The Memphis Grizzlies will look to build on their best stretch of games in the young season when they travel to San Antonio to play the short-handed Spurs on Tuesday.
Memphis has won three games in a row and five out of its past six, including a 115-107 victory in Sacramento on Sunday. Zach Edey led the Grizzlies with a career-high 32 points, seven more than he’d scored in any previous NBA game.
Edey scored all six points in a lead-changing run late in the game, went 16 of 20 from the floor and took a game-high 17 rebounds.
“No second-chance points, no easy shots,” Edey said of his mindset. “We’re just rebounding and finishing possessions. “Just seeing the ball off the rim real well. We just keep stacking wins. That’s exactly where we want to be.””
Cam Spencer added 16 points for Memphis while Jaylen Wells hit for 15, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had 13 apiece and Cedric Coward tallied 10 points.
Four of Memphis’ five recent wins have come on the road and all have been produced without the services of star guard Ja Morant, who is on the shelf with a right calf injury. The Grizzlies continue to battle through a dearth of point guard depth as Scotty Pippen Jr. (toe), Ty Jerome (calf) and Javon Small (toe) are all still out with injuries.
“Guys have just put their heads down, kept working from day to day,” said Memphis coach Tuomas Iisalo. “This type of win and this road trip overall just brings a lot of belief in the work that we’re doing and that there’s a purpose to it.”
The Spurs head back home to the Alamo City after a four-game road trip that finished with a 125-112 loss at Minnesota on Sunday. San Antonio won two of the four games on the trip — with the victories over Portland and Denver earning it a spot in the NBA Cup quarterfinals — despite playing without star center Victor Wembanyama (calf) and guard Stephon Castle (hip flexor).
Neither is expected to play Tuesday.
De’Aaron Fox scored 25 points on 10-for-15 shooting to lead San Antonio in Sunday’s loss while Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson finished with 22 points apiece and rookie Dylan Harper hit for 17. The Spurs led by four points heading into the final period but were outscored 36-19 the rest of the way.
San Antonio coach Mitch Johnson said the game turned away from his team after halftime.
“It started in the third quarter,” Johnson explained. “Our activity-resistance and togetherness defensively was really poor. We turned them over, I believe, zero times in the third quarter, so we just didn’t have that level of presence on and off the basketball.
After Tuesday’s game, the Spurs will play six of their next seven on the road.
“They made shots, we didn’t,” Harper said after Sunday’s loss. “On the defensive end, obviously we could have cleaned a little stuff up, but at the end of the day, you know, they made shots, we didn’t. So you know, we look forward to playing in our home now.”
The teams played in Memphis on Nov. 18, with the Spurs grinding out a 111-101 win.
–Field Level Media
