Phoenix Suns Beat Memphis Grizzlies; Win Third Straight Summer League Game 100-88

The Suns once again started off slow with a stagnant looking offense and little success moving the ball. Kendall Marshall didn't look sharp as he couldn't get the offense in rhythm, and Marcus Morris couldn't hit a shot to save his life.

Fortunately, Archie Goodwin got the memo to come out more aggressive as he almost single-handedly kept the Suns in the game. He came out attacking the basket and shooting efficiently from three nailing both attempts from beyond the arc, starting with 10 points off 4/4 shooting in the first 6 minutes of the first quarter.

For the Grizzlies, it was Tony Wroten who came to play as he also made some aggressive moves to the basket and hit a couple shots beyond the arc.

Goodwin finally began to cool off a bit in the closing minutes of the first half though, still being aggressive but only shooting 3/6 from the free-throw line and missing his first field goal with about 50 seconds left in the quarter.

Phoenix struggled to find anyone other than Goodwin to put the ball in the basket as the Suns once again trailed after the first quarter 26-19.

The Suns second unit of Diante Garrett, Dionte Christmas, Chris Babb, Alex Oriakhi, and Arinze Onuaku began the second quarter, and the Suns again initially struggled to find a go-to player on offense, and continued making mistakes based on slow, or poor rotations on defense as well.

Still, the second unit was able to hang in there and not give up any ground, thanks to some sloppy play by the Grizzlies that resulted in a ton of transition points for the Suns. Not only that, the Suns were able to get to the line repeatedly, even when they couldn't get a good shot. This helped the Suns to slowly narrow the gap eventually take the lead off of three Chris Babb three-pointers and even an Alex Oriakhi fast break dunk.

The Suns were able to finish off the first half with the lead; up 50-47 at the end of the second quarter.

To start the third quarter, the Suns came out once again with the starting unit of Kendall Marshall, Archie Goodwin, P.J. Tucker, Marcus Morris, and Markieff Morris. This time Goodwin started off making plays defensively by breaking up a pass right off the bat, leading to a fast break layup by Marshall.

Marcus Morris also finally got on the board by hitting two free throws and scoring on a fast break dunk off a Marshall steal and look-ahead pass, and P.J. Tucker hit a couple post up jumpers to get the Suns off to a much better start as a whole unit.

Jack Cooley finally started making his mark for Memphis after being held to just 2/10 shooting in the first half, by getting inside for a few rebounds a dunk, and a nice post up jumper with and and-one as well. Still, the Suns were able to extend the lead with a much more evenly distributed offensive attack and some nice passes by Marshall in transition.

The Suns were definitely winning the in the fast break category as well, 13-2 through the third quarter, not including a multitude of free throw attempts as well.

Phoenix held serve and expanded the lead to 74-65 going into the final quarter.

Once again, it was mostly the Summer League equivalent of the Suns' second unit to begin the 4th quarter: Garrett, Christmas, Babb, Tucker, and Onuaku.

The game went back and forth a bit through the duration of the game, but once again it was all hands on deck for the Suns as Phoenix continued a fairly balanced offense overall.

P.J. Tucker maintained his impressive play to start the fourth by immediately getting to the line, hitting another jumper, and an easy lay-up to add another six points and bring his total to 18.

Diante Garrett racked up 12 assists thanks to a lot of transition plays and also some nice dishes while driving.

Onuaku continued to get his hands on some tough rebounds, and also score a little inside as well. He secured his first double-double of Summer League about midway through the fourth quarter.

Suns hung on to beat the Grizzlies 100-88 and go 3-0 in Summer league.

Archie Goodwin led the Suns, and all scorers with led all scorers with 22 points. Donte Greene led the Memphis Grizzlies with 18 points. Arinze Onuaku led in rebounds with 12 to go with his 13 points as well...Get this guy a jersey.

Takeaways:

Archie Goodwin is very talented.

Arinze Onuaku is clearly winning the big man roster battle with Oriakhi.

Chris Babb can shoot....but probably won't make the roster

Kendall Marshall is improving his game...baby steps folks!

and...

P.J. Tucker is pretty good (duh)

Our own Seth Pollack is live on the scene and will post a follow up with some video and quotes from after the game, and his take on things in the morning.

In addition, the Suns will now enter the Summer League Seeding Bracket in one of the top spots...more on that once it is announced.

Suns Win!!! Suns Win!!!