Phoenix, AZ – Goran Dragic's layup with 0.5 seconds left lifted the Phoenix Suns past the Memphis Grizzlies, 82-80, on Wednesday.
Rudy Gay missed a jumper with 8.6 seconds remaining and Markieff Morris corralled the rebound and Phoenix quickly called a timeout.
Following the timeout, Dragic took the pass from out of bounds and drove to the basket, but was cutoff by Marc Gasol. Dragic, though, shook the big man with a spin move and dropped it in with just 0.5 showing.
The Grizzlies lobbed a pass near the basket in an attempt to tie the game before time expired, but the ball was swatted away and the Suns held on for their first win since Nov. 27.
Dragic finished with 12 points and eight assists while Jared Dudley and Shannon Brown added 15 points apiece for the Suns, who snapped a seven-game losing streak.
"It was a much needed win, obviously for us and once again it was against a real quality team," said Suns coach Alvin Gentry. "I thought our defense was really good. We struggled offensively, but I thought are defense was really good. We did a good job."
Gay poured in a game-high 21 points to go with 11 rebounds and Zach Randolph chipped in with 18 points and 10 boards for the Grizzlies, who have dropped two straight and three of five overall.
"We were not running our plays. We couldn't score. We were playing decent defense and getting stops but offensively we were not executing," Gasol said. "We were not cutting at the right time we were passing the ball too late. And it is hard to win when you don't execute."
The teams traded blows over the first 7 1/2 minutes of the final quarter until Marcin Gortat's hook shot put the Suns up 80-76 with just over four minutes to go.
Gay countered with a reverse slam to pull the Grizzlies within 80-78, and after going three minutes without a basket, Gay buried a 19-foot turnaround jumper to knot things up at 80 with 46.8 seconds left.
Memphis led 27-21 after the first 12 minutes. Randolph dropped in 10 points in the frame after going 5-for-7 from the field. The Suns shot just 34.8 percent from the floor in the period.
The Suns cut it to 46-43 at the break after holding the Grizzlies to just 7- of-21 shooting in the period before tying the game at 63-all after three quarters of play.
Game Notes
The Suns have overcome five double-digit deficits this season ... Phoenix has won three straight at home versus Memphis. The home team has won the last five games of the series .... The Suns held the Grizzlies to a season-low 34 points in the second half ... Gasol had 15 points for Memphis.
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