Grizzlies’ Cameron Boozer Bounces Back With 22 Points, 8 Assists

Cameron Boozer went 0-of-5 from 3-point range Monday night. He made 9 of his other 11 shots.

The Memphis Grizzlies rookie had 22 points to go with 7 rebounds and 8 assists in 33:12, and Memphis won 118-102 over the Toronto Raptors. He was plus-17.

Boozer had never made more than 8 field goals in an NBA game before Monday. The 8 came against Sacramento on Oct. 31, according to the team’s game notes.

Four of his baskets came in the third quarter, when he scored 8 points. He threw down a driving dunk off a Cedric Coward pass with 9:19 left, then finished a fast-break finger roll from Zach Edey a minute later to put Memphis up 71-55.

With 1:19 left in the period, Boozer dunked off a drive again, this time on a feed from Ty Jerome. His putback with 19.2 seconds remaining drew a foul from Jamal Shead, and he missed the free throw.

In the fourth quarter, he hit a 19-foot driving floater and a 9-footer and went 4-of-4 at the line.

Boozer accounted for half of the Grizzlies’ six turnovers in the final period. Grizzlies coach Tuomas Iisalo said Memphis executed down the stretch apart from a couple of turnovers.

“Thought he put a lot of downhill pressure,” Iisalo said. “Once he got there, he had a good selection of shots or passes. He made several. He was eight assists, eight rebounds, 22 points. That’s the type of player that I think he can grow into. That he just makes good reads once he gets into the paint, has that touch over there, and this didn’t even come with three-point shots. He was 0-for-5 from the three-point land, and that’s something where he also has an advantage there.”

The official box score has Boozer with 7 rebounds.

Six of his 8 assists went to 3-point shooters, three to Jaylen Wells and three to Jerami Grant. Two of the Grant 3s came 1:27 apart early in the fourth quarter, the first of them 16 seconds after Toronto had cut the Memphis lead to 91-90.

The other two assists went to Cam Spencer on a 10-foot fadeaway and to Edey on a hook that put the Grizzlies up 113-97 with 3:49 left.

He committed 6 turnovers, one fewer than the 7 he had against Sacramento. Allen Graves stole one of them in the fourth quarter, and Shead’s fast-break layup off it is what brought Toronto within a point.

Through nine games, Boozer averaged 15.6 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 5.2 assists. He shot 33.9% from the field and 31.6% from 3-point range.

The three losses were the hardest stretch. He went 5-of-11 for 18 points against New Orleans on Nov. 2, 4-of-14 for 10 against Indiana two days later, and 2-of-14 for 8 against Oklahoma City, when he missed all 8 of his 3-point attempts and still grabbed 12 rebounds.

An NBA executive told Eric Pincus of Casino.org last week that Boozer is figuring it out.

Last week, Iisalo said Memphis is featuring Boozer in a lot of different sets.

“The idea is to put the players in a position to succeed,” Iisalo explained. “It’s not like we have a bag of tricks here that’s 17 more things that we want to do. He’s a 19-year-old rookie that’s working extremely hard and absorbing a lot of those things.”

“A lot of it comes down to the matchups,” Iisalo continued. “Who does he have? Does he have the advantage on the outside or on the inside? Without [Isaiah Stewart] in the lineup, he plays a lot at the five. They play the five against him. That five sometimes is waiting at the free-throw line. There are different ways, and we’ll keep adding those. But we are featuring him in a lot of different sets.”

Stewart missed his second straight game Monday with a right knee bone bruise.

Memphis drafted Boozer third overall in June out of Duke, where he was the consensus national player of the year. He turned 19 on July 18 and has started all 10 of the Grizzlies’ games.

On Oct. 29 at Portland, he posted 18 points, 12 rebounds, and 12 assists. At 19 years and 103 days, he became the second-youngest player in NBA history with a triple-double, behind Josh Giddey, according to the team.

Memphis (7-3) plays Denver at FedExForum on Wednesday, with tip-off set for 7 p.m. CT.