Conley pours in 38 as Grizzlies sink Suns
PHOENIX -- Mike Conley scored a career-high 38 points, and the Memphis Grizzlies hit 16 3-pointers while rolling to a 115-96 win over the Phoenix Suns on Monday.
Conley tied a career high by hitting seven 3-pointers (on 10 attempts) and had nine assists for Memphis, which led by as many as 30 points and won back-to-back games for the first time since Jan. 6-8.
Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph added 18 points each for the Grizzlies, who sank 10 or more 3-pointers for the 24th time this season. Memphis (29-21) hit 16 of 28 in the game, one shy of the franchise record for made threes.
Seven of the 10 Memphis players who played during the first three quarters had at least one 3-pointer, helping the Grizzlies beat the Suns for the 10th time in 12 meetings.
Devin Booker had 22 points to lead the Suns, who lost their fourth straight overall and third straight at home. Marquese Chriss had a career-high 20 points, Eric Bledsoe 14 and P.J. Tucker had 11 before he was ejected with two technical fouls with 6:27 left in the game.
The Suns (15-33) have allowed at least 112 points in their four straight losses.
The Grizzlies jumped out a quick 7-2 lead and pushed the lead to 14-7 on two Chandler Parsons free throws. Gasol had 10 points in the first quarter as both Phoenix centers, Tyson Chandler and Alex Len, picked up two fouls while defending him.
Booker had seven points in the quarter for Phoenix, who pulled within 31-28 by the end.
The second quarter belonged to Conley and the Grizzlies. Conley had eight straight points, including two 3-pointers, and Randolph capped a quick 11-2 run with a 3-pointer to give Memphis a 45-35 lead.
Conley had 14 of his 23 first-half points in the quarter, and his 9-foot floater with 30.7 seconds left gave Memphis its biggest lead to that point at 59-46.
Memphis stretched the margin to as many as 20 three times in the third quarter and to 30 at 109-79 on a Gasol dunk 6:16 left to play.
NOTES: After missing the first 49 games of the season following surgery on his left ankle, Grizzlies F Brandan Wright was cleared to play Monday. He scored six points in five minutes off the bench. ... Memphis F JaMychal Green, bothered by a right knee injury, was able to start. He finished with seven points and eight rebounds in 28 minutes. ... Both Phoenix G Devin Booker (25.6 points) and G Eric Bledsoe (25.2) begn the night averaging more than 25 points a game in January. No Suns player averaged 25 points for an entire month since Amar'e Stoudemire (26.4) in April 2010. The last time two Suns averaged 25 points a game for the same calendar month was Walter Davis (27.9) and Larry Nance (27.8) in April 1987. ... Memphis C Marc Gasol averaged 29.1 points over the previous seven games. He broke his brother Pau's franchise record for most points in a five span with 161 from Jan. 15-25.