The Memphis Grizzlies picked up a nice win in Oklahoma City tonight, defeating the Thunder 116-107.
The first half was pretty back-and-forth, with Memphis coming out strong in the first quarter and then allowing the Thunder to lead by as many as 12 in the second. The Grizz ran away with it though, outscoring OKC by 13 points in the third quarter.
Grayson Allen and Dillon Brooks both had career scoring nights with 20 and 25 points respectively. De’Anthony Melton came out strong off the bench to add another 14 points for Memphis.
For Oklahoma City, the strongest performance came off of the bench with a double-double from Moses Brown. He had 19 points and 12 rebounds on the night.
Here’s how the Memphis Grizzlies performed tonight
Team Stats: 47-99 FG, 116 PTS, 56 REB, 19 AST, 12 STL, 10 BLK
Starters:
PG Ja Morant: 11 PTS, 5 REB, 7 AST, 2 STL, 2 BLK
SG Grayson Allen: 20 PTS, 5 REB, 2 AST, 4-9 3PT
SF Kyle Anderson: 6 PTS, 5 REB, 1 AST, 1 BLK
SF Dillon Brooks: 25 PTS, 3 REB, 1 STL, 1 BLK, 8-9 FT
C Jonas Valanciunas: 16 PTS, 15 REB
Tonight’s Sixth Man for Memphis: SG De’Anthony Melton (14 PTS, 4 REB, 1 STL, 4-6 3PT)
The Memphis Grizzlies won the game with strong shooting, a handful of steals, and consistent rebounding. When this team is playing to their strengths, they’re nearly impossible to stop. Hopefully we can see Memphis put up numbers like this on a nightly basis.
Here’s how the Oklahoma City Thunder performed tonight
Team Stats: 43-95 FG, 107 PTS, 44 REB, 26 AST, 13 STL, 9 BLK
Starters:
PG Theo Maledon: 10 PTS, 4 REB, 1 STL, 2-5 3PT
SF Luguentz Dort: 14 PTS, 3 REB, 3 AST, 3 STL, 2 BLK
PF Aleksej Pokusevski: 13 PTS, 3 REB, 5 AST, 1 BLK
C Al Horford: 13 PTS, 8 REB, 6 AST, 1 STL, 1 BLK
C Isaiah Roby: 9 PTS, 6 REB, 3 AST, 3 STL, 1 BLK
Tonight’s Sixth Man for OKC: C Moses Brown (19 PTS, 12 REB, 2 STL, 3 BLK)
The Thunder didn’t have so much luck in the scoring column. The starters only combined for 59 points, keeping this team a step behind all night. This is a day-and-night difference from the Grizzlies last game against the Thunder, when OKC dropped 128 points on the Grizzlies in Memphis.
Hopefully the Grizzlies increased defensive efforts are a sign of good things to come, as this team plays its best basketball when they’ve got the clamps on.