Overview:
Jackson Jr. says farewell to Memphis with a stellar 30-point effort.
Monday night, the Memphis Grizzlies snapped their longest losing streak of the season with a 137-128 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Let’s get into it.
This is such a hard thing to write after the gut punch of Jaren Jackson Jr.’s trade announcement to the Utah Jazz earlier today. And for the front office to do this right on the back of his 30-point game to help snap the losing streak is nasty work.
The Grizzlies came out strong in this game — scoring 36 in the first quarter and for once they carried that momentum throughout the rest of the game, capping it off with a 39-point fourth quarter, a season-high. Minnesota’s 42-points in the fourth quarter could not overcome the Grizzlies’ offense.
One important factor in this win was definitely the Grizzlies’ only giving up single-digit points off turnovers. Another was hitting a season-high 19 three-pointers and shooting 50 percent overall.
The second unit came up big for the Grizzlies, outscoring the Timberwolves’ bench 52-13.
We are finally getting a look at Ty Jerome, who was Memphis’ major acquisition in the offseason from the Cleveland Cavaliers. Jerome made his season debut on January 31st, after suffering from a calf injury during the preseason.
By The Numbers:
Jaren Jackson Jr. put up a team-high 30 points on 3 of 6 shooting from beyond the arc and 8 of 17 overall, a perfect 11 of 11 from the free throw line, six rebounds, one assist, and one block.
Ty Jerome scored 19 points on 2 of 6 three-point shooting and 6 of 10 overall, six rebounds, eight assists, and one steal.
Jaylen Wells added 18 points on 6 of 9 overall shooting and 4 of 5 from beyond the arc, one rebound, two assists, and one steal.
Cedric Coward finished with 14 points on 5 of 10 overall shooting and 1 of 4 from three-point range, four rebounds, and one assist.
Off the bench – Cam Spencer scored 16 points on 3 of 5 shooting from beyond the arc and 4 of 9 overall, four rebounds, and five assists.
Vince Williams Jr. also added 16 points on 4 of 6 shooting from beyond the arc and 4 of 7 overall, one rebound, five assists, and two steals.
GG Jackson put up 13 points, eight rebounds, one assist, and one block.
Who Got Next?
The Grizzlies will kick off a five-game road trip on Wednesday against the Sacramento Kings. Tip-off is at 9 PM CST.
I’m not sure who Memphis will play in the frontcourt in the aftermath of trading Jaren Jackson Jr. and Jock Landale.