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Memphis Grizzlies at Phoenix Suns Game Preview: Lineup and Rotation Changes

By Leiland Tanner Updated
"It's not fun to get your heads kicked in a lot" Nash said after last night's 109-71 loss to Portland. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
"It's not fun to get your heads kicked in a lot" Nash said after last night's 109-71 loss to Portland. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Getty Images

Hey guys guess what!? It's a new day and time for another game! I think that's the only consolation we're going to have this year with the shortened season - we will be able to forget bad losses like last night and move on quickly to the next bad game.

The Suns (6-12) arrived back in Phoenix around 2am and have this beautiful Saturday to forget last night's abomination of a game in Portland and prepare mentally and physically for a younger Memphis Grizzlies (10-8) team hungry for a win. Yaaay! They'll probably watch film this morning and hold off on working out.

This is all that really needs to be said - the Suns need to win.

But for some extra Saturday morning reading please continue my good sirs and gentlewomen.

After last night's loss only two players took to social media to say anything. First was Jared Dudley -

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Embarrassing indeed. Their 109-71 loss last night was the third worst margin of defeat in Suns history. Was it Phoenix Suns basketball? No - but maybe it is the 2011-12 Phoenix Suns basketball because we're seeing a trend. Lots of turnovers - inconsistent scoring - and a lack of mental/emotional focus. These things have been quite common this season and have been major contributors to the worst start in Suns history since 1996-97 when they went 4-14 after booting Sir Charles Barkley.

You'll play with more energy and passion tonight? Hope so. Grant Hill was quoted after the game saying this,

"The thing that was surprising was that I thought we kind of folded... we stopped competing there as soon as they came out and hit us hard. Instead of hitting back, we just kind of folded."

More energy and passion are good starting points for writing this ship - and they're going to need LOTS of energy to keep up with the young guns of Memphis.

The second player to take to social media last night was Channing Frye, here's what he had to say on his Facebook page,

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This is not acceptable indeed. The Suns are trying but it isn't working. Trying sometimes isn't enough so do they actually deserve it? I personally think if they deserved it they would achieve it, they would be winning games if they deserved it. Deserving it means making the proper adjustments and executing and the Suns just haven't done that quite yet.

Speaking of adjustments... Alvin Gentry said of the starting lineup and rotation after the game,

"We are going to make a change, we're going to do something because obviously this is not working what we're doing now."

So expect some lineup changes for tonight's game - I don't have a clue what they might actually be but my only guess would be that the Rookie is out of the starting lineup.

The GRIZZLIES

Oh Yes the Grizzlies are grizzly all right. They've lost two games in a row - to Portland on Tuesday and to the Clippers on Thursday, but prior to that they were enjoying a very strong 7-game winning streak that had their team in the top 5 of nearly power poll on the interwebz.

The team had shot poorly from the field in their last two losses - but you better believe they are looking forward to breaking their slump against this Phoenix Suns team. Everybody seems to be doing that these days.

It appears Zach Randolph won't be playing tonight because he is resting a bruised knee - but I won't even consider that a positive for the Suns given their recent performances against teams missing key players.

Here's a look at their roster:

FG 3PT FT Rebounds Misc
G M M A Pct M A Pct M A Pct Off Def Tot Ast TO Stl Blk PF PPG
Rudy Gay 18 36.4 7.8 16.8 46.5 0.8 2.3 34.1 2.3 3.6 64.1 1.6 4.6 6.2 1.9 2.7 1.6 0.8 2.1 18.7
Marc Gasol 18 37.6 5.6 10.8 52.1 0.1 0.2 25.0 3.6 4.9 73.0 1.9 8.3 10.3 3.2 1.8 1.1 2.2 3.1 14.9
Zach Randolph 4 28.3 5.5 11.8 46.8 0.3 0.8 33.3 3.5 5.8 60.9 2.3 5.3 7.5 1.0 1.8 1.3 0.5 2.0 14.8
Mike Conley 16 33.6 5.1 11.2 45.3 0.8 2.4 33.3 1.8 2.1 87.9 0.2 2.5 2.7 7.4 2.4 2.7 0.1 2.2 12.8
O.J. Mayo 18 25.1 4.6 10.3 44.1 1.5 3.6 42.2 1.3 1.7 80.0 0.4 2.8 3.2 1.7 1.8 0.8 0.4 1.8 11.9
Tony Allen 18 23.9 3.4 7.4 46.6 0.1 0.3 20.0 2.9 3.7 79.1 1.7 1.8 3.4 0.7 1.3 1.9 0.3 2.1 9.9
Marreese Speights 12 21.0 3.3 7.9 41.1 0.0 0.1 0.0 1.3 1.4 88.2 1.8 4.3 6.2 0.9 0.7 0.6 0.3 2.5 7.8
Dante Cunningham 18 17.1 2.0 4.3 46.8 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.7 1.2 61.9 1.1 2.3 3.4 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.3 1.9 4.7
Quincy Pondexter 18 15.1 1.8 4.1 45.2 0.1 0.6 9.1 0.8 1.3 58.3 1.0 1.3 2.3 0.4 0.6 0.2 0.1 1.4 4.5
Josh Selby 13 11.9 1.6 3.8 42.9 0.2 0.8 20.0 0.6 0.8 80.0 0.2 0.6 0.8 1.8 1.6 0.4 0.0 0.8 4.0
Sam Young 13 10.8 1.7 4.2 40.0 0.0 0.5 0.0 0.6 0.8 80.0 0.7 1.3 2.0 0.3 0.6 0.5 0.2 0.4 4.0
Jeremy Pargo 13 14.0 1.7 4.8 34.9 0.2 1.0 15.4 0.4 0.5 83.3 0.6 0.6 1.2 2.2 1.1 0.4 0.0 1.2 3.9
Hamed Haddadi 4 6.5 0.8 1.8 42.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 1.0 100.0 1.5 2.0 3.5 0.5 1.0 0.0 0.0 2.3 2.5
Josh Davis 12 9.2 0.7 1.9 34.8 0.3 0.9 27.3 0.3 0.7 50.0 1.1 0.7 1.8 0.5 0.3 0.5 0.1 1.4 1.9

Rudy Gay is a bonafide Suns-Killer. He averages about 25 ppg against the Suns and more recently Mike Conley has proven to give Steve Nash a VERY hard time penetrating the lane and even bringing the ball up because he is a very very sneaky snake.

It has been the perimeter shooting that has gone south for the Grizzlies - it will be the Suns job to make sure that their perimeter shooting stays sub-par if they hope to get a win tonight.

Here are my keys to this game.

Euty-KEYS

  • Limit Turnovers
  • Consistently Score
  • Score More Than 9 Points in Any Given Quarter.
  • Keep Rudy Gay in Check
  • Maintain Energy for 4 Quarters
  • Get a win.

Is that too much to ask for?

Next Game

Memphis Grizzlies
@ Phoenix Suns

Saturday, Jan 28, 2012, 7:00 PM MST
US Airways Center

Memphis Grizzlies at Phoenix Suns Game Preview

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