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Suns-Grizzlies Preview

Dec 5, 2015 - 8:33 PM Being better at closing out tight games is a big reason the Memphis Grizzlies haven't lost to the Phoenix Suns over the past two seasons.

It's something that also cost Phoenix dearly this week.

Memphis looks to regroup from one of its worst performances by winning an eighth straight matchup with the Suns, who enter FedEx Forum on Sunday mired in a three-game losing streak comprised of down-to-the wire defeats.

The Grizzlies (11-9) would be very happy with how things were going if not for their archnemesis. The Grizzlies have won eight of 11, but two of the losses were to San Antonio - against whom they have a 2-12 record starting with the 2013 Western Conference finals.

Memphis was handed its most lopsided defeat in a month with a 103-83 home loss to the Spurs on Thursday.

"Even though it is December, you still want to try to set a precedent heading towards the New Year," forward Matt Barnes said. "But, we've still got a lot of time, and we're going to get our stuff together."

While letting the Spurs shoot 50.0 percent, the Grizzlies were held below 40.0 for the first time in 11 games. They fell to 0-5 when that happens and 2-7 when not surpassing their season average of 20.7 assists.

"We've got to move the ball better," said Marc Gasol, who had 15 points after scoring a career-high 38 in Tuesday's win at New Orleans. "We've got to move our bodies. We've got to run faster. We've got to get to the offense a little quicker. It's that simple. For us to be that efficient, we've got to run the floor, we've got to get more assists."

The Grizzlies also could use better 3-point shooting, ranking last in the West at 30.7 percent after going 2 of 16 on Thursday.

Phoenix (8-12) is among the league's best at 39.5 percent, but offense hasn't been the problem lately.

The Suns have lost seven of eight, giving up an average of 113.4 points and 44.1 percent from 3-point range. They've surrendered at least 30 points in the fourth quarter in all but one of those games.

Since winning in Toronto last Sunday to open a six-game road trip, Phoenix has lost the last three stops by a combined 11 points. The Suns blew a six-point lead in the final period in Brooklyn, fell in overtime at Detroit and wasted a 10-point advantage in the fourth of Friday's 109-106 defeat in Washington.

"We gotta finish games out at the end of the day," forward P.J. Tucker said. "That's three in a row we should have won."

There's been a similar problem when playing Memphis. The Suns led by seven with under two minutes to play in the last meeting but lost 102-101 on Feb. 2, and they dropped the previous matchup in double-overtime. Phoenix has held a second-half lead in all seven meetings since the beginning of 2013-14 but lost them all.

Mike Conley keyed last season's three-game sweep with an average of 24.0 points. The Grizzlies are 7-1 this season when he scores at least 17.

He could be headed for another big game against the Phoenix backcourt. An opposing guard has scored at least 29 in four of the past five games, including Washington's Bradley Beal and Detroit's Reggie Jackson with 34 apiece.

Starters Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight, accounting for nearly 44 points per game this season, are minus-51 and minus-48, respectively, during Phoenix's 1-7 slump.

Center Tyson Chandler (hamstring) could miss a fifth straight game.