Lyou Grizzlies from spanish Saints Aldama were imposed on Tuesday night in Toronto to the Raptors by 91-98 in a bland game in which the home team was never ahead on the scoreboard and in which the Memphis forward stood out, Years Jackson Jr., with 25 points.
A willful AldamaThe 20-year-old who is in his first season in the NBA coming directly from college basketball in the United States, played almost 15 minutes in which he scored 2 points, after failing the 4 triples he tried, 4 rebounds and 1 assist.
In addition to Jackson Jr., the Grizzlies featured the shooting guard Desmond Bane, with 23 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 stopper.
On the Raptors, the forward Pascal Siakam was the team’s top scorer with 20 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and 3 blocks. In addition, the base Fred VanVleet did 15 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists while the newbie Scottie Barnes sum 19 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 4 blocks.
The Raptors entered Tuesday night’s game with the goal of winning at home and avoiding their third straight loss. Those of Toronto trusted that the field factor and the absence of Ja Morant in the ranks of the Grizzlies, with a knee injury, they played in their favor.
In addition, the Canadian team, ranked 12th in the Eastern Conference with 9 wins and 12 losses before the Grizzlies game, won in Memphis less than a week ago 113-126.
Meanwhile, the Grizzlies, eighth in the Western Conference with 10 wins and 10 losses until last night, arrived in Toronto after beating the Sacramento Kings in California and confident that Dillon Brooks and Desmond Bane would make up for Morant’s absence.
Bad start for the Raptors
The game started badly for the Raptors, imprecise in attack and unable to stop the Memphis. The sticky defense that Brooks applied to Fred VanVleet took effect and prevented the Raptors point guard from contributing to his team’s offensive game.
Bane took advantage of the situation and after less than 6 minutes of play in the first quarter, the Grizzlies were ahead 7-16, with 7 points from the shooting guard who had also facilitated a triple by Jackson Jr.
With Spanish Saints Aldama on track, Toronto reacted after a time-out by Raptors coach Nick Nurse, and thanks to the success of Pascal Siakam, VanVleet and Yuta Watanabe, the locals made a 7-0 partial that left the score at 14-16.
But the Grizzlies cut short the reaction of the locals. Two 3s by Bane and a series of misses by Raptors players left the scoreboard at the end of the opening 12 minutes at 18-27.
In the second quarter, VanVleet came into play more, in part due to the absence of Brooks who only played 6 minutes of the period. The Toronto guard, who only scored 4 points in the first 12 minutes, accumulated another 9 in the second quarter and facilitated his team’s fluidity in attack.
But VanVleet’s effort was not enough and when the break came, the Grizzlies had increased their lead to 11 points, 39-50.
Aldama went to the locker room with almost 10 minutes of play under his belt, in which he got 3 rebounds, 1 assist but 0 points after missing the 3 triples he tried as well as 1 shot of two.
Reaction of the Raptors
At the end of the break, two consecutive triples by Watanabe and Barnes, and a series of errors in attack by Bane and Brooks brought the locals closer on the scoreboard, 53-56, after 5 minutes of play in the third quarter.
During the remaining 7 minutes, the Raptors approached on several occasions but could never get ahead on the scoreboard and the third quarter ended with the Grizzlies 3 points up, 67-70, of which 2 corresponded to a basket by Aldama.
At the start of the fourth quarter, the Grizzlies again increased their lead to 11 points, 73-84, with 8 minutes remaining in the game. And although the Raptors tried until the last second, the Toronto team was unable to turn the score around, which ended up reflecting a 91-98 in favor of the Memphis.
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