GRIZZLIES RIDE 2ND-HALF PUSH
Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 25 points, Desmond Bane added 23 and the Memphis Grizzlies pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 108-95 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night at home.
Tyus Jones and De’Anthony Melton added 12 points apiece for Memphis, which won for the sixth time in seven games.
“I thought our activity was fantastic defensively,” Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins said. “I thought the Lakers came out and kind of imposed their will in the first quarter, but we just kept making those winning plays throughout.”
LeBron James had a triple-double with 20 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds, and Anthony Davis led the Lakers with 22 points. Talen Horton-Tucker and Avery Bradley each added 10 points.
Memphis opened the fourth quarter on a 9-2 run, pushing the lead to doubledigits for the first time for either team. With that spurt, Memphis extended its lead to 94-80. Los Angeles never got its deficit to single digits.
The Grizzlies were without leading scorer Ja Morant and their top defender, Dillon Brooks, who are in health and protocol protection. That put Memphis at a personnel disadvantage.
“I didn’t know what we were going to look like,” Bane said of learning about an hour before the game that Brooks was out. He said the Grizzlies have had games in which they didn’t have the players individually, but not both missing.
“One thing I did know was that we were going to fight, regardless,” Bane said. “Before the game started, I told everybody to have fun. Just do what we do and have fun playing the game.”
Memphis, which leads the league in points in the paint, was forced into long-range shots early by the Lakers defense, and the shooting percentage reflected the situation.
But in the second quarter, Memphis was able to run more. The transition baskets and more Los Angeles turnovers contributed to the Grizzlies building a 59-53 lead at the half.
“The second quarter was where the energy of the game shifted,” Laker coach Frank Vogel said. “Our turnovers went way up. We didn’t rebound the basketball. We were slow to every loose ball.”
He added that there was “too much casualness to our approach.”
Jazz 118, 76ers 96: Donovan Mitchell scored 22 points, Rudy Gobert had 17 points and 21 rebounds and visiting Utah extended its winning streak to six games with a victory over Philadelphia. Hassan Whiteside added 14 points and 10 rebounds for Utah.
Joel Embiid had 19 points and nine rebounds for the 76ers. Seth Curry scored 18 points and Tobias Harris 17 for Philadelphia, which had won four of five.
Spurs 123, Nuggets 111: Derrick White had 23 points, Lonnie Walker IV added 21 and San Antonio never trailed in beating Denver at home, snapping a two-game skid. Dejounte Murray added 20 points, nine assists and eight rebounds for San Antonio, which is in the middle of a fivegame homestand.
Nikola Jokic had 22 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists for his fifth triple-double of the season for Denver. Aaron Gordon added 25 points and Will Barton had 19.
Notable
The Indiana Pacers and Toronto Raptors canceled their Thursday practices in precautionary moves, citing the league’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols. Both teams made the announcements on Twitter. Chicago forward Derrick Jones Jr. also entered the protocol Thursday, the fifth Bulls player in nine days to join the list.