Grizzlies stay alive with big blowout

The Grizzlies fought off elimination with the highest-scoring performance in their franchise’s postseason history.

And with All-Star guard Ja Morant cheering from the bench. Then Morant upped the ante by chanting “Grizz in seven!”

Jaren Jackson Jr., Desmond Bane and Tyus Jones each scored 21 points and the second-seeded Grizzlies routed the third-seeded Warriors 134-95 on Wednesday night in Memphis, Tennessee, to force a sixth game in their Western Conference semifinal.

The Warriors still lead the series 3-2.

“We’ve exceeded expectations ever since I’ve been here,” Bane said. “It almost seems whenever someone thinks we can’t do something, we end up doing it. So I never want to put a limit on this team on what we can do because anything’s possible.”

Dillon Brooks added 12 points for the Grizzlies. Ziaire Williams and Brandon Clarke had 11 apiece and De’Anthony Melton 10. Steven Adams had 13 rebounds, six offensive as the hosts outscored the Warriors 24-5 on second-chance points.

The Grizzlies never trailed, turning in their best performance of this series to pull within 3-2 even with Morant out a second straight game because of a bone bruise in his right knee. They improved to 4-11 when facing elimination.

“We knew what was at stake,” Jackson said. “We didn’t change anything, though.

“We just calmed down, looked at the film, understand what we had to take away from the last game and just went out there and executed.”

The Grizzlies scored 77 points in the first half, the most in franchise postseason history. They pushed their lead to 55 in the third quarter, threatening the three biggest postseason blowouts in NBA history. Their 52-point lead after three tied for the largest in a playoff game in the last 70 years.

“Obviously, this was a very impressive win for our group, great bounce-back for sure,” Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said.

Game 6 is Friday night in San Francisco, where the Warriors have won five straight playoff games and their last seven overall.

Klay Thompson led the Warriors with 19 points, Jonathan Kuminga added 17, Curry had 14 and Damion Lee and Moses Moody each had 10.

The Warriors lost for the first time with assistant Mike Brown filling in for coach Steve Kerr, who missed his second straight game since testing positive for COVID-19 before Game 4.

Brown is a former head coach of the Cavaliers and Lakers and will be the head coach of the Kings next season.

“It was awful,” Thompson said. “It was embarrassing from the opening tip.”

Portis, Holiday lift Bucks to series lead: Bobby Portis made a putback off Giannis Antetokounmpo’s missed free throw with 15 seconds left, Jrue Holiday snuffed Marcus Smart on the Celtics’ final two possessions and the Bucks claimed a 110-107 victory Wednesday night in Boston to take a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Antetokounmpo had 40 points and 11 rebounds, Holiday finished with 24 points, eight rebounds and eight assists and Portis added 14 points and 15 rebounds for the defending NBA champion Bucks.

The second-seeded Celtics led by 14 in the fourth quarter before the third-seeded Bucks closed the gap, tying it at 105 on Holiday’s 3-pointer with 43 seconds left. Jayson Tatum, who scored 34 points in all, hit a pair of free throws to give the Celtics the lead.

Antetokounmpo went to the the line with a chance to tie it and made the first, then Portis grabbed the rebound of the second and put it in off the backboard to give the Bucks their first lead since early in the second quarter.

Smart drove to the basket but Holiday blocked him and came away with the ball, throwing it off Smart while falling out of bounds.

Pat Connaughton made a pair of free throws with six seconds left, then Holiday stole the ball from Smart on his desperation dash for a potential game-tying 3-pointer.