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Grizzlies 99, Rockets 81
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Technically, it wasn’t a doubleheader sweep. But the Memphis Grizzlies’ 99-81 victory over Houston Saturday night at the FedExForum was their second win over the Rockets in a 24-hour span.
On Friday night in Houston, Memphis won 88-87 despite Houston forward Chandler Parsons setting an NBA record with 10 second-half 3-pointers. Parsons didn’t fare so well Saturday, going 1-for-6 from long distance and finishing with 11 points. The Rockets shot just 37 percent (30-for-81) from the field.
The Grizzlies (22-20) had a huge edge in assists (23 to 14) and owned the boards 52-38. They shot 46.6 percent (41-for-88). This was the Grizzlies’ seventh win in their last eight games. They led by as many as 27 points in the fourth quarter.
Point guard Mike Conley paced the Grizzlies with 17 points. Power forward Zach Randolph finished with 15 points and 17 rebounds. It was Randolph’s 189th double-double with the Grizzlies, tying Pau Gasol for the franchise record. Randolph did it in 300 games while Gasol needed 476. It was Randolph’s 26th double-double this season.
Shooting guard Courtney Lee added 15 points for Memphis and, off the bench, center Kosta Koufos scored 14, James Johnson chipped in 12, and point guard Nick Calathes had 11.
Houston (29-17) got 16 points from guard James Harden and 10 points and 12 rebounds from center Dwight Howard.
Memphis led 46-35 at halftime and owned an overwhelming 23-2 advantage in bench points; Koufos scored eight on 4-for-5 shooting from the floor.
While the Grizzlies handed out 11 first-half assists and made just four turnovers, the Rockets had only six assists with nine turnovers. Houston also shot but four free throws — all by Howard — and he missed every one of them.
Parsons led all first-half scorers with nine points; he was only 1-for-4 from 3-point range. Howard and Conley each had eight points.
NOTES: Not only did F Chandler Parsons set a career high with 34 points and 10 3-point baskets on Friday night in the loss to the Grizzlies in Houston, he raised some other standards, too: the NBA record for most 3s in a half, the Rockets’ franchise record for 3s in a game and the Grizzlies’ opponent record for 3s in a game. “He got on one of those rolls,” Houston coach Kevin McHale said. … From Dec. 21 through Jan. 24, Memphis won 11 of 16 games and ranked fifth in the NBA in winning percentage (.688) and fourth in point differential (plus-4.8). … Only Warriors F David Lee (79) has more double-doubles than Houston C Dwight Howard (77) and Memphis PF Zach Randolph (70) since the start of last season. … In two games against Memphis this season, Rockets G James Harden was averaging 18.5 points on just 20.0 percent shooting from the floor.
