Grizzlies seal victory late
Speights double-double, Allen’s closing heroics sink Nets GRIZZLIES 105, NETS 100
NEWARK, N.J. — The Grizzlies’ late - night travel to the Eastern time zone cost them an hour and much-needed rest. But they refused to lose this game. After getting lulled into an unexpected battle with the lowly New Jersey Nets, the Griz woke up in the game’s final three minutes Wednesday night and pulled away for a 105-100 victory in the Prudential Center.
“I have to commend them for sucking it up,” Griz coach Lionel Hollins said after his team shook off a 3 a.m. arrival and won the second game of a back-to -back.
Memphis again benefited from the collective strength of its starters just like the night before in a home win against Houston.
If it wasn’t Marreese Speights pulverizing the Nets on the glass then Tony Allen’s ball-hawking caused major disruptions. Rudy Gay added scoring punch and Mike Conley eventually sank clutch free throws for the Griz, who won for the fourth time in five games.
Gay’s 25 points led the Griz and Allen matched his season high with 21 points to go with five steals. As is the case most nights for the Griz, an unexpected effort helped put them over the top.
Speights added 20 points but his careerhigh 18 rebounds loomed large. Of his game -high rebounding total, six came on the offensive glass. When Speights tipped in a Marc Gasol miss, the Griz took a 101-95 lead with a minute remaining in the game.
From there, Conley buried four straight free throws to seal the win. Speights, however, epitomized how spry the Griz were down the stretch as well as the stamina that was on display.
“I just went out there and played hard,” Speights said. “Luckily the ball came to me. I’m just going to keep playing hard everyday.”
Speights often put himself in good position around the basket to gobble up rebounds and make 10 of 13 field goals. But the Griz created their luck after falling behind 93-92 with 3:18 left.
Despite having trouble with the Nets’ zone most of the game, Allen buried a baseline 3pointer in front of the Nets’ bench and the Griz took the lead for good.
Memphis then harassed the Nets into three straight turnovers with guard Deron Williams throwing bad passes twice. Gay connected on a 20-foot jump shot and Allen scored a fast-break layup — both off feeds from Conley — as the Griz built a 99-93 advantage with 1:39 left .
“We make a lot of mistakes,” Williams said. “We’re a young team. We do a lot of dumb things.”
New Jersey managed to shoot 51 percent and manufactured big scoring runs whenever it played a zone. The Nets couldn’t sustain that effort against the Grizzlies’ ball pressure and better defensive rotations in the second half.
Williams had 20 of his 26 points in the first half. The Nets also made eight of 15 3-pointers by halftime when they led 55-53.
New Jersey converted just 3 of 12 shot from beyond the arc in the second half.
“It’s just effort ,” Conley said.
Turning point
When the Griz finally broke free from the Nets’ grip it coincided with beating the zone. One way the Griz avoided the zone was by creating turnovers and earning transition baskets. Memphis also got the ball inside for more highpercentage shots instead of settling for jumpers.
“We kept battling and battling until we could find something we could do,” Hollins said. “The Nets had some small guys in the wrong spots at the wrong times.”
Hot topic
A day after Allen shut down Houston’s Kevin Martin and held him scoreless, the Grizzlies’ guard made the second half difficult for the Nets’ Williams, who missed four of six shots in the second half. It was easier for Allen to switch and guard him once New Jersey took Williams off the ball. Allen was at the scene of the crime when Williams made his mostly costly mistakes — two turnovers in the final three minutes.
“Tony Allen was all over the floor,” Nets coach Avery Johnson said. “He hit probably one of the few threes he’s hit all year.”
Allen didn’t hesitate when he buried the 3-pointer that put the Griz ahead for good with 2:56 left.
“As hard as I play on defense you have to give a dog a bone every now and then,” Allen said. “I shot it with confidence and it went in.”
Spotlight
Speights’ playing time tends to fluctuating depending on matchups and his energy level. But he was on the floor for 38 minutes, in large part due to his activity around the basket. Speights’ aggressiveness made the coaches reluctant to go small.
“He’s got a lot of talent,” Hollins said of Speights. “He’s just 24 years old. He just can’t come out the next game, and give us four (points) and one (rebound). He’s played well. He has the talent to contribute.”
That’s what he said
“It was a hard-fought win. It was grit and grind at its grittiest.” — Hollins, talking about how the Grizzlies finally pulled away from the Nets in a game that had 13 lead changes and seven ties.
The other guys
New Jersey threatened most of the night, and really gave Memphis trouble whenever it used zone defenses. The Nets went to a zone the first quarter and closed the period on a 10-0 run. New Jersey’s zone helped it score nine unanswered points to end the third. It was the Nets’ mistakes — some unforced errors — that cost them. The Griz scored 26 points off the Nets’ 20 turnovers. New Jersey lost despite scoring 100 points on 51 percent shooting with 11 3-pointers.
Miscellany
Conley had 16 points and 10 assists. He’s led the team in assists in 26 straight games — a league high for any NBA player this season. …The Griz allowed 100 points for only the fourth time this season. …Griz swingman Sam young didn’t make the trip and instead remained in Memphis to nurse an ankle sprain. …The Griz are 1-2 when wearing the Memphis Tams uniform. … Nets backup point guard Jordan Farmar sat out with a groin injury. New Jersey dressed only nine players. … New Jersey honored the late Whitney Houston by playing her rendition of “The Star-spangled Banner” from the 1991 Super Bowl.
Records
The Grizzlies improved to 16-14 with their fourth win in the last five games. Memphis will now return to Fedexforum where it plays three of the next four before the All-star break. New Jersey (8-22) suffered its seasonhigh seventh straight loss.
Got next
Nuggets at Grizzlies, Friday, 7 p.m. The Griz won their first meeting Jan. 31 due in part to holding Denver’s leading scorer Danilo Gallinari in check. Now Gallinari is out with an ankle injury. — Ronald Tillery:
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