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Game Preview: Phoenix Suns (16-32) at Memphis Grizzlies (30-16), 6PM AZ Time

As bad as the Phoenix Suns season has gone, losing twice as many games as they have won, they sure seem to pose a problem for the Memphis Grizzlies.

By Dave King
USA TODAY Sports

The Phoenix Suns play the Memphis Grizzlies in the third game of the season series tonight, with each team having won their home home game.

Season Series Review

In Game 1 of the season series in Memphis, the Suns held a lead for most of the second half and only succumbed in overtime when Zach Randolph caught fire for one of his best offensive games of the season.

In Game 2 in Phoenix, the Suns beat Memphis on a last-second stop-and-twist layup by Goran Dragic that was, at the moment, the biggest win on the young-ish season.

Tayshawn Prince for Rudy Gay

Now the Grizzlies are all kinds of discombobulated since trading away one of their best players and notes Suns killer, Rudy Gay, for Detroit's Tayshawn Prince last week. In the first game with the new guys, Memphis barely squeaked by Washington.

"I was worried," coach Lionel Hollins said. "You never know. We had new players on the bench, so we had more people to work with. But you never know how it is going to work out when you have new guys for the first game."

Other new acquisitions include young big men Ed Davis and Austin Daye.

Small Memphis Backcourt

For now, Jarryd Bayless is starting alongside Tony Allen and Mike Conley on the wing until Prince settles in to the new team. That makes for a small, quick back court and could, potentially, allow P.J. Tucker to guard Conley at the point while Dragic takes on the quicker but less physical Bayless. Mike Conley is now a scorer, averaging 17 shot attempts in the two games since Gay's trade.

Bad Road Team

While the season series and the potential wing matchups might appear promising to Suns fans, do not forget that the Suns are still only 4-20 on the road - worst in the West.

Lately, the Suns have returned their hold 'em and fold 'em ways in the second half of road games, hanging their heads once the home team gets a little second-half momentum. After keeping a lead in Sacramento in interim head coach Lindsey Hunter's debut, the Suns have folded in the second half in San Antonio, Dallas and Golden State.

Quotes out of the locker room following the Golden State sounded eerily similar to quotes all season: once we got down, we hung our heads (paraphrased).

Memphis stats

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 37 36.8 6.8 16.4 41.6 0.9 2.9 31.2 3.0 3.8 78.0 1.3 4.5 5.8 2.5 2.4 1.4 0.8 2.1 17.6
Zach Randolph 37 35.2 6.7 13.7 48.6 0.1 0.4 12.5 2.9 3.9 74.8 4.5 7.3 11.8 1.4 2.0 0.8 0.5 2.3 16.3
Marc Gasol 39 34.4 5.0 10.4 47.8 0.0 0.2 0.0 3.5 4.1 87.3 2.5 5.1 7.5 3.6 1.8 1.0 1.8 3.1 13.5
Mike Conley 38 34.4 4.5 10.9 41.2 1.3 3.6 36.8 2.8 3.4 82.8 0.6 2.1 2.6 6.0 2.6 2.3 0.3 2.0 13.1
Tony Allen 36 27.2 3.3 7.8 42.6 0.0 0.3 0.0 1.6 2.1 75.3 1.3 2.7 3.9 1.2 1.1 1.7 0.6 2.6 8.3
Quincy Pondexter 27 23.1 2.3 5.4 41.8 1.2 2.9 42.3 0.9 1.2 75.8 0.8 1.5 2.3 1.3 0.9 0.7 0.1 1.8 6.7
Darrell Arthur 27 17.2 3.0 6.2 47.9 0.1 0.4 27.3 0.6 0.9 69.6 1.0 2.1 3.1 0.7 0.9 0.4 0.6 2.1 6.6
Marreese Speights 39 14.5 2.7 6.2 43.2 0.1 0.1 40.0 1.2 1.7 70.8 1.9 2.9 4.8 0.4 0.9 0.2 0.7 2.2 6.6
Wayne Ellington 39 16.7 1.9 4.9 38.9 1.0 2.4 40.4 0.4 0.4 93.8 0.1 1.2 1.3 1.1 0.5 0.4 0.0 1.0 5.2
Jerryd Bayless 39 17.7 1.8 5.0 36.7 0.5 1.7 31.3 0.8 1.0 80.0 0.2 1.6 1.8 3.1 1.5 0.7 0.3 1.9 5.1
Josh Selby 10 5.8 0.6 2.2 27.3 0.1 0.6 16.7 0.7 1.1 63.6 0.0 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.7 0.2 0.0 0.7 2.0
Tony Wroten 8 4.3 0.4 1.8 21.4 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.6 0.8 83.3 0.4 0.6 1.0 0.6 0.3 0.1 0.0 0.3 1.4
Hamed Haddadi 11 6.5 0.6 1.6 38.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.2 50.0 0.8 1.2 2.0 0.3 0.3 0.1 0.4 1.0 1.4

