Quick Recap: Grizzlies come up big in the fourth to put away Blazers, 119-109

The Memphis Grizzlies welcomed the Portland Trail Blazers into the FedexForum on Tuesday evening for their final home game of the regular season. The Grizzlies were seeking their 50th win of the season against a very depleted Blazers squad — only nine players were listed as available to suit up for Portland. Dillon Brooks, who was out due to hip soreness, was replaced by Luke Kennard in the starting lineup.

First Quarter

Luke Kennard hit a pull-up three immediately after Memphis won the tip, but the Grizzlies then went cold and missed their next six shots. A highlight alley-oop from Ja Morant to Jaren Jackson Jr at the 9:15 mark shook off the scoring rust off for the Grizzlies.

From there, the Grizzlies started to find an offensive rhythm. Kennard hit his second three-pointer of the night en route to a hot start. A dominant slam from Ja Morant at the 6:49 mark gave the Grizz an 8-point lead.

Things continued to click for the Grizzlies; they got to the foul line and continued to move the ball (11 assists on 14 made baskets) to get great looks. Luke Kennard would hit three additional 3’s to go 5-of-6 from beyond the arc and lead all first quarter scorers with 15. The Grizz led by 16 after the first, 41-25.

Second Quarter

A slow start from the Grizzlies allowed the Blazers to score four quick points to cut the Grizzlies’ lead down to 12. After a quick timeout, the Grizzlies responded with back-to-back buckets from Desmond Bane and David Roddy. However, the Blazers then began to tighten things up on both ends; they forced the Grizzlies to commit four turnovers and went on a 15-2 run in which they scored 12 straight points to cut the Grizzlies’ lead to just two with 5:50 to go. The Grizzlies were able to subsequently string together some baskets, and a steal from Ja Morant turned into a fastbreak dunk to give the Grizzlies an 11-point lead with 2:11 to go.

Unfortunately, the Grizzlies simply couldn’t close out the first half properly. The Blazers forced another turnover on the Grizzlies and would score the score final 7 points of the second quarter to cut the Grizzlies lead to just 4 at the end of the half, 66-62.

Third Quarter

The Blazers continued to mesh offensively to start the third while the Grizzlies began in a bit of a rut. Portland scored on consecutive possessions to tie the game, and a three-point make from Shaedon Sharpe at the 10:17 mark gave the Blazers their first lead of the night. The Grizzlies called for timeout but then started to heat up; they started playing with pace and got out on the fastbreak to score easy points. They went on a 10-0 run midway through to give themselves a five-point lead with 6:55 left in the third

With 2:35 left, Jackson would go to the bench after picking up his fourth foul. This allowed the Blazers to stay in touch with Memphis and they continued to hit shots and dominate the offensive glass to keep things back-and-forth. Morant went 1-for-2 on free throws off a drive in the final second to give the Grizzlies a one-point lead at the end of the third, 96-95.

Fourth Quarter

The Grizzlies could not buy a bucket to start the fourth and the Blazers took back the lead with 9 minutes to go. Desmond Bane then kicked off his frequent fourth-quarter heroics and hit a three-point shot out of a timeout with 8:38 left as the Grizzlies started to claw their way back in. Memphis started to play scrappy on defense to frustrate the Blazers, and Bane hit his fourth three of the night to give the Grizzlies a three-point lead.

That would be all she wrote for this game; Memphis went on a 17-2 run shortly after and an emphatic lob to Jaren from Ja gave the Grizzlies a double-digit lead. The Grizzlies defeated the Blazers 119-109 to pick up their 50th win of the season.