Grizzlies Beat Raptors 118-102 Behind Ty Jerome’s 27 Points

Ty Jerome scored 27 points in Toronto on Monday night, and the Memphis Grizzlies beat the Raptors 118-102 at Scotiabank Arena. The win ended a three-game losing streak, all of it at FedExForum over five days.

They are 5-0 away from home, the only team in the NBA that can say so, and 7-3 overall. The Raptors fell back to .500 at 5-5.

On Nov. 2, New Orleans beat Memphis 135-134 in overtime despite 40 points from Jerome. The Indiana Pacers won 107-103 two nights later, and the Oklahoma City Thunder won 128-97 on Friday in both teams’ Emirates NBA Cup group-stage opener.

Jerome said Memphis stayed together for 48 minutes in Toronto.

“We picked up our intensity again,” Jerome said. “We got back to our identity a little bit. I didn’t [check] the stat sheet yet, but we probably won the possession game. I don’t know. I got to see. That was big for us.”

The Grizzlies committed 18 turnovers to Toronto’s 14. The Raptors grabbed 15 offensive rebounds to Memphis’ 12 and attempted 11 more shots, 90 to 79.

Memphis shot 53.2% from the field and made 18 of its 19 free throws. Toronto shot 43.3% and went 11-of-17 at the line. The Grizzlies scored 26 points off Toronto’s turnovers, and the Raptors scored 16 off theirs.

The lead changed hands 13 times in the first half, and the game was tied seven times. Jamal Shead scored 13 of his 20 points in the first quarter, making all three of his 3-point attempts, and Toronto led 26-25 after one.

Cam Spencer went 3-of-3 in the second quarter. His 3-pointer off a pass from Cedric Coward with 2:03 left before halftime put Memphis up 56-46, its biggest lead of the half, and the Grizzlies took a 59-53 lead into the break.

Toronto scored first after halftime, on a cutting layup by Jakob Poeltl that made it 59-55. Memphis answered with the next 12 points. Jaylen Wells hit a 3. So did Jerome, from 30 feet. Cameron Boozer dunked on a drive, Jerome dropped in a floater, and Boozer ran out for a finger roll off Zach Edey’s outlet to make it 71-55 with 8:19 left in the period.

Toronto’s push came from Jamison Battle, who did not miss in the third quarter. He went 5-of-5 for 14 points, and four of those makes were 3-pointers, the last a 28-footer with 3:39 left that made it 78-74. Jerome’s 27-foot step-back came 20 seconds later. Memphis carried an 89-81 lead into the fourth.

Early in the fourth, Allen Graves stripped Boozer, and Shead took it the other way for a layup. With 9:58 left, Toronto was down one, 91-90. Boozer answered by finding Jerami Grant for a 3-pointer on the next trip.

Poeltl’s layup at 9:18 got the Raptors back within two, at 94-92, the closest they would come the rest of the night. On the next Memphis possession, Grizzlies coach Tuomas Iisalo challenged a foul call and won. Edey made both free throws, Boozer made two more, and with 8:15 to play, Grant hit his second 3 of the quarter, again off a Boozer pass, for a 101-92 lead.

On Toronto’s next possession, Grant picked off a Poeltl pass. He came off the bench for 17 points.

The Memphis rotation is not set in stone this early in the season, Iisalo said, but Grant has played in all 10 games.

“He had a couple of corner threes from the Booz passes, skip passes to the left corner, knocked those down,” Iisalo said, “but he also scored out of transition, got to the free throw line, made some defensive plays, and it’s just a guy that’s seen a lot. To have his veteran presence in our team, where we have a lot of young guys, not just the locker room presence, but also on the court, to help them and to understand the level of detail that’s necessary. It’s very good for us.”

Toronto went 9-of-27 from the floor over the final 12 minutes, and no Raptor got to the free-throw line in the quarter. With 3:49 left, Edey’s hook off a feed from Boozer put Memphis up 113-97, matching its largest lead.

Iisalo said Memphis used lineups that had never played together after Quinten Post left the game in the first quarter.

“I was very satisfied just from the first moment on those things that we talked about that we wanted to fix,” Iisalo explained. “Guys really locked in defensively. You could see the defensive pressure from the first moment on, and it’s not perfect, and it’s not supposed to be perfect. There are still a lot of mistakes on several possessions, but that’s what basketball is. It’s a game of mistakes, and those happen. And little by little, hopefully, we can reduce the amount of those mistakes. And that’s normal when you have a young team and a team that’s together for a very short amount of time.”

“But what we got to maintain is that fighting attitude and atmosphere in the team, both were very good,” Iisalo continued. “The vibes were good on the bench. Guys stayed very positive and engaged. And at the same time, the guys on the court were battling it out. And I loved our poise in the fourth quarter. We came up with some timely stops and executed down the stretch, sans couple turnovers.”

Memphis committed 6 turnovers in the fourth quarter, 3 of them by Boozer.

Jerome shot 9-of-19 from the field, 5-of-11 from 3-point range, and 4-of-4 at the free-throw line. He added 6 rebounds and 2 assists and had 22 points through three quarters.

He entered Monday averaging 26.6 points per game, ninth in the NBA, according to the team’s game notes. Jerome opened the season with a career-high 45 points against Utah on Oct. 21.

Boozer finished with 22 points, 7 rebounds, and 8 assists on 9-of-16 shooting. He missed all 5 of his 3-point attempts and committed 6 turnovers.

Grant never missed from 3-point range. He went 3-of-3 there and 6-of-9 overall. Wells missed once in five tries from deep and scored 14, and Edey grabbed 9 rebounds to go with 8 points in 22:45.

Memphis got 44 points from its bench, 17 more than Toronto’s reserves put up. Taylor Hendricks made 4 of his 5 shots for 9 points. Javon Small, who is on a two-way contract, also scored 9 and handed out 5 assists.

Shead added 11 assists to his 20 points. RJ Barrett scored 19 on 7-of-21 shooting, Poeltl had 18 points and 7 rebounds, and Battle finished with 18 off the bench.

Jerome said the win came from resilience and from contributions up and down the roster.

“Just keep our identity, man,” Jerome explained. “Every game we play, that’s all we can do. Control the controllables and keep going.”

Post’s night lasted 1:56. He took an elbow to the face defending Battle on a drive, and he left for good at 4:03 of the first quarter, in just his third game since a sprained right ankle cost him two.

Memphis was already short. Isaiah Stewart sat out a second straight game with a bruised right knee, Scotty Pippen Jr. is dealing with a lumbar disc herniation, and Richie Saunders is still rehabbing from right knee surgery. Karim López and Jahmai Mashack were with the G League’s Memphis Hustle.

The Raptors had their own list. Scottie Barnes has a strained left groin, Immanuel Quickley was listed with right hamstring tightness, Collin Murray-Boyles was ill, and Kawhi Leonard sat for management of his left knee.

Kyle Anderson, who spent parts of five seasons with the Grizzlies, started against them and scored 6 points in 16 minutes. Memphis has gone 5-1 in Toronto since Nov. 30, 2021.

Denver (5-4) is up next. The Nuggets play at FedExForum on Wednesday night, 7 p.m. CT, on DAZN. Memphis then heads to New Orleans for its second NBA Cup group game Friday, and the Raptors visit Memphis on Dec. 23.