Sons and Brothers: Prep Charter products Marcus and Markieff Morris are reunited in Phoenix

"I'm not Marcus," he said, shaking his head. "Try again."

But there wasn't a hint of anger, or even annoyance, in his response. The mistake was honest, and the reason was awesome - because "The Twins" are back together once more.

Fraternal twins, close friends and basketball teammates from grade school to Prep Charter to Kansas University, Philadelphia's Marcus and Markieff Morris were forced by the 2011 NBA draft to do what no one had done to them before - separate. They were born 7 seconds apart and drafted 5 minutes apart that June, with Markieff going to the Suns as the 13th player selected in the first round before Marcus headed to the Houston Rockets with the very next pick.

As close as you can get on the board, but not nearly close enough in life.

Suddenly, the one-on-one games were over. "We've played about a trillion times," Marcus said. "I think I have the edge on him, but he's right behind me."

What gives Marcus the edge? "I blow past him and get a layup because I'm a little quicker than he is," he said - not bragging, just stating a fact.

Suddenly there were no more nightly video-game battles. The standing bet is: Loser does the chores. "Dishes, taking out the garbage . . . it was all on the line," Markieff said.

But the biggest loss was a sense of self, with someone so close so far away.

"We've always been together," Markieff said. "We are different people, but we both have a best friend in each other. We're so used to it. If we'd done things separately, maybe being together would have been different or annoying, but for us it was all we knew. It was always strange to be apart. After 21 years of being with him every day, the separation was tough. It was uncomfortable."

It was even harder because Marcus, who played in only 17 games as a rookie, felt like an outsider with the Rockets.

"Coming out of college, I felt Phoenix knew what I could do. But I felt that Houston was just taking the next best available player," Marcus said. "I really didn't feel like I was going to be part of their future from the beginning."

The twins talked on the phone daily, encouraged each other constantly, critiqued each other's performances mercilessly and, as Markieff said, "We just prayed for something to happen."

With the trade deadline looming, Phoenix was hopelessly out of the playoff race and looking to rebuild and audition their young players. On the bus before the Feb. 21 game at Golden State, Markieff got a call from Marcus, who was taken off the active roster and was told a trade was coming.

But where? The injury-riddled Boston Celtics were interested. Another team was sniffing around. And then there was Phoenix, which had tried to trade for Marcus on draft night and for the next 18 months, but couldn't get a deal done.

The Suns offered a second-round pick - Boston didn't have one to offer - and the deal was done.

"When we finally knew he was coming here . . . just an amazing thing," Markieff said. "God makes stuff happen for a reason and I feel like he knew we needed to be together."

The Morris family and particularly the twins have always been close - sometimes even closer out of necessity. During their junior year in high school, while Marcus and Markieff were in class, the family house on Erie Street burned to the ground. No one was hurt - everyone was at work or school - but the house was a total loss.

"It was an electrical fire, something to do with the cat, we think," Marcus said. "We came home to check everything out and all we had left was the clothes on our backs."

Prep Charter had a game that night, providing the perfect distraction. The twins suited up, played and won. The family stayed with relatives, and Marcus and Markieff joined another brother in their grandmother's basement in Hunting Park, warming the cold nights with kerosene lamps.

"The basement was only 6 1/2-feet high, so we both had to walk with our heads bent to the side," said Marcus, who at 6-9 is just a hair shorter than Markieff. "There were three of us sharing a queen-size bed. It was tough times but we got through it.

"You look back on things like that, and the opportunities you have now . . . we know we are blessed."

The first opportunity was at Kansas, where the twins helped the Jayhawks to a Big 12 title in each of their three seasons and 95 wins before opting for the draft. It was an exciting time, but staying together would be unlikely.

The Suns had a tough decision in the summer of 2011. The Suns' president of basketball operations, Lon Babby, knew one brother or the other would be available at 13. If both were, the Suns leaned toward Markieff because of their need for a power forward. Marcus was a wing, a position that was already overloaded in Phoenix.

"We spent a lot of time studying both of them," Babby said. "[Suns player personnel director] John Trelor spent time in Philadelphia before the draft with Markieff's mom, Angel - who's well-named, I might add - and we knew a lot about their background and their special relationship.

"As soon as we took Markieff and Houston took Marcus, we began discussions with Houston. Our notion all along was the sum would be greater than the two individual parts."

The push for a reunion only intensified when Houston gave Marcus permission to spend the summer of 2011 working out in Phoenix. "Markieff had a great summer and a great summer league, and everyone was reporting back how they were pushing each other," Babby said. "Marcus was already an honorary member of our family. But making it official took a lot longer."

Markieff Morris had flashes of great play as a rookie for the Suns, but a feeling of untapped potential lingered in the organization. And although Marcus was an intriguing player in his own right, there were multiple motives.

"Marcus has been helpful already, not only on the floor but in the locker room. He's shown some real leadership and his shot and defense are great additions," Babby said. "But it's also obvious that, as someone else said to me, he's like the batteries for Markieff. You can tell he's been different since the trade."

And the Suns, who had lost 24 of 31 games and hadn't had a two-game winning streak since before Christmas, have been energized as well. A night after the twins got late minutes in an overtime win over Minnesota, Marcus hit a big three-pointer late in regulation at San Antonio. Both Morris twins were on the floor for the entire overtime, when Phoenix held the Spurs without a field goal and handed the NBA's best team its first home loss in 3 months.

"Being on the floor again with my brother, it makes me more confident," Markieff said. "I kind of compare it to the Spurs in a way. Those guys - Tim Duncan, [Manu] Ginobili and [Tony] Parker have been together so long and doing the same things over and over, that's the key to what makes them special.

"In that way, it's the same with us. We've been together and everything we do on the floor is just instinct."

Two nights later, the twins combined for 27 points and 11 rebounds - Marcus hit four three-pointers and played 27 minutes - and the Suns beat the surging Atlanta Hawks for a third straight win.

While Shannon Brown, Michael Beasley and PJ Tucker watch from the bench, the Suns will give the Morris brothers, Wesley Johnson and first-round pick Kendall Marshall plenty of court time over the final 6 weeks. And the two brothers who once shared a cramped bed in a bone-chilling basement are now house-hunting - one with twin master bedrooms.

"We want six or seven rooms - a mini-mansion," Marcus said with a smile.

No more playing video games for chores. Someone other than mom cooking meals. But one thing, the most important thing, stays the same.

"Just seeing him every day and getting back to that competitive nature that we both have, or waking him up when he's sleeping the day away, just starting trouble," Markieff said. "Shouting at each other 1 minute and being friends again 5 seconds later, or breaking down film to talk about mistakes and how we can improve . . . saying things that only I can say to him or he can say to me. We have all that again."