UGLY VICTORY
STILL-WINLESS PHILLY FALLS 92-84 IN MESSY MATCHUP.
It was ugly. At times, it hardly resembled basketball.
There weren’t many redeeming qualities in the Grizzlies’ 92-84 victory Sunday evening at FedExForum.
Memphis turned the ball over 26 times. The downtrodden and still winless Philadelphia 76ers committed 27 turnovers. The Sixers shot just 39 percent and the Griz weren’t much better at 42 percent.
And so it should come as no surprise that Griz coach Dave Joerger ended his postgame media meeting with a sigh of relief. The Griz trailed by five points with 7:38 left in the fourth quarter to a Sixers squad in the midst of setting an NBA record for futility.
But Memphis (10-8) sent Philadelphia to its 18th straight loss to start this season with five solid minutes of execution on both ends of the court down the stretch.
“You don’t want to be the team that broke their (losing) streak,” Joerger admitted. “I thought our concentration was something we really struggled with.”
The Sixers’ scrambling and frenetic style, which included a bunch of mistakes and poor shot selection, had Memphis in disarray. The Griz played down to the Sixers’ level until the threat of an embarrassing loss seemed real.
Trailing 76-71 and hearing boos in surround sound, the
Griz turned up the heat defensively and went to a reliable source on offense. Forward Zach Randolph returned after missing five straight games because of a sore right knee. Randolph’s timing seemed off on routine layups early in the game. But it was Randolph who steadied the Griz down the stretch by scoring eight of his 17 points during crunch time.
The veteran scorer, who also collected 11 rebounds, mostly scored around the basket, but then his feathery 19-foot jump shot put the Griz ahead 78-77 with 5:28 left. Memphis never trailed again and held Philadelphia scoreless for more than three minutes.
“It was an unorthodox type of situation, but at the end of the day we stay true to what we do,” Griz point guard Mike Conley said after scoring a team-high 20 points. “We executed when we needed to and we got stops when we needed to and made free throws when we needed to. Luckily we were able to pull it out.”
The Sixers’ 0-18 record ties the 2009-10 New Jersey Nets for most defeats to begin a season. Philadelphia already has the longest losing streak in any major sport with 28 consecutive losses dating to the 2014-15 regular season.
Philadelphia’s last five losses have come by a combined 24 points. The Sixers have led in the fourth quarter in each of those games.
“We’re competing with every team,” Sixers center Jahlil Okafor said. “We’re going all the way down to the wire. That can easily be flipped to us coming out with the win.”
However, the Griz forcibly denied the Sixers when it mattered most. Defense played a large part when the Griz scored 13 unanswered points and took an 86-77 lead with 3:09 remaining.
Griz center Marc Gasol blocked a shot by Okafor. Griz reserve Matt Barnes got a steal. Conley pressured Sixers guard Isaiah Canaan into stepping out of bounds. Gasol forced a jump ball with Robert Covington and then won the tip.
Add four missed shots during that stretch and the Sixers couldn’t overcome so many empty possessions.
“They wound up their defense and we didn’t handle it well,” said Sixers coach Brett Brown, whose team hasn’t won since March 25. “In general, what you’re seeing is defenses amp up during crunch time and our young guys at times are having a hard time dealing with that.”
Still, the Griz knew they were in a game after halftime.
The Sixers scored 36 points on 64-percent shooting in the third quarter. Philadelphia played with more energy in every aspect, evident by a scene near midcourt when the Grizzlies’ lead began to slip away.
Gasol and Jeff Green dived for a loose ball, but neither came away with it. Sixers guard JaKarr Sampson got the ball and sprinted away with Conley in pursuit. Sampson scored on a fast-break dunk and the Sixers took their first lead — 53-51 — a minute later.
“You have to stay poised in all those situations,” Conley said. “They had absolutely nothing to lose. They are out there playing as hard as any other team. They are scrapping and giving you different looks.”
Canaan’s 16 points led the Sixers, who missed their first nine shots. The Grizzlies’ lead at halftime was just 37-31.
“We were nervous at halftime, it was very similar to Atlanta,” Joerger said. “We had forced 13 turnovers, they were 3 for 16 from the 3-point line, and it was a two-possession game. It was really very scary and as coaches we don’t talk about that stuff with the players. … But hats off to them. They came out and played their tails off.”