Phoenix Suns enters Tuesday’s game against the host Memphis Grizzlies in the hope of turning a recent decline and keeping his playoffs hope.
Suns has dropped eight of its last ten matches, including Sunday’s setback 127-109 to Toronto Raptors.
“We have to find ways to get winnings,” said Phoenix coach Mike Budenholzer.
Budenholzer hopes that Bradley Beal’s latest return to the starting lineup will be a catalyst. Beal was in the bench January 6 against Philadelphia but was re -entered in the five starting Saturdays in Chicago. Beal had 25 points, including an important 3-pointer late in the competition, to help Suns to a victory 121-117.
Beal who plays with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker seems to be Sun’s strongest alternative, according to Budenholzer.
“If we can get the right rhythm and find the right opportunities offensively and get all these guys to be aggressive and attacking, I think it’s potentially when we can be at our best,” Budenholzer said.
Beal returned to the starting lineup in favor of Tyus Jones. In Sunday’s loss to Toronto, Beal got 30 points on a team high 41 minutes.
Durant said to reverse the team’s latest struggle, there must be some improvements defensively. He said that Suns has made it difficult because they have not succeeded in preventing point runs.
“That’s usually how the game goes,” Durant said. “(Opponents) go off and just go on a movement towards us. Sometimes it’s hard to bounce back when teams score many points in a row. I have to take it if I want us to win.”
Durant succeeded only 15 points on 5-AV-15 shooting from the field towards Toronto. He missed each of his five 3-point attempts.
Memphis has also encountered a rough distance. Grizzlies has lost three of its last four, including Sunday’s road loss 129-123 to Cleveland Cavaliers.
The only victory in the last four matches came on Friday at Orlando, but it required an 11-1 run to end the match.
While Memphis never lets Sunday’s play against one of the NBA’s top teams come out of his hand, grizzlies were steamed by allowing 22 offensive returns. These offensive returns led to 31 points by Cavaliers.
“It judged us,” said Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins.
The tendency to allow an excessive number of offensive returns has been an issue this season, and Jenkins said it must be addressed before it becomes a bigger problem. Cleveland entered the game ranked 22 in offensive returns with 10.6 per match, but Cavs took 46.8 percent of its missed shots against Memphis. Grizzlies after Sunday ranked 25th crime boards allowed (12.1 per match).
“We got 123 against an elite defense,” Jenkins said. “You just can’t give a Team 31 Freebies. You can’t have it. This must be something we take up and own even more because it can be a Achilles heel for us if we want to get where we can get to as a team . ”
Grizzlies has been given more consistent efforts from Guard Ja Morant, who has endured an injury-tormented season.
He got 21 points against Cavaliers and added 10 assists with just one turnover. Morant has received 20 or more points in three of the team’s last four matches.
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