The Sports Xchange
Dec 27, 2017
PHOENIX -- Tyson Chandler slammed home an alley-oop dunk off a Dragan Bender inbounds feed with four-tenths of a second left, and the Phoenix Suns held off the Memphis Grizzlies for the second time in six days with a 99-97 win on Tuesday night.
Memphis tied the score at 97 when Jarell Martin slammed home a Tyreke Evans miss with six-tenths of a second left and the teams seems headed to overtime.
With the subsequent inbounds play moved to midcourt, Bender threw the ball just over the far side of the rim, where Chandler was waiting to slam it down.
Devin Booker had 32 points in his return to the lineup for the Suns, who beat the Grizzlies 97-95 on Dec. 21 when Evans missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Booker and TJ Warren had four points each during a 9-0 run early in the fourth quarter that put Phoenix ahead, and the Suns carried the lead all the way down to the final second.
Warren finished with 17 points for Phoenix, which gave coach Jay Triano his 100th NBA win.
Evans had 25 points and Marc Gasol scored 18 for Memphis, which lost for the 20th time in its past 24 games.
Booker fouled out in the final minute but wasted no time getting into the flow. He scored or assisted on 14 of the first 17 Phoenix points, with his 3-pointer giving the Suns a 17-10 lead. Warren completed the 12-0 run on a jumper with 3:24 left to make it 21-10 Phoenix.
Booker had 20 points in 17 first-half minutes, and the Suns' starters had 47 of the team's 57 points.
The Suns (13-23) shot 59 percent from the field and led 29-19 after one quarter.
Memphis (10-24) scored the first seven points of the second quarter to get within 29-26 on an Evans 3-pointer with 10:21 left. Gasol and Evans combined for 21 of their 29 first-half points in the quarter, and the Grizzlies were within 57-53 at intermission.
The Suns were still ahead 70-65 late in the third quarter when the Grizzlies went on a 15-6 run and pushed ahead 80-76 on a Dillon Brooks fastbreak layup a minute into the fourth.
NOTES: Grizzlies F JaMychal Green (knee) and F Chandler Parsons sat out the game (rest, knee). Parsons had skipped the back end of back-to-back games all season, but this time he missed the first game. ... Memphis interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff said G Mike Conley, who has missed the past 22 games with a sore left Achilles, is practicing and improving. However, no date is set for Conley's return. ... Suns G Isaiah Canaan scored at least 10 points in each of his first five since he was signed Dec. 13. However, the streak ended Tuesday when he scored four points and missed both of his shots from the floor.