In-form Adams lifts Grizzlies
New look, same old game. The Kiwi king of the O-boards did it again for the Memphis Grizzlies as Steven Adams equalled his season high off the glass in an overtime NBA victory at the San Antonio Spurs yesterday,
Adams rocked up sporting a fresh image, with his beard clipped back from its usual unkempt thickness, but came up with a familiar contribution as the Grizzlies prevailed 124-122 over the Spurs in an OT thriller to improve to 8-4 for the NBA season.
Memphis got some big statstuffing performances from the usual superstars, with backcourters Ja Morant and Desmond Bane notching 32 points apiece.
Morant made 14 of 25 shots and added five rebounds and five dimes, while Bane knocked down five triples and added six boards and 6 assists in his impressive haul.
But the Grizzlies do not win this game without Adams’ usual blue-collar contribution.
The 29-year-old, who missed the last game with an ankle injury, had just seven points (on 3-of-4 shooting) in his 37 minutes on court, but amassed an equal season-high 19 rebounds, including 10 off the offensive glass, and added a pair of assists, a steal and a block in an important night’s work.
Just for context, in the entire 2021-22 season only one player managed 10-plus offensive rebounds in more than one game. After 10 games of this campaign, Adams has already notched double-figure O-boards twice (he had 11 against the Hornets).
The big Kiwi is in a rich vein of form for the Grizz, doing what he does best.
And as usual his screen assists were off the charts as he continued to make room for the silky playmaking of Morant.
The Grizzlies had trailed by 5 (89-94) heading into the final period after leading 66-59 at the half. They grabbed the lead early in the final term, but rather held on at 112-112 at the end of regulation, managing just a single bucket (a Bane layup off the Adams assist) in the final 2 minutes.
The Grizzlies started the extra period well, leading 123-114 inside the final two minutes, only for the Spurs to make one more run which came up short in a frantic finish. Next up for Memphis are the Minnesota Timberwolves at home tomorrow.