No longer on Memphis: Rudy Gay, Darrell Arthur, Marreese Speights

Suns stats

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
Goran Dragic 39 32.2 5.0 11.2 44.7 1.3 3.9 31.8 2.7 3.8 71.1 0.7 2.1 2.8 6.1 2.3 1.5 0.3 2.6 14.0
Luis Scola 41 27.6 5.6 11.8 47.0 0.0 0.2 10.0 2.0 2.5 76.9 2.0 4.3 6.4 2.4 1.5 0.8 0.5 3.2 13.1
Shannon Brown 41 27.2 4.8 11.3 42.1 0.9 3.1 28.6 2.0 2.3 84.2 0.7 2.0 2.8 2.2 1.5 1.1 0.3 1.7 12.3
Jared Dudley 39 30.8 4.4 9.0 48.3 1.5 3.8 39.3 1.9 2.3 82.0 1.2 2.5 3.6 2.8 1.4 1.1 0.1 1.6 12.1
Marcin Gortat 41 32.2 5.0 9.4 52.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.7 2.5 66.7 2.2 6.7 9.0 1.3 1.6 0.7 1.9 2.2 11.6
Michael Beasley 37 21.5 3.7 9.9 37.6 0.7 2.1 31.6 1.3 1.8 72.3 0.9 2.7 3.6 1.9 2.0 0.4 0.6 1.5 9.4
Markieff Morris 41 20.2 3.2 7.8 41.1 0.5 1.6 28.8 0.8 1.2 67.3 1.6 2.8 4.3 1.3 0.9 0.9 0.8 2.5 7.7
Jermaine O`Neal 32 15.6 2.5 5.4 47.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.3 1.7 77.8 0.9 3.2 4.1 0.6 0.9 0.4 1.2 2.1 6.4
Sebastian Telfair 40 18.1 2.2 5.7 38.3 1.0 2.5 39.6 1.0 1.3 78.0 0.3 1.4 1.6 2.6 1.3 0.6 0.2 1.9 6.3
P.J. Tucker 39 20.6 2.0 4.4 45.9 0.2 0.7 33.3 0.6 1.0 61.5 1.2 2.3 3.5 1.0 0.6 0.5 0.3 1.8 4.8
Wesley Johnson 16 7.4 0.9 3.0 31.3 0.4 1.3 33.3 0.1 0.2 66.7 0.2 0.8 1.0 0.3 0.2 0.0 0.3 0.5 2.4
Luke Zeller 11 3.3 0.6 1.6 38.9 0.1 0.3 33.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.5 0.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.4 1.4
Diante Garrett 6 5.0 0.3 0.8 40.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.3 50.0 0.0 0.5 0.5 1.2 0.7 0.3 0.0 0.2 0.8
Kendall Marshall 11 4.6 0.3 1.0 27.3 0.1 0.5 20.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.7 0.5 0.1 0.0 0.3 0.6


Laker Lottery Watch

Lakers play at New Jersey tonight after barely beating Detroit on Sunday, who were still waiting for Jose Calderon to get cleared and were missing Tayshawn Prince. Lakers needed Detroit to miss three straight easy shots to seal the 1-point win.

Lakers may be winning some games lately, but they still don't look like a good team.

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