ROTATION: Starters -- Point guard Leandro Barbosa, Shooting guard Jason Richardson, Small forward Grant Hill, Power forward Amare Stoudemire, Center Shaquille O'Neal. Bench -- Forward Matt Barnes, Guard Dee Brown, Forward Louis Amundson, Center Robin Lopez, Forward Jared Dudley.
PLAYER NOTES: --C Shaquille O'Neal climbed up a rung on the NBA's all-time scoring ladder for the second time in as many nights. With a patented O'Neal slam with nine minutes left, Shaq passed Oscar Robertson (26,710) for eighth just 24 hours after putting Dominique Wilkins in his rear-view mirror. O'Neal ended the game with his 11th double-double (24 points, 13 rebounds) and his second in two nights.
--F Amare Stoudemire had a road trip to forget. A night after he lasted just 23 minutes due to foul trouble in Oklahoma City, Stoudemire picked up three fouls in just eight minutes against Memphis -- he talked his way into two technical fouls from referee Bill Kennedy and was ejected with 3:51 left in the first half. He wound up with eight points and four rebounds in a game where he figured to put up big numbers.
--F Louis Amundson took advantage of some extra playing time -- thanks to Amare Stoudemire's ejection -- to reach double-figures for the first time in his NBA career with 10 points and eight rebounds in 17 productive minutes. Amundson had seven points and seven rebounds in the first half, helping to keep the Suns within striking distance as they struggled in the first half.
--F Grant Hill is becoming the defensive stopper the Suns need. A night after holding Kevin Durant to 18 points -- five under his average -- in Oklahoma City, Hill kept Memphis' Rudy Gay under wraps. Gay scored only 14 points on 6-for-15 shooting while Hill not only scored 15 points himself but tied a career high with six steals.
--G Leandro Barbosa ran the show with Steve Nash out of action and had another big game against the Grizzlies. After scoring 27 points in a win over Memphis last month in Phoenix, Barbosa went one better with 28 points on 10-for-18 shooting, including 4-for-6 from three-point range.
MEDICAL WATCH:
--G Steve Nash felt better on Tuesday but, with the Suns off until Friday's home game with Los Angeles, sat out the Memphis game to rest his troublesome back. Nash was forced from Monday's game in Oklahoma City with back spasms. He should be good to go against the Clippers on Friday.
--G Goran Dragic did not accompany the team on the two-game road trip suffering a bout with the flu and an accompanying rash. Dragic should rejoin the team when practice resumes on Thursday.
