Cameron Boozer Records Triple-Double as Grizzlies Beat Trail Blazers 124-103 to Move to 5-0

Cameron Boozer needed five NBA games to record his first triple-double.

He got there Thursday night with 18 points, 12 rebounds, and 12 assists in 28 minutes. The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Portland Trail Blazers 124-103 at Moda Center.

Both teams came in unbeaten. Portland had won its first three games. The Grizzlies were finishing a four-game road trip, and they head home 5-0.

Josh Giddey is the only player in NBA history to record a triple-double at a younger age. He was 19 years and 84 days old when he did it for the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2022. Boozer was 19 years and 103 days old on Thursday.

Rob Fischer, the Grizzlies' television sideline reporter, had Boozer for the walk-off interview. Five games into an 82-game schedule, he is counting what is left.

"It's nice," Boozer said. "I'm gonna keep going. Season just starting. Got 77 more, so a lot more to come."

He shot 6-of-10 from the field, including 4-of-5 from 3-point range, and made both of his free throws. Memphis outscored Portland by 20 points in his minutes. He committed 2 turnovers.

Boozer had scored 14 points at Sacramento on Sunday and 13 at Utah on Monday. Cleaning up what went wrong in those two games is what Grizzlies coach Tuomas Iisalo saw from him in Portland.

"Took him long enough," Iisalo said. "Fifth game already. No, he's unbelievable. And really, the good part about it is, even if you're 19 and you're playing at that level, the NBA still finds a way to drop you in the deep end. And that's what happened in the previous two games against Sacramento and against Utah, and it's the best place for development."

"So he had some stuff that he needed to clean up for this game and do better, and very satisfied that he was able to do it," Iisalo continued. "And that's what he's showing, consistent ability to keep learning and keep improving within the season. Very happy about that, and overall just fantastic team performance."

Neither team led by more than 8 points in a first half that ended 58-58 after 7 lead changes and 5 ties. By halftime, Boozer had 13 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists, with 10 of the points coming in the second quarter. His pull-up 3-pointer with 1:28 left in that quarter put Memphis ahead 56-55.

Memphis won the third quarter 33-25 and the fourth 33-20. The lead first reached 24 points on a Jaylen Wells fast-break layup with 3:52 left, and Boozer had the assist.

Portland shot 15-of-43 after halftime, including 5-of-23 from 3-point range. Wells scored 8 of his 10 points in the second half.

A style that shows up late if it does not show up early is how Wells sees the Grizzlies.

"I think we wear them down," Wells said. "We wear them down, kept working, kept getting on the boards, kept [picking up full court], causing disruption. And I feel like that's our style of play. If it doesn't show up in the first half, it's going to show up in the second half. I don't think many teams can run with us and last as hard as we play."

Zach Edey made all four of his shots after halftime for 9 of his 13 points, and Boozer said the center was one of the players who got Memphis going.

"We started to get stops," Boozer explained. "They're a hard team to guard. Ja, Dame, and Deni, that's a hard [group] to stay in front of. But at the end of the day, toughness, rebounding, we got some stops."

"We looked at [Stew], too, got us a couple going," Boozer continued. "Zach got us a couple going. So it was a lot of fun. Great win, 5-0. On to the next."

Ja Morant faced Memphis for the first time since the Grizzlies traded him to Portland on June 29 for Jerami Grant and Kris Murray. Morant, who said before the game that he had no hard feelings toward Memphis, scored 14 points in 23 minutes. Twelve of them came before halftime.

Deni Avdija scored 24 points for Portland, 13 of them in the first half, and added 9 rebounds and 7 assists. Damian Lillard made 1 of his 9 tries from 3-point range and scored 9 points on 3-of-13 shooting.

The Trail Blazers took 49 3-pointers and made 12. Their 16 turnovers became 23 Memphis points, and the Grizzlies won the fast-break column 23-12.

Grant missed 7 of his 8 shots against the team that traded him. His only basket, a fast-break dunk off a Boozer pass, tied the game 58-58 with 18.3 seconds left in the first half. Murray checked in with 2:33 to go as part of a four-man substitution.

Memphis got 56 points from its bench to Portland's 32. Isaiah Stewart scored 15 of his 18 after halftime and shot 7-of-10. His 4-foot turnaround hook off a Cam Spencer pass with 3:11 left in the third put the Grizzlies up 83-75.

Stewart, Spencer, and GG Jackson checked in together with 7:13 left in the third quarter and Memphis ahead 67-66. Just over five minutes later, a 20-9 run had the Grizzlies up 87-75.

Spencer finished with 8 points, 6 rebounds, and 8 assists and was plus-21. Jackson added 12 points and 7 rebounds. Quinten Post scored all 10 of his points in 7:19 of first-half play.

Boozer sees a lot of grit and toughness on this roster.

"We got a deep team, and I think our bench unit can go toe-to-toe with anyone else's bench unit," Boozer said. "We've got a team with a lot of grit, a lot of toughness, so it's a lot of fun to compete with these guys."

Cedric Coward added 17 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals. Ty Jerome, the NBA's Western Conference Player of the Week on Monday, scored 10 points on 3-of-12 shooting. Seven of his points came in the fourth quarter.

Memphis opened at FedExForum on Oct. 21, beating the Utah Jazz 123-103. Two nights later in San Francisco, the Grizzlies scored the last 17 points to win 111-108 over the Golden State Warriors. The Sacramento Kings fell 123-112 on Sunday, and Memphis won 110-105 at Utah on Monday.

No stop on the trip carried must-win weight inside the locker room, by Jerome's account.

"The vibes are the same, honestly," Jerome said. "There wasn't one game on this trip that we were like, 'Oh, my God, we got to get [this one].' We got to play our brand of basketball. We make it about us."

"Early in the season, we're going to keep trying to get better," Jerome continued. "That's been our mindset from training camp to now. So if you ask me in two months, my mindset will be the same."

Memphis used the third pick in June on Boozer after one season at Duke. He was a Duke freshman during last season's 25-57 finish, when the Grizzlies placed 13th in the Western Conference.

"It's a great feeling," Boozer said. "Obviously last year was rough. I wasn't here, but to start season 5-0, it's a lot of fun. It feels just right. I'm going to keep competing, keep winning games, and just give our fans something to root for."

The Grizzlies host the Kings at FedExForum on Saturday at 7 p.m. CT, six days after winning in Sacramento. The New Orleans Pelicans visit Monday at 7 p.m. CT.