On the morning of January 8, the NBA regular season continued, and the Suns played at home against the Grizzlies, and the game attracted much attention. In the first quarter, Nurkic hit a hook shot, and Booker and Durant threw and scored in the middle. The Grizzlies were sluggish on the offensive end, and Nurkic scored on a layup. Smart hit a three-pointer and Allen responded with a three-pointer. The Suns made a 13-4 start and stabilized their position, and the Grizzlies continued to chase points with good results. Booker controlled the ball and then assisted Allen to shoot a three-pointer from the right wing. Okogie assisted Booker and scored a three-pointer from the catch. At the end of the first quarter, the Suns suppressed the Grizzlies 32-26.
In the second quarter, Jaren Jackson was full of hands, and the players who came off the bench were also in excellent form. However, in the second half of the quarter, the grizzlies suddenly fell silent. Several times the ball was controlled by Smart, but it had no scoring effect. Bane barely touched the ball. The Suns barely held a five-point advantage to end the half. Allen shot accurately, shooting 3-of-4 from three-point range and scoring 11 points in the half.
In the third quarter, Bane scored on a right-handed layup, and Beal scored on a pull-up jumper from the baseline. Kennard scored a three-pointer from the top of the arc, and Nurkic assisted Durant and hit a turnaround shot. Smart advanced with the ball, handed it to Bane in the middle, and scored on a mid-range shot. Allen scored a three-pointer, and the Suns played steadily, still improving the advantage to around 10 points.
At the beginning of the final quarter, as Jackson scored consecutive points, the Grizzlies blasted out a 10-1 start, chasing a 2-point difference, and the situation changed abruptly. After a timeout, Durant continued to play iron, and Smart assisted his teammate on a three-point shot.
Booker and Durant scored one after another to regain the advantage. Bane responded with a three-pointer, and the Suns failed to score in time, and the game became more difficult. In the last 18 seconds, Allen was fouled directly, and Bane hit two free throws. The Suns eventually lost to the Grizzlies, who finished third from the bottom in the West. Booker had 24 points and eight assists, and Nurkic had 18 points and 19 rebounds. Durant had 23 points and 10 boards. Smart had 25 points, 5 rebounds and 8 assists. Jaren Jackson finished with 28 points, 10 rebounds and six assists on 11-of-20 shooting. Vince Williams Jr., who came off the bench, finished with 19 points and nine rebounds on 6-of-11 shooting.