Prince and the Grizzlies welcome Suns to town

The Memphis Grizzles play their second game with new small forward Tayshaun Prince in the lineup Tuesday night when they host the Phoenix Suns.

Prince, who was acquired alongside Austin Daye and Ed Davis in a series of Grizzlies trades which sent Rudy Gay to the Toronto Raptors, came off the bench Friday night to score 14 points in a home victory over the Washington Wizards.

Prince played almost 32 minutes and shot 7-for-11 from the field in Memphis' 85-67 win.

"Most importantly, I bring defense," Prince told NBA TV on Friday night. "Offensively, I can't do the things Rudy Gay had done. I'm not an 18-20 point scorer. I'm going to try and provide as much leadership as I can."

Mike Conley scored 18 points and Marc Gasol notched a double-double with 13 points and 15 rebounds. Tony Allen and Jerryd Bayless scored 11 apiece and Zach Randolph only managed seven points, but hauled in 11 rebounds.

The Suns will try to even their record under interim head coach Lindsey Hunter at 4-4. They've lost two in a row, four of their last five and this is the second on a four-game road swing. Phoenix is 4-20 on the road, which is the second-worst mark in the NBA.

The Suns lost to the Golden State Warriors, 113-93 on Saturday. Michael Beasley continued his great play under coach Hunter with 24 points, but only three other Suns players - P.J. Tucker, Jared Dudley and Goran Dragic - scored in double digits.

The Warriors put this game away in the second half, outscoring the Suns, 65-43.

Phoenix has had some days of to practice and Hunter's main goal is just to show improvement.

"We'll focus on the fundamental things we've been working on and everything else will take care of itself," Hunter said after practice on Monday. "We had a really good, intense practice today. We'll continue to build, continue to sure up our foundation defensively."

The Suns will head to New Orleans on Wednesday night, then finish off the road trip on Friday night against the reigning Western Conference champion Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Grizzlies have won three of the last four against the Suns and Phoenix has lost three straight and five of its last six in Memphis.