The Memphis Grizzlies’ struggles continued as they suffered their sixth consecutive defeat, and the Dallas Mavericks narrowly avoided getting swept in the season series with their 120-112 victory Thursday night.
Let’s get into it.
Hoo boy, this was an especially nasty loss for Memphis. But in trying to find the silver lining, at least they didn’t blow a double-digit lead in this one?
The Mavericks took this one nearly wire-to-wire, with the Grizzlies tying the game once in the third quarter, before Kris Middleton went supernova and quashed any chance of a comeback by Memphis.
After the Grizzlies managed to tie the game with 1:05 remaining in the third quarter, Middleton scored 11 consecutive points. His 22 points scored in the fourth quarter are the most scored by a single player against the Grizzlies in any quarter this season, and he outscored the entire Grizzlies’ roster 22-20 with a little under two minutes remaining in the period.
Props to Middleton, who led all scorers with 35 points off the bench for Dallas. He outscored the Grizzlies’ bench singlehandedly 35-28.
The first quarter was a slog for Memphis, with Dallas leading by 15 at one point. The Grizzlies tried to close that gap in the second quarter and cut the Mavericks’ lead to 11 at the half.
This is another game where the Grizzlies committed fewer turnovers than their opponents, but the opponents were better at capitalizing on them — the Grizzlies had 10 turnovers, while the Mavericks had 20, yet the Mavericks scored 29 points off turnovers, while the Grizzlies only scored 13.
That seems to be an ongoing theme for Memphis this season.
By The Numbers:
Jaylen Wells scored a team-high 23 points, two rebounds, two assists, two steals, and one block.
GG Jackson put up 20 points, four rebounds, three assists, and one block.
Javon Small added 19 points, two rebounds, a career-high nine assists, and one steal.
Rayan Rupert scored 13 points, seven rebounds, three assists, and one steal.
Taylor Henricks led the second unit with 17 points, 10 rebounds, one assist, one steal, and two blocks.
Who Got Next?
The Grizzlies are in Detroit tonight to take on the Pistons. Tip-off is at 6:30 CDT.