Suns get "Bear"ied in embarrassing second half, lose to Grizzlies 110-91

Recap:

The Suns were back at full speed with Eric Bledsoe rejoining Goran Dragic in the starting backcourt while the Grizzlies were without game time decision Zach Randolph.  Still, the shorthanded Grizzlies jumped out to an early 12-6 lead behind a balanced attack from what was left of their roster.  Dragic had a couple acrobatic moves around the basket to keep Phoenix close as the game mostly grinded along in halfcourt sets.

A blown fast break opportunity by the Suns, that included three point blank misses at the rim, with about a minute left in the quarter led to an uncontested dunk by Jon Leuer on the other end to give Memphis a four point lead to close the quarter.  The Suns were arctic from the field in the first period, shooting 9-27 from the field and 1-8 from three point range.  Ed Davis led the Grizzlies with seven points and six rebounds.

Grizzlies 23, Suns 19

Markieff Morris hit two quick buckets to give the Suns the lead (24-23) before Leuer came back with another powerful dunk, which is about two too many dunks to give up to him in a game.  Marcus Morris finally hit a three for the Suns, making them 2-12 on the game, to give them a 29-25 lead.  Another long distance bomb by Channing Frye stretched the lead to seven as the Suns gained a little bit of separation from their adversary.  The Grizzlies weren't going away, though, as Mike Conley scored seven straight points for Memphis and cut the lead to one (41-40) with a three pointer.  Marcus Morris answered Conley's last bucket with a three of his own to give him 13 points in the quarter.

In the midst of this back and forth Tony Allen left the game after taking a shot to his right hip, scraping a little more meat off of what was left of the Grizzlies' carcass.  A pair of and-ones in the waning moments of the half by P.J. Tucker and Bledsoe ballooned the Suns lead to 10 before Jamaal Franklin hit a jumper at the buzzer to bring Memphis back to within single digits.

Suns 54, Grizzlies 46

Tony Allen returned in the second half, as did a refocused Memphis squad that quickly eradicated the Suns eight point cushion.  Allen hit an 18 foot jumper from the corner to knot the game up at 59 about four minutes into the period.  They didn't stop there, either, as a dunk by Ed Davis stretched the Memphis lead to six (69-63), capping a 21-5 run.

While the Grizzlies were busy lighting up the scoreboard the Suns reverted back to the errant shooting from the first period, missing their first four attempts from three point range and falling to 4-19 on the game.  Dragic and Gerald Green were a combined 0-8 from deep at that point.  The offensively challenged Grizzlies pushed the lead to 76-69 as they connected on 10 straight (10-10) field goal attempts in the quarter.  Green finally connected on a late three, the Suns first make of the quarter, but a put back dunk by Davis gave Memphis an eight point lead headed into the final quarter.

Grizzlies 82, Suns 74

The beginning of the fourth quarter saw a new foe join in the pyrotechnics as Jerryd Bayless had back to back buckets to push Memphis's lead to 11.  The Morrii were back on the court fighting back for Phoenix, but there was a palpable difference between the energy of the two teams as Memphis was outhustling the Suns and engaging their crowd.  Leuer (that guy again) hit a jumper from the corner to push the lead to 92-79 and the Suns were stunned and dizzied.  Dragic tried to fight back and hit a three, then things got chippy as he and Bayless bumped into each other on the other end after a foul.  Despite seemingly mutual contact Goran was whistled for the tech.

That's just the way things were going...  And they quickly deteriorated even further.  The Suns were thoroughly flogged and there wasn't much else to write about a 19 point loss except that they flat out got their asses kicked.

Final score: Grizzlies 110, Suns 91

----------

Player of the Game:

Jon Leuer had career highs of 23 points (previously 19) and three blocks while tying his career high for rebounds with nine.  He knocked down 10 of 13 shots in the process.  Seriously, coming into this game he had a season high of six points.  He has career averages of 3.6 points and 2.1 rebounds in 81 games.  The Grizzlies basically had four players with a better stat line than any Phoenix Sun, but I have to give this to Leuer based on the fact that I had absolutely no idea this type of performance was even remotely possible for him going into tonight's game and it never even occurred to me that I might ever have the chance to give it to him.

---------

Comments of the Game:

Give the people what they want

Slava vs Kosta

----------

There is ALWAYS that one player

that just so happens to have a break out game against the Suns...  Tonight it looks as if it will be Ed Davis or Jon Leuer.

----------

Maybe we'd be better off with Zach than with Ed Davis, lol

----------

Archie got Leuered into that turnover.  He shouldn't be playing.

----------

We now return you to our regularly scheduled sucky team.

Already in progress.

----------

OK, Slava is in.

Time to go Ukrainian on their asses.

----------

"Leuer is in the zone"

Said Grizzlies commentator.  How many times has anyone ever said that?

----------

The Good:

The Suns recovered from a sluggish start with a 35 point second quarter incited by 13 points from Marcus Morris.  The Suns shot 14-22 in the period (.636) and closed on an 8-2 run.  The Morrii coming off the bench and producing for the second unit with more regularity has been a huge boost for the team this season.

----------

The Bad:

After not allowing a team to shoot over 50% from the field in their first 16 games, the Suns have yielded .512 and .548 in the last two...  And neither of those two opponents are offensive dynamos.  A game after allowing Utah to score a season high 112 points the Suns gave up a regulation season high 110 to Memphis.  The putrid defense is becoming a pattern.

When the Suns can't run or hit threes their offense is completely stagnant.  A 35 point outburst was accompanied by three quarters of 20 points or less.  The Suns were 7-29 from three point range tonight, which spelled their doom.  The team doesn't appear to have much recourse when those shots don't fall... and by much I mean any at all.

----------

The Ugly:

A 64-37 second half.  The Suns completely lost their equanimity in the third quarter as Memphis seized control of the game.  Then it got even worse as Phoenix rolled over and played dead in the fourth.  Goran's little love tap with Bayless was about the only evidence that the team even had a pulse going down the stretch.  Conley is a pretty solid basketball player.  Even Kosta can toss the rock around a little.  But the Suns literally gave up season highs of 23 and 21 to two guys (Leuer and Davis) whose previous season highs were six and 11 respectively.  In the end, it was Memphis's frontcourt that dominated the Phoenix Suns... a frontcourt missing two all-NBA caliber players.

----------

Final Thoughts:

After playing a bunch of tightly contested games to start the season things are getting a little loose on the Suns.  Phoenix has been punched in the mouth on a couple of previous occasions and they responded with haymakers of their own... but not tonight.  This was the first true blowout loss of the season, but it has shades of recent underwhelming performances that portend ominously going into a tougher stretch of games this month.  Hopefully the Suns can reverse course against Houston tomorrow night.  At least they won't have much time to let this loss fester in their minds.  But tonight the Grizzlies stole the Suns' picnic basket.