Memphis squanders a commanding lead, succumbing to a short-handed 76ers squad's furious fourth-quarter comeback.
The Memphis Grizzlies had every reason to feel good about where things stood Tuesday night in Philadelphia. The 76ers were without Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, and Paul George, and it showed early.
With 2:46 left in the third quarter, Memphis was up 14. The game was theirs to lose.
They lost it.
The 76ers outscored the Grizzlies by 26 points over the final 14-plus minutes, turning a comfortable Memphis advantage into a 139-129 loss on Tuesday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena. This was the Grizzlies' fifth straight loss and their 12th in 15 games.
"We played really well in the first and second quarter," Grizzlies head coach Tuomas Iisalo said. "I didn't think our defense was very good, though. It finally then bit us in the fourth. We missed some bunnies under the basket, and they were able to convert that. Too many fouls, too many transition points."
Memphis native Cameron Payne proved crucial, scoring a career-high 32 points and recording 10 assists. He scored 13 points in the fourth quarter alone. Rookie VJ Edgecombe added 21 points in his return from a lumbar contusion. Kelly Oubre Jr. added 31 points and 12 rebounds.
Ty Jerome was a standout performer for Memphis in his return from a one-game absence. Ty Jerome scored a team-high 26 points and dished out eight assists in his return from a one-game absence.
Jerome's 3-pointer with 9:34 left put the Grizzlies up 115-107, but it was the last gasp. Instead, it was the last gasp.
Philadelphia responded with a 12-0 run over the next three-plus minutes, holding the Grizzlies without a point for nearly three and a half minutes before Cam Payne's 3-pointer put the 76ers ahead 119-115 with 6:29 left. Memphis never led again.
A Dominick Barlow three-point play pushed the 76ers up 128-117 with 4:56 left, effectively ending the game.
Jerome had seen enough. With 1:18 left, he let the officials know it — and picked up two technical fouls in the process, ending his night early.
The Grizzlies had won this game. Then they handed it back. his coughed the ball up 20 times and generated just 10 turnovers of their own. Against a 76ers team hungry for any kind of win, that margin was too much to overcome. Coward was back in the starting lineup after missing time and gave Memphis something to build on — 11 points, 14 rebounds. The Grizzlies just kept getting in their own way.
"The one thing I didn't think we did really well today was being disruptive defensively," Iisalo said. "We didn't pick up enough. We didn't give enough friction in the backcourt, and because of this we only forced 10 turnovers. We ourselves turned it over 20 times."
Memphis entered the night seven games out of the final playoff spot in the West and dressed just 10 players. Quentin Grimes added 22 for Philadelphia, which moved to 35-30.
The Grizzlies host Dallas on Thursday.