Well, three games in a row, three big men own the Grizzlies. A more disturbing trend I could not imagine...never thought I'd say this, but...

SAVE US DARKO!! HURRY UP AND GET HEALED!!!!!

Ok, I said it. Now how did the Grizzlies lose another game in which they held a lead for a darned large portion of the game????

We enjoy talking with fans and bloggers from other teams to see how they view their team, given that we obviously only have an outsider's viewpoint of them since we are so completely blinded by our own team.  As such, we were more than happy to exchange a Q&A with Ben York from Ben's Suns Blog in anticipation of tonight's home game against Phoenix.  You can head over there and see our answers to his questions here.

ESPN is reporting that Steve Nash, the starting point guard for the Phoenix Suns will miss tonight's game at the FedEx Forum due to back spasms that flared up the night before.

Nash has been a vital force in the Phoenix attack since signing as a free agent five seasons ago. He has won two MVP awards and has led his team into the playoffs every year since the 2000-01 season.

Shaquille O'Neal is also doubtful for this game as Head Coach Terry Porter prefers to rest Shaq for one game during back to back series. Last night Shaq and the Suns played in Oklahoma City.  However Shaq had a huge game against Oklahoma City last night and may play in spite of Porter's assertion that he wants the big guy to get some rest.

 Memphis has one final chance to put a big grin on their fans' faces as they host the Phoenix Suns tonight. 2008 has been a tumultuous year for the Grizzlies franchise but things appear to be turning around. The young players are dead legged with this being their 4th game in 5 days in four cities (Memphis to San Antonio to Minnesota and back to Memphis). Throw on top of that back to back overtime games and no one would fault the team for a slightly less than energetic effort but this is Memphis and the fans don't want to hear excuses. They want wins and those have not been coming lately. Kyle Lowry continues to excel as the starting PG and Mayo, Gay and Gasol have all looked strong at their positions but the gaping hole on the Grizzlies is PF where Arthur has the defensive intensity but is struggling with being a rookie in a veterans league and Warrick is scoring but not consistent enough on the defensive end.

Phoenix is a team in turmoil. The trades of Boris Diaw, Raja Bell and Shawn Marion have changed this team from the uptempo fun bunch to a more traditional style of play. Unfortunately Steve Nash has never excelled in a traditional offensive system and new Suns Grant Hill, Shaquille O'Neal and Jason Richardson haven't blended together much less function at 100% in Terry Porter's new system. The team that was the prototype of the fast paced fun style of basketball just 12 months ago is now an unhappy group of players. 2008 has been hard on a lot of teams. Throw on top of the general turmoil the problems that come with age as many major Suns players are getting very old and you have a team most likely looking at their last chance at glory.

The chief prankee was Darrell Arthur, but most of the rest of the Grizzlies got "punk'd" as well (and no, Kyle Korver's doppelganger was not in the building).

So why did this party go horribly wrong for the Grizzlies?

Memphis is coming off one of their most complete efforts of the season in their double overtime loss to San Antonio. For that they earned a day off to rest as they travelled to Minnesota to take on Al Jefferson and the TWolves. Memphis was led by O J Mayo who scored 29 points and Marc Gasol who's physical play in the middle kept San Antonio from pounding the ball inside for easy scores. Memphis is missing Darko Milicic for this game as he will be out 4-6 weeks with a broken knuckle on his right (non-shooting) hand. This has forced Memphis to move to a smaller lineup on the court. That smaller lineup didn't suffer on the boards against San Antonio but rebounding will need to be a focus for the team until Darko returns.

Duncan fouled out, and should have fouled out sooner. Bowen fouled out, and should have fouled out sooner. The zebras did not smile on the Grizzlies tonight. Yes, I am mentioning the officiating first, becuase it was a HUGE aspect of this game.

There was, however, a second consecutive night of incredibly competitive, physical, entertaining basketball courtesy of the Grizzlies. This result, however, was not quite as palatable, especially in light of the fact that how the result came to pass.

Let's dig a bit deeper, shall we?

 Memphis finally got off the schneid, breaking a 4 game losing streak with a home win over the Indiana Pacers last night.  It could prove to be a costly win though, as Darko Milicic suffered a broken knuckle and could be out for an extended period of time.  That's particularly bad news with the Spurs and Suns on the schedule for the next few games, given that his defense on Duncan and Shaq will be sorely missed.

Well, the old platitude (y'know I love 'em) about "costly wins" comes to mind. The Grizzlies took one from the Pacers 108-105 at the FedEx Forum tonight thanks to much-improved second-half defense and some late-game smarts (yep, said it).

Follow  me on down and I'll run down the rap about this one...

Memphis needed the holiday break as much as any team in the league.  They have been in a bit of a funk since their winning streak was snapped last week, losing their last 4 games, albeit with 3 of the 4 coming against playoff contenders (Hornets, Lakers, Mavericks).  Consistency, as expected, has been a problem, as the Grizzlies have gone toe-to-toe with the Western Conference top tier teams from New Orleans and Los Angeles, but were out of the game early against both Charlotte and Dallas, and never got on track in either of those games.  They need to get things sorted out and soon, as they have two games against the Spurs and one versus the Suns on the near horizon.