Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 31 points, GG Jackson added a season-high 27 and Ja Morant had 25 points to lead the host Memphis Grizzlies past the San Antonio Spurs 128-109 on Monday.
Morant, who missed the previous two games with a right shoulder injury, shot 9-for-18 — including 4-for-6 from beyond the 3-point arc — and finished with 11 assists and three steals. Rookie center Zach Edey contributed 16 points and 14 boards.
The Grizzlies played without Desmond Bane, who missed the game due to a sore left ankle.
Victor Wembanyama, who sat out San Antonio’s loss to the Miami Heat on Saturday with an illness, led the Spurs with 27 points and 10 rebounds — his eighth straight double-double. He also had five assists and two blocks. Stephon Castle added 21 points, six rebounds and five assists.
San Antonio lost for seventh time in nine games. Newly acquired Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox was not yet with the team.
Memphis, second behind the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference, won its sixth straight game at home, where the Grizzlies are 21-5. The Grizzlies have won nine of their past 10 overall, and they improved to 7-1 in the second night of back-to-back sets.
Ahead by 12 at the half, the Grizzlies kept a double-digit lead throughout the majority of the third quarter. They led 83-67 late in the period following a 3-pointer by GG Jackson and were not challenged in the fourth quarter, in which they built a 21-point advantage.
Although they trailed by seven early in the opening quarter, the Grizzlies surged ahead 58-37 in the second following a 19-0 run. Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 10 points during the surge. GG Jackson logged the final five in the 19-point sequence.
Before the Grizzlies could distance themselves further, San Antonio recovered with a run of its own. Castle singlehandedly powered a 12-0 stretch, scoring the first eight points and assisting on the next two baskets. San Antonio had gone nearly seven minutes without scoring before the run that sliced the deficit to 58-49.
Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 21 points in the first half, including 15 in the second quarter. Morant had 14 of his 17 first-half points in the opening quarter.
The Spurs got 14 points and seven rebounds in the first half from Wembanyama.
The start of the game was delayed 40 minutes by a courtside medical emergency involving a spectator sitting on the front row opposite the team benches. Medical personnel were summoned courtside and the spectator was administered CPR while players for both teams were on the court and prepared for the start of the game.
Officials sent the teams to their locker rooms before bringing them back approximately 20 minutes later to go through warmups again.
–Field Level Media
