Colin Rafferty –
After a late night loss for those who watched in Memphis, the Grizz will face off against the Phoenix Suns tonight wrapping up a short West Coast trip.
With a two game trip, the important thing is to try and go .500 and learn how to win on the road.
The Grizz had a poor performance in the second half on Monday, but expect them to come out with a little bit more intensity. At least I hope so.
Injury Update: Santi Aldama is listed as QUESTIONABLE with shoulder soreness and Vince Williams Jr. has been upgraded from OUT to QUESTIONABLE.
For the Suns, Jalen Green is OUT and former Grizzlies player, Dillon Brooks is listed as OUT.
Phoenix is 1-3 on the season with the only win coming in a 120-116 win on opening night against the Kings. They have then lost to the Clippers, Nuggets, and Jazz. Giving up a career high 51 pts to Laurie Markkanen on Monday.
The Grizz should look to see a better performance out of the Suns defensively, but even then the Bluff City Bears should have enough talent to overwhelm them.
Devon Booker, Royce O’Neal, and former Grizzlies player Grayson Allen will need everything they can muster up. We have seen the Grizz off of a back-to-back where the first game was bad, and they responded.
Although this is not a back-to-back, the same feeling applies. They came out slow at first, found some good shots and got back into the game against the Warriors. But like that 2nd game of the season, second half was abysmal.
Gotta start fast tonight.
The Grizz still look for help from their young guys, Cedric Coward has shined and Javon Small has started to show that he is a guy that they can rely on when called on.
We need to see some good shooting from KCP, as he has stuggled so far but has gotten to the charity stripe to help the cause.
He is a vet, but with the injuries the Grizz have he will need to come alive in these early games.
Once they have guys back, he can sorta fall back into a guy that brings an edge and isn’t such a focale point of the offense. Some guys just thrive better with a couple more options ahead of them.
Additionally, Jaren, my guy, we gotta clean up the early fouls. It seems weird that he turned a corner recently, but the young buck Jaren who had goofy fouls has shown itself again.
I think this is ONLY because he feels he needs to be all over the place with the shortage of players out on the court.
Again I sound like a broken record but things will look and hopefully feel different when the team gets healthier.
Until then, we cheer, we watch, and we hope the Grizz can find a little consistency before the cavalry arrives.
Game tips off at 9 PM CST and can be seen on FanDuel Sports Network.
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