MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Memphis Grizzlies fought off elimination with the highest-scoring efficiency of their franchise’s postseason historical past.
And with All-Star guard Ja Morant cheering from the bench. Then Morant upped the ante by chanting “Grizz in seven!”
Jaren Jackson Jr., Desmond Bane and Tyus Jones every scored 21 factors and the Grizzlies routed the Golden State Warriors 134-95 on Wednesday night time to power a sixth recreation of their Western Convention semifinal.
“We’ve exceeded expectations ever since I’ve been right here,” Bane stated. “It virtually appears every time somebody thinks we will’t do one thing, we find yourself doing it. So I by no means need to put a restrict on this workforce on what we will do as a result of something’s potential.”
Dillon Brooks added 12 factors for Memphis. Ziaire Williams and Brandon Clarke had 11 apiece and De’Anthony Melton 10. Steven Adams had 13 rebounds, six offensive as Memphis outscored Golden State 24-5 on second-chance factors.
The Grizzlies by no means trailed, turning of their finest efficiency of this collection to drag inside 3-2 even with Morant out a second straight recreation due to a bone bruise in his proper knee. They improved to 4-11 when dealing with elimination.
“We knew what was at stake,” Jackson stated. “We didn’t change something, although. We simply calmed down, regarded on the movie, perceive what we had to remove from the final recreation and simply went on the market and executed.”
Memphis scored 77 factors within the first half, probably the most in franchise postseason historical past. The Grizzlies pushed their result in 55 within the third quarter, threatening the three greatest postseason blowouts in NBA historical past. Their 52-point lead after three tied for the biggest in a playoff recreation up to now 70 years.
“Clearly, this was a really spectacular win for our group, nice bounce-back for certain,” Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins stated.
When Memphis followers chanted “Whoop That Trick! Whoop That Trick!” early within the fourth, Stephen Curry laughed on the court docket whereas Draymond Inexperienced swung a towel in unison with the group. Inexperienced stated he doesn’t respect individuals who solely deliver vitality when successful.
“Whenever you spew it out, you’ve acquired to be keen to take it and never conceal from it and never duck from it and never conceal from it. Embrace it,” Inexperienced stated. “So, I appreciated the group tonight and the vitality they delivered to the sport. In the event that they need to whoop that trick, we’re going to whoop it collectively.”
Sport 6 is Friday night time in San Francisco, the place the Warriors have received 5 straight playoff video games and their final seven general.
Klay Thompson led Golden State with 19 factors, Jonathan Kuminga added 17, Curry had 14 and Damion Lee and Moses Moody every had 10.
The Warriors misplaced for the primary time with assistant Mike Brown filling in for coach Steve Kerr, who missed his second straight recreation since testing optimistic for COVID earlier than Sport 4. Thompson stated they anticipated to shut out this collection solely to play “like a shell of ourselves.”
“It was terrible,” Thompson stated. “It was embarrassing from the opening tip. We didn’t have nice circulate. They had been extra aggressive than us, reflecting their 30 free throws to our 13.”
The Grizzlies acquired again to doing the issues that helped them submit the second-best document through the common season. They outrebounded Golden State for the primary time on this collection 55-37, dominating the offensive boards 18-4. They compelled 22 turnovers and acquired their finest manufacturing from the bench of this collection.
Golden State, due to Jordan Poole coming off the bench, had outscored Memphis’ reserves every of the primary 4 video games. Going through elimination, the Grizzlies had a 28-8 edge via the primary two quarters and completed with a 52-35 margin. Poole had three factors.
Memphis led 38-28 on the finish of the primary quarter and continued a 24-8 run into the second quarter to go up 53-36. They completed the second on a 20-4 run, together with 14 straight, to outscore Golden State 39-22 for a 77-50 lead at halftime.
Then the Grizzlies opened the third quarter outscoring Golden State 20-6. They stored pushing, outscoring Golden State 42-17 within the third for a 119-67 lead going into the fourth.
Brown benched most of his starters by 3:44 of the third, and Jenkins adopted to begin the fourth resting up for a flight to California and Sport 6.
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