He was so instrumental in the regular season, providing solid backup minutes for Steve Nash at the point.  Now the playoffs have begun and Leandro Barbosa is seeing a lot of the series from the pine, watching Joe Johnson take over his job at backup point.

"We needed scoring off the bench. . .My thought was to give (Jackson) more room to operate," D?Antoni said. "He needs minutes to do that."

Barbosa seems to be taking everything in stride however, "It?s the playoffs. Anything can happen. I?m very happy because the team won.?

Phoenix put themselves into position to advance to the 2nd round of the playoffs on Friday by defeating the Grizzlies by a final score of 110-90.

Amare Stoudemire scored 30 points, while Shawn Marion had 14 points and 13 rebounds to pace the Suns.

All five of the Grizzlies' starters were in double-figures, but none of them scored more than 14 points.

MVP candidate Steve Nash had 13 points and 8 assists.

The Memphis Grizzlies gave the Suns their best effort, but it wasn't enough, as Phoenix retained home court advantage, winning 108-103.

Amare Stoudemire scored 34 points, including 18 free-throws.  Shawn Marion bounced back with his bad wrist, scoring 22 points and grabbing 13 rebounds.  Steve Nash had 15 assists to go with 12 points.

Pau Gasol had a monster game, scoring 28 points and grabbing 16 rebounds.

Shawn Marion suffered a wrist injury during Sunday's game, but is expected to play in Game 2.

"Right now, it's feeling better, so that's a good thing," Marion said Tuesday.

"I'll probably play anyway," Marion said. "I don't like to sit out. If I can walk, I'm going to play. That's the way I feel about it."

Marion had 26 points and 13 rebounds in the Suns' 114-103 victory over Memphis in the opener of the best-of-seven series Sunday night.

The Suns got a major scare on Sunday when Shawn Marion was fouled by Shane Battier on a breakaway stuff attempt.

Marion fell to the floor in pain, grabbing his right arm.
But he stayed in the game and made 1-of-2 free throws on the flagrant foul call, capping a 12-2 run that gave Phoenix a 73-59 lead with 8:29 to go in the third quarter.

The injury was diagnosed as a sprained right wrist, and Marion wore a brace after the game. He said he hoped to be ready for Game 2 on Wednesday night. Marion said the foul was hard but clean.

Battier said he would have been fouled, too, if he had the ball in the same situation.

"I guarantee you, if I had a breakaway layup like that, I would wind up in the first row," he said. "I didn't mean to hurt Shawn. I respect him."

The Phoenix Suns weathered the Grizzlies' attacks from Mike Miller, Jason Williams and Pau Gasol to take a 1-0 lead 114-103.

Shawn Marion had 26 points and 13 rebounds, while Quentin Richardson shot 4-11 from 3-point land on a night they only got 9 points from Amare Stoudemire.

MVP candidate Steve Nash scored 11 points and had 13 assists.

Phoenix controlled the game from the start, outscoring the Grizzlies 39-28 in the 1st quarter.

Steven Hunter picked up the slack from Stoudemire, scoring 16 points.

Suns coach Mike D?Antoni is thinking of shortening the Suns rotation even more, giving players like MVP candidate Steve Nash more playing time after resting the point guard for the latter half of the Suns amazing season.

"I think guys can go a little bit longer," D'Antoni said. "I'm not going to be set on anything.

Leandro Barbosa was huge for the Suns off the bench; however with Nash playing more combined with Barbosa?s lack of playoff experience, the backup point guard may spend more time on the bench than he is used to.

With a playoff berth waiting for them with a win, the Memphis Grizzlies again lost, this time to the Nuggets, by a final score of 111-102.

"We got beat tonight and we just have to come out and play hard tomorrow and try to get that one game," Brian Cardinal said. "We'll see what happens. We are a playoff team, we just need to come out and prove it."

Kenyon Martin had 19 points and 9 rebounds for Denver, who have now won 10 in a row.

With most teams having only about five games or so left to play, tonight looks to be an evening in the NBA full of clinghings and eleiminations.  Below are the possible clinchings/eliminations for Wednesday:

MEMPHIS - Memphis clinches playoff spot with a win OR a Minnesota loss.

MINNESOTA - Minnesota is eliminated with a loss OR a Memphis win.

SEATTLE - Seattle clinches division title with a win OR a Denver loss.

ORLANDO - Orlando is eliminated with a loss AND a New Jersey win.

BOSTON - Boston clinches playoff spot with a win AND a New Jersey loss.

INDIANA - Indiana clinches playoff spot with a win.

WASHINGTON - Washington clinches a playoff spot if one of the following occurs:
* WAS win + NJ loss
* BOS win + NJ loss

Memphis had an opportunity to clinch a spot in the playoffs, but Dallas was too tough, beating the Grizzlies 110-89.

``We don't have to score 30 points per quarter to win,'' said Dirk Nowitzki, who had 19 points and eight rebounds. ``Defense is the key to our success.''

``We've got to win one of these as early as possible,'' said center Lorenzen Wright, who had 18 points and seven rebounds.

Pau Gasol had 14 points and 8 rebounds.