Updated Wednesday, January 3, 2024 – 08:29
The Grizzlies win a duel marked by a tremendous face-off between the Frenchman and the Memphis star in a clash full of blocks, dunks and spectacular plays
Ja Morant hanging from the rim after a brutal action against Wembanyama. BRANDON DILLAP
Los Memphis Grizzlies were imposed this Tuesday on the San Antonio Spurs 106-98 to win again after three consecutive losses. In addition, they left some spectacular actions avoiding the dimensions and influence of Victor Wembanyama.
The Frenchman was the best of his team with 20 points, 7 rebounds and 4 blocks. But the Grizzlies’ big night weighed much more I Morant y Desmond Bane with 26 and 24 points. respectively. The Memphis point guard also added 10 assists.
The Spanish Santi Aldama He had a great game with a new double-double, his fourth this season, with 13 points and 11 rebounds against the Spurs, against whom he also did it on November 18.
The initial equality was highlighted by the two blocks with which Wembanyama marked territory in his paint. One was given to Morant in what was the first face-to-face duel between the two; the second one he took Jaren Jackson Jr.
The Frenchman complemented them with two consecutive ‘alley-oops’, which culminated in him hanging from the hoop to the frustration of Bismack Biyombo. Despite this, Memphis did not go too far in the light.
The losses of the visitors, four in the first quarter, allowed a more bearable path for the Grizzlies, but despite this they closed this first period down on the scoreboard, with a 20-23 by a triple of Sandro Mamukelashvili.
It was a good outing after the break by the locals, Aldama entertaining the crowd and finding space to pass the ball between Wembanyama’s endless legs.
San Antonio knew how to work hard on defense, which counteracted the terrible turnover numbers, which were 11 at halftime. To protect their rim they were aggressive, they used their hands, they tried to condition their rival and in a way they succeeded by ensuring that the score always moved within the maximum 5 points.
It was not until the last minute, with three free throws converted by Luke Kennard and a subsequent basket by Morant, as Memphis went away by 10 points on a 10-0 run. The short rotation worked for Taylor Jenkins with 15 of the 27 points in the second quarter contributed from the bench.
Both teams went to the locker room with the score at 47-40 and the locals worried when they saw Morant himself complaining of pain in his knee that would have no major consequences.
Memphis’ advantage was diluted very quickly, the Spurs needed less than three minutes to make the score 50-51 with an excellent 3-11 starting run. The basket that forced the timeout for the locals was a half-circus triple from Wembanyama. It was the first visitor’s victory since the beginning of the second quarter.
Then it was time for Bane who had already shown a good hand but who went off in the third period. Converted seven consecutive points to hand over command again to his team, but also in this stretch he added a total of 12 goals of all colors: from the triple, penetrating, with medium-distance shots… Nobody could stop him.
The numerous personal fouls called prevented the game from being more fluid and consequently the score for both was low at 80-68 with only one quarter remaining.
Already in the last period one of the images of the meeting arrived. With the Grizzlies comfortably dominating the game, Morant hung on the rim, overcoming Wembanyama’s intimidation to bring the Grizzlies to their feet. FedEx Forum.
The Memphis star was unleashed and also gave Aldama an ‘alley-oop’ on a plate, once again surpassing the Frenchman so that the Canary Islander could shine with a back-to-back dunk. With this basket there were 18 points that separated both teams (93-75) and the game began to be decided.
The Spanish forward will still have to score a triple and another basket under the rim to reach 13 points, which exceeds his average for the season (11.0 per game to date).
Surprisingly, Gregg Popovich He did not count on Wembanyama for much of the final minutes, giving him only 1.46 for the final horn when the Spurs were ten down (102-92) and the Texans’ chances of a comeback had already passed.
2024-01-03 07:29:17
#NBA #Cao #Aldama #Wembanyama #Morants #dunk #face #alien #Memphis #victory #Spurs #NBA
