New York, Jan. 4 (BUS): Ja Morant scored 36 points and 5 Grizzlies in double figures as Memphis extended their winning streak to five games with a 118-104 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night.
Desmond scored between 29 points, Brandon Clark added 16 points, and Garrett Culver and Teos Jones added 12 points each.
Kevin Durant led the net with 26 points in 8-for-24 from the field, including 2-for-8 from a 3-point range. James Harden added 19 points in a 5 to 14 shootout. Nick Claxton added 11 points and Blake Griffin and Bruce Brown each finished 10 points for Brooklyn to lose its third consecutive point.
Morant scored 18 points in the third inning and had a stunning tomahawk immersion that caught the attention of Barkley Center’s 17,000 crowd, including NFL wide receiver Antonio Brown, whose career was interrupted after leaving the field and his Tampa Bay teammates in Sunday’s Buccaneers win over the Jets .
The first two games of the regular season between the captains of the Atlantic and Southwest teams involved Brooklyn coach Steve Nash. Nash, in his pre-game comments, noted the Grizzlies’ ability to rebound offensively and force inversion, parts of the game in which the Nets struggled.
Memphis scored 14 points from Brooklyn’s nine turnovers in the first quarter and led 56-47 in the first half. The Grizzlies also had 13 offensive rebounds, which helped them score 18 points at the second chance.
Memphis built its lead of up to 25 points in the third quarter by constantly attacking the paint, led by Morant’s acrobatic drives.
The Grizzlies went up to 28 points in the fourth quarter. With Durant and Harden on the bench, the Brooklyn Reserve cut the difference to 10 points, but it didn’t come close.
Brown scored seven of his 10 points in that period, and Jevon Carter (six), Daeron Sharp (six) and Cam Thomas (eight) all scored during their ill-fated comeback attempt.
Hints:
Grizzlies: The NBA announced before the game that Morant was named Player of the Week in the Western Conference. The second overall pick in the 2019 draft averaged 34.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 34 minutes in three games — all wins — over the Phoenix Suns, the Los Angeles Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs. Morant, who was named Player of the Week for the first time in his career, is averaging 24.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 1.48 steals in 32.4 minutes, and has started every game this season for Memphis.
The nets: The netting season has been turned upside down by the pandemic. Brooklyn, which has had 10 players on the COVID-19 protocol since December 17, announced before the game that the NBA had rescheduled five of its games. The Nets will host San Antonio at noon on January 9, before heading to Portland to play the Trail Blazers the following night. The Brooklyn-Denver game, which had been scheduled for December 19, was moved to January 26. That forced the league to move the previously scheduled showdown against the Toronto Raptors to February 28. Finally, the league turned the December 21 game against Washington. Until February 17… The net was short-handed as midfielder Lamarcus Aldridge missed the match with a sore right foot.
next one:
Grizzlies: Visit Cleveland on Tuesday night.
NETWORK: Visit Indiana on Wednesday night.