The Toronto Raptors will be out to win two in a row for the first time this season Sunday night when they host the spiraling Memphis Grizzlies.
The Raptors snapped a four-game losing streak Friday night when they earned a 112-101 road victory over the injury-depleted Cleveland Cavaliers in an NBA Cup game.
The Grizzlies are coming off a 117-112 home loss Friday night to the Los Angeles Lakers in an NBA Cup game after leading by 14 points at halftime. They continued a pattern of a win followed by a loss in their six games. Their game in Toronto starts a string of five games in seven days, four at home.
The Raptors pulled out a gritty victory after falling behind the Cavaliers by 10 points with 6:14 remaining in the third quarter.
“The third quarter was the big one,” Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic said. “That was really the game there. When they got a 10-point lead, something amazing happened in our hurdle, guys started to lift each other up and to talk to each other.”
Reserve Jamison Battle scored 11 of his season-best 20 points in a 31-24 fourth quarter that clinched the deal.
“Jamison Battle played an amazing role in helping us to get our energy back, our swag back,” Rajakovic said.
Brandon Ingram and RJ Barrett also scored 20 points apiece. Scottie Barnes had 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Toronto had a 48-42 advantage in rebounds despite the absence of center Jakob Poeltl for the second consecutive game with lower back tightness. It contrasted with their 139-121 home loss to the Houston Rockets on Wednesday when they were outrebounded 53-22.
“The team was really fighting throughout the whole game,” Rajakovic said. “When a team is playing together you can sometimes play through some mistakes, the effort is there and the good intentions are there. …It was not pretty. There were a lot of moments where we were making mistakes and things were not going our way.”
Grizzlies star Ja Morant was not happy after the loss to the Lakers.
He scored eight points on 3-for-14 shooting and did not score in the second half. He was 0-for-2 shooting while playing 8:25 in the fourth quarter that was 28-21 in the Lakers favor.
Morant had a curt answer when asked what went wrong.
“Go ask the coaching staff,” Morant said. “Go ask him.”
Grizzlies coach Tuomas Iisalo did not address Morant’s comments after the game.
Morant was asked about his energy level.
“Go ask the coaching staff why,” he said.
His answer to further questioning about what might have been done differently was: “According to them, probably don’t play me, honestly. That’s basically what the message was. It’s cool.”
As a result, the Grizzlies suspended Morant for one game.
Morant, who played 30:58, is averaging 20.8 points and 6.7 assists per game.
Jock Landale and Jaylen Wells led Grizzlies scorers Friday with 16 points each.
“Honestly, we just work hard and play hard together, we are going to figure it out,” said Grizzlies reserve Vince Williams Jr., who scored seven points on Friday. “We all know we’ve got to come out in the third quarter with some pace. That’s where we always get in trouble – early third quarters.”
The Grizzlies swept the season series from the Raptors 2-0 last season and have won three in a row against them.
Rajakovic was an assistant coach with the Grizzlies from 2020-23 before becoming the Raptors coach.
–Field Level Media
