Grizzlies clinch No. 2 seed, Southwest Division crown
The Memphis Grizzlies have had five 50-win seasons in franchise history. Not until Wednesday night at AT&T Center have one of those seasons ended in a division title. The Grizzlies led by one point with five seconds left as a Desmond Bane layup bounced off the square.
Timeout Spurs.
San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich drew up one last play to cut the Grizzlies’ celebration short, and it was a beauty. Keldon Johnson caught the inbound pass and rose up for a layup at the rim with Bane. The ball rolled out of the rim, and the Grizzlies (54-23) defeated the Spurs, 112-111 to secure the No. 2 seed and the first Southwest Division title in franchise history.
“That’s definitely an accomplishment we want to celebrate as a team, as a franchise, as an organization,” Grizzlies guard Tyus Jones said. “That’s something that we wanted to accomplish (and) reach this year. It’s one of a few goals we have. Being able to check that off the list, we’re going to enjoy that.”
This was the fourth win against the Spurs (31-45) this season. Beating San Antonio also knocked the division rival down to the No. 11 seed in the Western Conference. This increases the Grizzlies’ chances of getting the top-10 protected pick from the Los Angeles Lakers.
Memphis not only clinched a division title and No. 2 seed, but Jaren Jackson Jr. became the team’s single-season block leader. The Grizzlies also set a new franchise record for assists in a season.
The Spurs threw all types of defensive coverages, including a rarely used box-in-one. The box-in-one was designed to take away a hot shooting Bane and forced the Grizzlies to play four-onfour. Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins described it as “chaos.”
Here are some observations from the game:
Grizzlies shooting for the playoffs
There has been a lot of talk about the Grizzlies’ 3-point shooting, and it was justified by numbers near the bottom of the league. However, Memphis has taken its shooting to another level. The NBA average is 35.2% on 3-pointers. The Grizzlies have shot better than the league average in eight of their last nine games. In the prior nine games, they had only topped 35.2% in four games.
The latest display started with a 10 of 21 first half display. De’anthony Melton and Bane continued their hot shooting, and Jones joined in on the fun. The trio combined for 12-for-23 shooting on 3pointers. Memphis shot 16 of 39 on 3pointers.
Melton and Bane each scored 16 points. Dillon Brooks added 21 points on
9-for-17 shooting in 31 minutes. It was Brooks' second straight game of 20 or more points. He's now topped 20 points in four of his last five games.
“It was good for everybody, especially for me because they want to start ramping up my minutes,” Brooks said.
Tyus Jones’ career game
Jones injured his left hand in the first half and needed two of his fingers taped together. While he appeared to be bothered by the hand when the second half started, the worries went away. Jones served as the closer. Each of the Grizzlies' previous six March wins without point guard Ja Morant were by double digits, so they didn't need anyone to make those big baskets in the final five minutes of the game.
“Finally we got a close game and finally we can find that adversity and find a way to get better and pull out games like that,” Brooks said.
Jones led the Grizzlies with 25 points on 10-of-21 shooting. He made five 3-pointers and added six assists with no turnovers. He said his hand felt fine after the game.
“It would have been hurting a lot worse had that last shot went in,” Jones said.
Handling the pressure
The Spurs had a lot to play for, and they played like it. Memphis led by as many as 18 points with 3:51 left in the third quarter before an 18-2 Spurs run tied the game at 93 with 10:14 left in the fourth quarter. Brooks made a big 3pointer and the Grizzlies hung on tightly to their lead. It came down to the last second when Johnson's shot rolled out as the buzzer sounded.
This wasn't a playoff game, but the Spurs are already in playoff mode. This was the best test for the Grizzlies in March without Morant.
“They started to speed us up a little bit, picked up their pressure,” Jones said. “We knew that was coming. They kind of knocked us back on our heels a little bit, but we just stuck with it rather than shying away from it.”
Contact Damichael Cole at damichael.cole@commercialappeal.com and on Twitter @damichaelc