PHOENIX -- Second-year guard O.J. Mayo often refers to last season as one big headache.
The pain mostly came from the Grizzlies' inability to score.
To say that the Griz labored to put the basketball in the hoop a year ago and over the past few seasons is putting the situation mildly. They were lousy at it.
But the Griz will start this decade with a more dynamic offense.
After finishing 29th out of 30 NBA teams with 93.9 points per game last season, the Griz rank eighth in the league this season with a franchise-record 103.4 points per game. They are sixth in the league in field goal percentage with a team-record clip of .478, which comes as no surprise to the coaches and players.
"I always believed we have good kids," Griz coach Lionel Hollins said. "And I always believed that Zach (Randolph) wanted to win. ... That's the challenge of coaching: Getting a group to play together, getting players to believe in each other and trust each other. So far, we've met that challenge as players and we've had success because of it."
Memphis has a chance to score more than 115 points in a third straight game tonight at Phoenix. It would mark the second time this season that the Griz have been on such a scoring streak.
Credit the fact that this team is equipped with more scoring weapons in the starting unit, committed ball movement and the most dominant post play the Griz has ever enjoyed.
Thanks to the offseason acquisition of Randolph and center Marc Gasol's emergence, Memphis has done most of its damage inside the paint. The Griz lead the NBA in points in the paint (52.6 per game) and have scored 50-plus points from inside 21 times.
Their commitment to playing inside-out basketball leads to overall offensive efficiency and greatly compensates for the Griz ranking 29th in the league in 3-pointers (3.5 per game).
"People who said we couldn't play together don't know what kind of person I am," forward Rudy Gay said. "They don't know Juice (Mayo) or Z-Bo (Randolph). We've been deferring to each other all year. We know we all need each other, and Marc's stepped up to give us another option. As long as we're moving the ball around, we're virtually unstoppable."
Gay's words have merit. The Griz don't produce eye-popping assist totals, but their ball movement often produces wide-open shots, point-blank attempts or earns trips to the free throw line.
And if the team can maintain its strong field goal percentage (.478), it would set a franchise record for in a season, eclipsing their .465 mark in 2006-07.
"People criticize Phoenix and say they can't win a championship with the way they play. But the Lakers were among the leading scorers in the league last year and won it all," said Hollins, whose team averaged 106.8 points per game in December -- the third-best monthly offensive output in Griz history.
"It's a different game," point guard Mike Conley said. "You can play differently when you know you have so many scorers. Somebody's going to be hot. Somebody's going to be double-teamed."
The Griz are playing a markedly different brand of basketball than under former coach Marc Iavaroni, who had less talent and basically instructed Gay and Mayo to shoot at will.
"It was tough," Gasol said. "We were settling a lot. We weren't moving the ball like we are now."
Even Gay admitted that the Griz weren't constructive on the offensive end the past few seasons.
"We were just searching a lot," Gay said. "Of course, we took a lot of bad shots. We had no offensive chemistry."
Gasol credits Hollins & Co. for the dramatic turnaround.
"The coaching staff made us realize that it takes a team to win," he said. "It doesn't matter when you score 35 and you lose. We're not there yet, but we've improved a lot. We just have to keep sharing the ball. We can't stop."
Hollins said a snapshot of how the Griz are a work in progress came last Wednesday during a win at Indiana.
Even when the Pacers made a second-half surge, the game was never in doubt as the Griz maintained at least a 10-point advantage.
"Because we were scoring," Hollins said. "The game is about scoring. I look at Cleveland and Orlando last year in the Eastern Conference finals. Cleveland couldn't guard them because Orlando had too many weapons.
"Everywhere Cleveland turned, Orlando had 3-point shooters. So if you're not able to score with a team and get one or two key stops, you're going to get beat."
Hollins, who promised synergy when he took over, is proud of the results so far.
"We're pretty fun to watch when the ball moves," Hollins said. "That's the beauty of basketball."
GRIZZLIES vs. SUNS
When, where: 8 p.m. CST today at US Airways Center in Phoenix
TV, radio: Fox Sports Tennessee, WRB0-FM (103.5)
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