The Memphis Hustle took on the Texas Legends for a good old-fashioned southern showdown on Saturday night, with both squads looking like they’ve already traded an eye for an eye—and pretty much anything else they could’ve offered at this point—and crawled their way into the matchup looking for a change of fate. Both squads came into Saturday’s game with consecutive losses, Memphis with two and Texas with four, and were looking to finally flip the script and snap back into the grove of victory. Luckily for Memphis, it was their turn to recapture the feeling.
The most accurate way to describe this Saturday night showdown is a see-saw… Or flip-flops? Whichever floats your boat. Every time one team would go up and seem to capture the momentum of this game, the other team would respond back themselves. Not even subtly, but drastically. Just take a look at tonight’s box score, and you’ll instantly notice how wildly different the scoring output is for each team by quarter. The game really did come down to who could figure it out and get their laugh off last, and David Johnson appeared to be the funny guy on the floor Saturday evening.
The Texas Legends boast the fourth-worst record in the G League this year, standing at 2-7 after the Saturday night loss, and seem to be still scrambling for their flow. They didn’t look terrible versus this Hustle squad, though. Former UNC standout Justin Jackson lit it up for the Legends with 23 points on a 45% clip from the floor, with teammate Jordan Walker also carving up 27 points on the evening. The Legends didn’t play particularly badly, per se; they just didn’t play as well as the Hustle, who escaped with a one-point win.
As alluded to earlier, the Hustle were saved by the heroics of David Johnson on Saturday evening, and without his quick reaction time and put-back as time expired, the Hustle would’ve faced the embarrassment of losing three straight games AND blowing one to the Legends. That’s not happening on David Johnson’s watch, though; he was on an absolute mission. Johnson finished the match with 26 points, 16 boards, and the game-winning bucket off the bench. Adonis Arms, Cameron McGriff, and Timmy Allen all scored double-digits tonight as well; no input matched that of Johnson, though.
The Hustle now advance to 4-7 on the season and will return to action next Thursday, December 7th, as they have a rematch with the Texas Legends live from Landers Center. Hopefully, the Hustle will double down and capitalize on business once again by knocking off the Legends for the second time in a row. This is a perfect opportunity for Memphis to make the push to reach .500 and, ultimately, exceed it; games like this one are a must-win, and I fully expect the Hustle to rise to the occasion.
For tickets, call (901)888-HOOP, visit https://memphis.gleague.nba.com/ticket-central, or the Landers Center box office. Live streaming for the match will be live on ESPN+.