The Phoenix Suns remain in the hunt for one of the six guaranteed NBA Western Conference playoff spots as they embark on a grueling end-of-regular-season schedule.
The Suns (41-33) will play six of their remaining eight regular season games on the road, starting with Monday’s game in Memphis against the Grizzlies (25-49).
Phoenix, in seventh place in the West, finds itself 3 1/2 games behind the sixth-place Houston Rockets. Mathematically, the Suns could finish anywhere from third to sixth, although, realistically, moving into fifth-place, held by the Minnesota Timberwolves (45-29), or sixth, held by the Rockets (44-29) is more attainable.
If the Suns are unable to improve their position, they are guaranteed a spot in the four-team play-in tournament.
The scenario makes for an interesting final two weeks.
After playing road back-to-backs at Memphis and Orlando, the Suns travel to Charlotte to play the Hornets on Thursday and to Chicago to play the Bulls on April 5.
Back-to-back home games against the Rockets (April 7) and the Dallas Mavericks (April 8) break up the road swing, which concludes with challenges against the Los Angeles Lakers on April 10 and Oklahoma City Thunder on April 12.
The Suns are hoping they have recovered from a mid-March five-game losing streak by winning two of their past three games, including Saturday’s 134-109 victory over the visiting Utah Jazz.
In the win, Jalen Green scored 31 points on 13 of 22 shooting. He was 5-for-11 from long range and added six rebounds.
“My defense got my energy going,” Green said. “It always starts with defense. I keep saying we can score how many (points) we want with our defense. Our defense fuels us.”
Suns guard Grayson Allen said it was difficult enduring the recent losing streak, but said “in most of (those) games we put ourselves in position to win the game.”
Memphis snapped a five-game losing streak Saturday by surviving against the Bulls in the closing minutes. Cedric Coward made two free throws with 6.5 seconds left to give the Grizzlies a three-point lead. After the Bulls got two free throws from Josh Giddey with 4.0 seconds to go, Chicago stole the inbounds pass but Collin Sexton’s game-winning layup came after the buzzer.
“Cedric plays with a lot of poise,” said Memphis coach Tuomas Iisalo. “He has a rare quality for a (wing) player. He can go to the post and create out of there. Overall, I thought we played with a lot of poise down the stretch.”
Coward had his best game since returning from a three-game absence due to personal reasons. Coward finished with 24 points and nine rebounds and was 10 of 19 shooting.
“Right now, he’s a featured guy,” Iisalo said. “When you look at our roster, he’s the featured guy, and teams put a lot more emphasis on stopping him. I think he’s done a great job letting the game come to him.”
The Grizzlies had lost 13 of their previous 14 games before defeating the Bulls. Playing without five key rotation members — including Ty Jerome (ankle), Cam Spencer (back) and Jaylen Wells (big toe) — Memphis withstood Chicago’s rallies with a roster that listed three players on 10-day contracts and one, Adama Bal, making his NBA debut.
After meeting the Suns on Monday, the Grizzlies play two more home games (Wednesday against New York and Friday against Toronto) to end their current six-game homestand.
