The Phoenix Suns, going into their first road back-to-back of the season, were hoping that their depth would bail them out, counteracting some of the inevitable fatigue.
Though the starters did play limited minutes and the bench scored 37 points (right up against their season average of 40.5), it wasn't enough to overcome sloppy play across the board. The Suns committed 23 turnovers that led to 29 points for the Grizzlies and basically cost them the game as they fell 109-99 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.
Nash, despite accumulating 16 points and 11 assists in 30 minutes, still seemed uncharacteristically unsure directing the offense, particularly in pick and roll situations. Contributing to his frustrations was the continuing poor play of Robin Lopez, who, in 14 minutes, finished with only two points, two rebounds and two blocked shots.
Nash's only real support came from Grant Hill (19 points, 12 rebounds), Jason Richardson (17 points) and Hakim Warrick (16 points, five rebounds). Channing Frye's shot remained MIA (1-for-7) and offseason acquisition Hedo Turkoglu was largely absent (eight points, one rebound and one assist in 21 minutes).
Zach Randolph dominated for Memphis with 23 points and 20 rebounds, while Rudy Gay scored 22 and grabbed eight boards.
Overall, the Suns kept things relatively close, but could never quite overtake a noticeably spryer Grizzly team that gained some separation in a 33-23 third quarter.