PHOENIX — The Suns would have taken a win any way it might have come, after losing seven straight and being faced with the task of taking down a Grizzlies team that has gotten off to a strong start this season, and had just beaten this Phoenix team in Memphis a mere seven days ago.
But winning with defense, by holding the Grizzlies to a season-low 34 second-half points while shooting just 38.2 percent from the field, making only 5-of-22 from three-point distance, and still needing a virtual buzzer-beater to get the job done? No one could have predicted that.
That’s how it played out in Phoenix on Wednesday, with the Suns pulling out an 82-80 win over the Grizzlies to get back on the winning track for the first time in more than two weeks.
“We really needed that win, and it feels great,” Goran Dragic said afterward.
Things began in this one the same way they ended up for the Suns in Memphis. Zach Randolph dominated in the first quarter offensively, largely due to the defensive strategy employed by the Suns, which was to play him straight up and make him beat them as opposed to doubling and allowing wide open looks from beyond the three-point arc.
Randolph had 10 first-quarter points, but finished with just 18. Suns head coach Alvin Gentry said afterward that they changed the defensive strategy on him mid-game by using a zone defense, and that made all the difference.
“We played a zone some,” Gentry said. “But we just weren’t going to run around and spread our defense out to where they could start making three point shots. So if you go back [and look], they only took 10 of them. We were able to guard the three-point line.
“We tried to limit the three-point shooting by just playing Zach straight up. We did that tonight, but we tried to be a lot more active on him, trying not to let him catch the ball and trying to make him work to get the basketball, where he wasn’t just posting up.”
Stopping Randolph was key on a night where only three Memphis players finished in double figures, with Rudy Gay leading the team in shot attempts but connecting on just 7-of-17 from the field.
Still, the game came down to the last couple of possessions. And the Suns were able to finally get a bucket to fall with the game on the line, after suffering through so many failed attempts in similar situations in games past.
The game was tied at 80 with 7.7 seconds remaining, and the Suns had possession. Dragic had the ball at the top of the arc, and made his move almost immediately. After getting the switch that Phoenix wanted on the pick-and-roll, Dragic was able to maneuver around Marc Gasol and flip in the game-winning hook shot at the rim in the game’s final second.
“The play was zipper up for me, and then play pick and roll and take that last shot,” Dragic said. “I saw the open gap on the right side and tried to get past Gasol. He denied that, and I pump-faked him — I don’t know if he jumped, I didn’t see that — but then I just turned around to see that I had an open, easy layup hook, and I made it.”
Gentry admitted the play might not have been executed perfectly, but the one called was what he wanted all along — a high pick and roll, with plenty of options available for his point guard to choose from.
“We wanted to go a high screen-and-roll, we wanted to try to keep the floor open,” Gentry said. “We had a couple of plays that we initially called — we were going to run a play, but then it was going to be a shot right away, and we didn’t want to do that. We wanted to try to use as much of the clock as we possibly could. So we went high screen-and-roll, and Goran just made a great play.”
It was a big win for a Suns team that was desperate for it, but it certainly wasn’t a blueprint for success moving forward. There was a late scoring drought and more lineup fluctuation for a team that has already endured more than its fair share of that in the early part of the season.
But wins have been in short supply in Phoenix recently, so the Suns will take one any way it comes.
