The Memphis Grizzlies fell 131-105 to the Phoenix Suns inside FedExForum on Monday night, as a two-point game entering the fourth quarter turned into a 40-16 collapse that continues a pattern Memphis has not been able to escape.
For three quarters, this was played on Memphis’ terms.
The Grizzlies trailed just 91-89 entering the fourth, staying connected through pace, execution, and timely scoring. It was not perfect, but it was controlled. The kind of game where one or two possessions decide everything.
Even Phoenix felt it.
“We just felt that we didn’t guard well enough in the first half… we just couldn’t break it open,” Suns head coach Jordan Ott said. “It comes down to the possession game… you could feel the intensity picking up late in the third.”
That was the tension. Memphis kept it that way, even as Phoenix’s top players carried the load — Devin Booker led all scorers with 36 points, Jalen Green added 21, and Collin Gillespie finished with 11 points and 10 assists — production that held control until the game finally tilted.
Then the fourth quarter arrived.
And the game did not slip.
It broke.
A 19-4 run to open the quarter flipped control instantly. What had been a one-possession game became a double-digit deficit before Memphis could reset. From there, the Suns closed the quarter 40-16 and the door with it.
“We turned it over a lot… turned it over three times in the first two and a half minutes,” Grizzlies head coach Tuomas Iisalo said. “Gave up offensive boards and transition baskets… they finished with 34 more field goal attempts. Very difficult to win.”
That is where the game was decided.
Phoenix attempted 109 shots. Memphis attempted 75.
That is not pace.
That is possession control.
Memphis committed 23 turnovers, and the Suns turned them into 28 points. Four of those turnovers came to open the fourth.
“Our group… we had four straight turnovers. That definitely flipped the momentum,” Cedric Coward said.
That stretch did not just hurt.
It defined everything that followed.
“I didn’t play to the standard I know I needed to… If we clean up the mistakes, turnovers and giving up fast break layups, it doesn’t look like that,” Coward added. “When you give a team like that momentum, especially with guys like Booker and Jalen Green, it becomes a problem.”
“It kind of got away from us on the offensive glass,” GG Jackson II said.
It showed in every extra chance Phoenix created.
The Suns outscored Memphis 24-8 in second-chance points and controlled the paint 68-54. Missed rebounds turned into extended possessions. Extended possessions turned into pressure. And once the game sped up, Memphis never slowed it back down.
From Phoenix’s side, the shift was intentional.
“We just couldn’t break it open early,” Ott said. “But that group late… our defense led it. We got out in transition, moved the ball, and that’s when it opened up.”
Once it opened, it stayed open.
Memphis had enough to be in position.
Tyler Burton led the Grizzlies with 17 points. Cam Spencer added 16 points and five assists. GG Jackson II and Jahmai Mashack each finished with 14, with Mashack taking on extended defensive responsibility against Booker.
For three quarters, it held. That is what makes this one land the way it does.
This was not a game Memphis was chasing. It was a game it had.
Until the fourth quarter demanded execution, possession, and composure.
Once those slipped, everything followed. The Grizzlies keep arriving at the same place, and the same quarter keeps deciding it.
Until that changes, it will not matter how close Memphis gets.
Up Next
The Grizzlies will continue their homestand at FedExForum as they host the New York Knicks, looking to change what the fourth quarter has come to mean.