Phoenix Suns roll to 2 game winning streak after beating Memphis Grizzlies – NBA Recap
On Saturday night Phoenix Suns improved to 12-9 at home after beating the Memphis Grizzlies 98-91. Suns displayed arguably their best performance of the current NBA season and sent a clear message out that they are a serious contender
for the play offs this time around.
To take down a team that has been on a roll lately and been resting since Wednesday was quite a task.
"That felt good. We beat a really good team that is probably playing as well as anyone in the league”. Suns coach Alvin Gentry said. “We did a good job on Gasol ... who is as smart as any player in the league. Marcin (Gortat) did
a good job on him. Robin did a great job on him."
Phoenix received a big boost from Jared Dudley as he netted 19 while Marcin Gortat tallied 15 along with 9 rebounds. Forward Grant Hill recorded 14 points. Veteran talisman Steve Nash handed 15 assists and recorded 11 points and
Robin Lopez scored 11 as well.
Channing Frye collected 10 points in the 19th win of the season for Phoenix.
Marc Gasol tallied a game high 21 points while Rudy g*y chipped in with 19 and Marreese Speights had 10 points for Memphis.
Grizzlies took a 12-6 lead early in the opening frame but they faced a resilient show from Suns afterwards. After a closely contested phase in the game, Memphis managed to conclude the segment with a slender 29-26 margin. Memphis
raced away at the start in the 2nd frame with a 10-2 run and left the hosts at 39-28.
Deep into the quarter, they stretched their lead to 46-35 but Marcin Gortat netted a jumper that translated into a huge 18-5 run. With this burst, the Suns capped off the segment ahead by 53-51. Midway through the 3rd
Phoenix had stretched their lead to 69-63 but Memphis brushed that aside with 7 unanswered points and converted their 6 points deficit into 1 point, 70-69, lead.
They couldn’t though hold on to that advantage as the Suns reeled off a 10-2 run and regained an 80-73 edge. Memphis could only reduce the gap by 1 point with Phoenix leading the scores 80-74 as the game entered into its decisive
quarter.
With 9:42 left in the final period, the Suns pulled away with a decisive 16-9 run and took a 96-85 advantage. The away side tried to trim that with a 6-2 run but they could only reduce it to 98-91, as the last 1 minute and 37 seconds
of the game remained scoreless.
Suns shot 80.0% from the charity stripe while the visitors connected on 73.7% from the same spot. Memphis coach Lionel Hollins elucidated the failure reasons.
"We gave up 17 offensive rebounds and we did not get to the free throw line (enough),”
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