San Antonio Spurs vs. Memphis Grizzlies Pick & Prediction JANUARY 11th 2023
Two days after a 121-113 win over San Antonio, the Memphis Grizzlies host the Spurs again Wednesday night planning to welcome Ja Morant back to the lineup and gunning for their eighth consecutive victory.
Despite playing without Morant (right thigh), the Grizzlies had seven players score in double figures Monday.
Tyus Jones had a team-high 24 points and dished out six assists in the comeback win. It was his second straight game starting in place of Morant and his second straight 20-plus point outing.
Jhon Walsh
Steven Adams added a double-double (13 points, 15 rebounds) in his return from a one-game absence (illness). Jaren Jackson Jr. had 16 points and five blocks, while Dillon Brooks and Desmond Bane added 15 points apiece in the win. Santi Aldama and Ziaire Williams added 13 and 11 points, respectively, off the bench.
The Grizzlies led for three quarters until an 11-1 run to open the fourth quarter gave the Spurs a 103-98 lead with less than nine to play.
But a key steal by Brooks late in the fourth quarter, which led to Bane making a 3-pointer, helped Memphis to a 116-109 lead with 4:29 to play in the game. The Grizzlies never trailed the rest of the way.
"Bad shot. Turnover," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. "They make a 3 and all of a sudden, it's a six- or eight-point game. It's the story of (our) season so far."
Morant is expected to return to action in the rematch, which will send Tyus Jones back to the bench. But the Grizzlies likely wouldn't have won without the contributions from their talented backup point guard.
"Just sticking with it," Tyus Jones said. "We showed our poise in not letting their run kind of deter us from what we needed to get done."
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San Antonio's Tre Jones, Tyus' younger brother, had team highs in points (18) and assists (seven). Josh Richardson added 16 points, five rebounds and five assists off the bench.
Jakob Poeltl returned to the starting lineup and had 13 points and seven rebounds. Romeo Langford (13 points), Malaki Branham (12) and Keita Bates-Diop (10) also scored in double figures for the Spurs.
Doug McDermott (nine points, five rebounds) and Zach Collins (nine points, six rebounds) performed well off the bench.
It was San Antonio's fifth loss in its last six games. But Popovich was pleased with how his young team fought back after trailing by 11 points at halftime.
"We showed up in the second half," Popovich said. "I thought the first half both teams were bored to death. It was the most boring basketball I've seen all year."
San Antonio has been in position to win its last two games against Boston and Memphis, two of the best teams in the league. But a defense that's allowing an NBA-worst 120.6 points per game has been the Spurs' downfall.
Bates-Diop (ankle) and Keldon Johnson (hamstring) are listed as questionable for Wednesday's game. Johnson is averaging a team-high 21.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.7 assists per outing.
--Field Level Media
San Antonio vs. Memphis Recap DEC 23TH 2020
DeMar DeRozan hit a pair of free throws with 1 second to play and the San Antonio Spurs survived to beat the Memphis Grizzlies 108-106 on Sunday afternoon in a key Western Conference seeding game at the Visa Athletic Center near Orlando.
Memphis trailed by as many as 11 points midway through the fourth quarter but tied the game at 106 on a Jaren Jackson Jr. 3-pointer with 10.6 seconds to play. DeRozan then drew a foul on Dillon Brooks at the offensive end and canned both shots from the charity stripe.
After a timeout, another Jackson Jr. 3-pointer missed, allowing San Antonio to hold on for its third straight win, dating to the final game before the March 11 stoppage in play because of COVID-19.
The victory allowed San Antonio (29-36) to pull to within two games of the eighth-place Grizzlies in the standings. The Spurs leapfrogged Portland, which lost to Boston on Sunday, into ninth place in the West with six games to play.
The Spurs must hold that spot in the standings and be within four games of Memphis at the end of the seeding games to clinch a spot in the play-in tournament at season's end.
Dejounte Murray scored 21 points and took 10 rebounds to lead a balanced San Antonio attack.
Derrick White added 16, DeRozan had 14 points, Lonnie Walker IV and Rudy Gay scored 12 points, and Patty Mills tallied 10 for the Spurs.
Ja Morant led Memphis with 25 points, with Jackson Jr. scoring 21, Brooks hitting 16, Grayson Allen scoring 15 points, and Jonas Valanciunas pouring in 13 points and taking 11 rebounds for the Grizzlies (32-35).
The Spurs led 31-25 after one quarter and were on top by as many as eight points in the waning minutes of the second period before settling for a 59-54 advantage at halftime.
Valanciunas paced all scorers and rebounders in the first half, with 11 and 7, respectively, while Brooks had 10 points for the Grizzlies. No Spurs player reached double figures in the half, but nine players scored by intermission - paced by nine points each from Murray and Gay.
--Field Level Media
- NBA
