Cedric Coward finished with 23 points and 12 rebounds, and Taylor Hendricks scored a career-high 22 off the bench as the Memphis Grizzlies snapped a four-game home losing streak with a 129-110 win over the visiting Brooklyn Nets on Saturday night.
Memphis, playing without several starters, also got 19 points from Javon Small, 17 from Cam Spencer and 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists from Cam Boozer.
Julius Randle paced Brooklyn with 22 points and Day’Ron Sharpe finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Noah Clowney contributed 15 points and Danny Wolf scored 14. The Nets lost for the third time in four games.
Memphis played the second game of a back-to-back after flying home Saturday morning from New Orleans, where it defeated the Pelicans 142-111 on Friday. The trip was delayed by the nationwide FAA ground stop that also disrupted Brooklyn’s travel. The Grizzlies also were without leading scorer Ty Jerome, averaging 25.4 points per game, who sat out with a right hip injury. Starting center Zach Edey (ankle) and Jerami Grant (head) did not play either.
The Grizzlies established a double-digit advantage midway through the first quarter and maintained a comfortable lead apart from a brief Brooklyn rally in the third. Brooklyn trimmed the lead to 85-77 on a Randle 3-pointer with 5:12 to go, but Memphis used a late 16-1 run to surge ahead 101-78.
The Grizzlies extended their lead to 26 points (117-91) early in the fourth quarter following two free throws by Small and survived one final comeback attempt by the Nets. Wolf’s 3-pointer with 4:16 left in the game cut the Memphis lead to 13 at 119-106.
Memphis dominated the first half, leading by as many as 20 points in the second quarter before taking a 71-54 advantage into the break. The Grizzlies built their lead behind torrid 3-point shooting. Memphis made 13 of 23 from deep in the first half and scored a season-high 38 points in the first quarter.
–Field Level Media
