You have to see the enthusiasm of the Grizzlies bench to realize the symbolic significance of this first victory. In the final minutes of this second meeting in a row in Portland, the substitutes remained standing to salute the work of Desmond Bane, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Luke Kennard, decisive in the final moments.
With the two teams tied four minutes from time, the visitors scored a 12-0 lead to finally win. The first victory of their season, after six losses to start.
“ I’m proud of these guys and the way we stayed together in the locker room and remained positive despite everything. It’s good to unblock the counter. We learnt a lot. A lot of guys are getting new opportunities. I’m happy with our progress and the way we played tonight. Now we have to go home, rest and prepare for Wednesday (editor’s note: reception of the Heat)”, Desmond Bane postertop scorer of the match (30 points at 13/27 on shots).
A performance ” phenomenal » from him, according to his coach Taylor Jenkins who distributes the praise to his players. “ I found it to be a great collective effort. Marcus (Smart) set the tone, he caused a significant offensive foul for us. Jaren, Biz… », Lists the technician, referring to the new arrival, Bismack Biyombo.
“ We have to celebrate, we know how hard it is to win in this league »
The latter, holder alongside a reigning defender of the year inspired in attack (27 points on 11/18 shots and 7 rebounds), signed a quality first with his 8 points (3/6), 11 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks.
A presence in the racket and on rebounds appreciated by Desmond Bane, aware that his team has suffered in this area since the start of the year, Steven Adams being stuck in the infirmary.
“ And the ability to change on defense with those guys has been phenomenal. We were better at containing the ball carrier », continues Taylor Jenkins who wanted to play “ bigger » for this match. For example, he was able to count on Santi Aldama (7 points and 5 rebounds) for the first time this season.
“ We have to celebrate, we know how hard it is to win in this league. We will benefit from this victory, that’s for sure. The first two weeks were difficult. But like I said, our guys are resilient. They react. We were competitive every night, even if the results weren’t always there. », Adds Taylor Jenkins.
Memphis was the only team in the league that had yet to win. The Grizzlies hadn’t lost this many games in a row to start since the 2002/03 team started 0-13.
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Desmond Bane | 6 | 35.2 | 47.1 | 34.5 | 88.0 | 1.0 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 3.8 | 2.7 | 2.2 | 0.8 | 2.8 | 26.0 |
| Jaren Jackson, Jr. | 6 | 32.2 | 46.6 | 39.4 | 82.9 | 1.7 | 6.0 | 7.7 | 2.7 | 1.8 | 0.3 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 20.7 |
| Marcus Smart | 6 | 33.0 | 47.2 | 30.0 | 72.7 | 0.5 | 2.2 | 2.7 | 5.5 | 4.2 | 2.8 | 0.3 | 3.2 | 14.7 |
| Ziaire Williams | 6 | 28.9 | 44.2 | 35.7 | 100.0 | 0.7 | 6.0 | 6.7 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 2.3 | 10.8 |
| David Roddy | 6 | 25.4 | 51.0 | 29.4 | 66.7 | 0.7 | 3.3 | 4.0 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 2.5 | 9.5 |
| Xavier Tillman, Sr. | 6 | 26.4 | 36.8 | 23.5 | 44.4 | 2.2 | 5.3 | 7.5 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 1.7 | 1.0 | 3.2 | 8.3 |
| Derrick Rose | 4 | 17.6 | 32.4 | 50.0 | 75.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.8 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 8.0 |
| Vincent Williams, Jr. | 3 | 8.9 | 28.6 | 16.7 | 87.5 | 0.0 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 4.0 |
| Kenny Lofton, Jr. | 3 | 8.3 | 50.0 | 100.0 | 33.3 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 1.7 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 2.3 | 4.0 |
| John Konchar | 5 | 19.9 | 50.0 | 37.5 | 0.0 | 1.4 | 4.0 | 5.4 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 3.8 |
| Luke Kennard | 3 | 20.7 | 14.3 | 11.8 | 100.0 | 0.7 | 3.0 | 3.7 | 2.7 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 3.7 |
| Jake Laravia | 5 | 12.2 | 35.0 | 16.7 | 50.0 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 1.6 | 3.4 |
| Jacob Gilyard | 3 | 11.0 | 33.3 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 |
| Bismack Biyombo | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Gg Jackson | 1 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
