Recap: Grizzlies Pound C’s in the Paint, Win 132-126 in OT
Brandon Dill | AP
The Memphis Grizzlies rode 80 points in the paint to a 132-126 OT victory over the Boston Celtics. Ja Morant scored 29 points, Dillon Brooks had 24, and Jonas Valanciunas had 16 points and 19 rebounds.
Boston found out just prior to game time that All-Star Jayson Tatum would not be available due to an illness. They had 6 players in double figures led by Jaylen Brown’s 27 and a season-high 26 points from Jeff Teague. Teague started in the place of Kemba Walker (rest). Robert Williams had 17, Marcus Smart added 16, Daniel Theis had 13, and Grant Williams chipped in with 10 points.
Boston had a 13-4 run to start the game before Memphis scored 6 straight to cut the lead down to 3. Smart had 9 points on 3 three-pointers as the Celtics led 30-24 after one. In the second period, they got points from Aaron Nesmith (5), Teague (7), and Robert Williams had 6 to offset Memphis’s 50 first-half paint points to take a 65-60 lead into halftime.
The Grizzlies kept driving the paint in the third quarter scoring 18 more paint points. Morant, Brooks, and Kyle Anderson kept attacking and dishing, leading to easy baskets for teammates. Memphis then started hitting from the outside as Melton hit two threes in a 34-21 scoring advantage for the Grizzlies. They took a 94-86 lead into the final quarter.
The Celtics got back on track offensively in the fourth and outscored the Grizzlies 31-23. They tied the game at 117 on an alley-oop dunk by Theis at the end of regulation. However, Memphis started the overtime period on a 10-4 run to take a 127-121 lead with 2:05 left in the extra session. A Kyle Anderson layup put the Grizzlies up 129-125 with 1:06 remaining and got 3 free throws from Morant to close out the scoring.
The Celtics fall back below .500 and now sit at 21-22. They have two tough games in front of them, however, taking on Milwaukee twice in three nights. The first of those two games will be on Wednesday at 7:30 PM EST on NBC Sports Boston.
