix Suns are doing the only thing they can at this point - gearing up to win without him.

While piling up the victories without the All-Star forward-center is easier said than done, Head Coach Mike D'Antoni believes spreading the offensive wealth for the next few months will help ease the burden of temporarily losing the team's scoring leader from a season ago.

'We have a lot of offensive weapons on the floor, D'Antoni explained. 'We lost our biggest weapon, but we have a lot of others. We're not hanging our heads at all. It's just too bad for Amare, but the Phoenix Suns will go on. Steve Nash has played a lot of years without Amare and his teams have scored up into the hundreds. He'll find out, as we will as a team, how to score 110 points anyway. That's our focus, our goal, and if we do that, we'll be successful. Shawn Marion will have to step up. Steve will have to up his game. Then we have Kurt Thomas, Raja Bell, James Jones - we have a lot of guys to score the basketball. No one will replace Amare's 26 points, but four or five guys will add up to that.'

With more minutes to be had all around, the team's offseason additions will factor heavily into the Suns success in the first half of the season.

'We all signed on with this team with the belief we are going to have success,' Brian Grant said. 'We understand injuries are a part of it, and it just so happens that it was one of our most dominating players that went down. We also understand that that is opportunity for other guys to step up and show what they can do to fill that void. If we respond early on, when we do get Amare back, it'll be that much better come playoffs.'

Like he did when Amare moved to the five spot last season, Shawn Marion will most likely bounce back to power forward again -- the position where he found so much success, not to mention an All-Star selection, last year.

'I'm going to play a little more forward than expected this year, but we just have to keep our minds focused on these games and just play our ball,' The Matrix said. 'We'll be able to hold it down until Amare gets back.'

As for Nash, the All-Star playmaker may have lost one of his favorite passing recipients for the time being, but he thinks it's way too early to count the Suns down and out. If nothing else, Stoudemire's injury will force the rest of the Suns to improvise and, in turn, become an all-around better team.

'Obviously it's not the best news we've had all year,' Nash said. 'It's out of our control, so we just need to go out and make the most of what we have and hopefully we'll be a better team when he returns. Who knows how this team is going to manifest itself. We have a bunch of new pieces. We only have four guys back from last year without Amare, so it's all unknown. We'll be ready to attack it any way we can. We have to be optimists and not cry over it right now. We have to go out there and be the best team we can be, and hope for a healthy recovery.'