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Grizzlies 117, Spurs 116 (3 OT)
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
SAN ANTONIO — Power forward Zach Randolph scored 21 points, including all six of the Grizzlies’ points in the third overtime, and Memphis emerged with a 117-116 win at the AT&T Center on Wednesday.
Grizzlies point guard Mike Conley rebounded a final shot from Spurs guard Manu Ginobili and threw the ball to the other end of the court.
A 3-point barrage in the second half allowed the Spurs to erase a big early deficit and put themselves in a position to win. However, couldn’t close out the Grizzlies due to poor foul shooting. Instead, Memphis recorded its second big victory in as many nights after ending the Golden State Warriors’ 16-game winning streak Tuesday.
Both teams hit clutch baskets to keep the game going deep into the night.
Memphis center Marc Gasol drilled a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer of regulation, and he scored a put-back with 9.4 seconds left in overtime to keep the game alive.
Spurs power forward Tim Duncan matched Gasol’s heroics with a long 2-pointer that banked off the backboard and bounced on the rim several times before falling through to knot the game again to end the second extra session.
It was all Randolph in the third, however, as he gave the Grizzlies a four-point lead with a fadeaway jumper as the clock rolled under a minute. The Spurs got a 3-pointer from shooting guard Danny Green — his seventh of the night — and a stop on Memphis’ next possession, but Ginobili’s off-balance shot with the time running down barely drew iron.
Gasol finished with a game-high 26 points and added nine rebounds. Memphis reserve guard Vince Carter scored 10 of his 18 points in the first quarter. Center Kosta Koufos added 16 points, while Conley had 14 points and 10 assists, and guard Courtney Lee also scored 14.
Duncan had a big night statistically with 23 points, 16 rebounds and five assists, but he shot 5-for-15 from the foul line, including 2-for-6 in the first overtime. Green scored 25 points, and Ginobili contributed 21 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.
The Spurs trailed by as many as 23 points in the first half and 17 in the third quarter, but they got back into the game quickly thanks to a 14-0 run that included four consecutive 3-pointers late in the third.
They didn’t take their first lead of the night until Green buried a 3-pointer from the left wing to make it 80-77 with 8:22 remaining in the fourth.
NOTES: San Antonio was without PG Tony Parker (mild left hamstring strain) and SF Kawhi Leonard (bruised right hand). … The Spurs lost for the first time this season when recording at least 25 assists. They began the night 13-0 in such contests. They ranked sixth in the NBA with an average of 24 assists per game. … Memphis is off to its best start in franchise history, and it has the best regular-season record in the league in the 2014 calendar year (58-19). … The Grizzlies improved to 8-2 this season when allowing 100-plus points. They finished 23-58 the previous four years in such games.
