Grizzlies Drop Third Straight in 128-97 NBA Cup Loss to Thunder

Ajay Mitchell scored 21 of his 35 points in the first half Friday night, and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Memphis Grizzlies 128-97 at FedExForum in both teams’ Emirates NBA Cup group-stage opener.

Memphis (6-3) has dropped three in a row since a 6-0 start. Oklahoma City (7-2) has won three straight.

Mitchell went 14-of-20 from the field and 4-of-7 from 3-point range in 30:28. He also had 5 assists. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 28 points on 11-of-22 shooting and did not play in the fourth quarter. Jared McCain scored 21 points, 12 of them in the first quarter, and finished with 4 steals.

Ty Jerome scored 21 points on 7-of-14 shooting for Memphis and handed out 5 assists. Zach Edey went 8-of-8 at the free-throw line on the way to 14 points and 6 rebounds in 19:41.

Memphis played without Isaiah Stewart, who was listed with a right knee bone bruise after he did not play past halftime of Wednesday’s 107-103 loss to the Indiana Pacers. Scotty Pippen Jr. remains out with a lumbar disc herniation. Six Oklahoma City players were inactive with injuries.

Jaylen Wells’ 8-foot floater with 6:35 left in the first quarter put Memphis ahead 16-10. No Grizzlies lead was bigger. The Thunder outscored them 25-12 over the rest of the period and led 35-28 after one.

In the second quarter, Memphis went 5-of-21 from the field and 3-of-14 from deep. Oklahoma City outscored the Grizzlies 18-2 in the paint during those 12 minutes and led 71-49 at halftime.

Grizzlies coach Tuomas Iisalo drew a technical foul with 10:19 left in the second quarter, a second after Bennett Stirtz’s step-back jumper made it 41-32. Mitchell missed the technical free throw.

Oklahoma City shot 30-of-47 in the first half. The Thunder did not grab an offensive rebound before the break.

Gilgeous-Alexander, Mitchell, and McCain combined for 84 points on 34-of-56 shooting. Iisalo said Oklahoma City has clear role definition and players who draw double teams and pass out of them.

“In the first half, they had zero offensive rebounds,” Iisalo said. “We just couldn’t buy a bucket, and they shot really well. And overall, if I talk about that, the energy levels in [the] team were lower today. We could talk about many reasons for that. We got tomorrow [off]. I think it’s very well deserved for the guys that have been working their butts off, and then we have a practice before the Toronto game.”

“But I wouldn’t draw too many conclusions about the effort of the guys,” Iisalo continued. “I didn’t think that was the issue. I do think we can do a better job defensively applying friction. I thought they got to their spots a little bit too easily today, especially the key guys.”

The Thunder scored 62 points in the paint to the Grizzlies’ 32. Memphis committed 18 turnovers, and Oklahoma City turned them into 30 points.

After Jerome’s first basket of the second half, Oklahoma City scored 12 straight. McCain’s pull-up 3 in transition with 9:05 left in the third made it 83-51.

The third quarter finished 27-27. Micah Peavy’s basket with 1:37 to go gave the Thunder their biggest lead, 128-91.

Memphis shot 29-of-88 (33.0%) from the field and 10-of-45 (22.2%) from 3-point range. It made 29 of 31 free throws.

Cameron Boozer finished with 8 points on 2-of-14 shooting, missing all 8 of his 3-point attempts, to go with 12 rebounds and 4 assists. Cedric Coward had 10 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 steals. Jerami Grant scored 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting off the bench.

Monday’s loss to the New Orleans Pelicans came by one point in overtime, 135-134. Oklahoma City was not hard to game plan against, Iisalo said, because the Thunder are good.

“You’re always looking at like a rolling average of the games and also not to put too much stock into one game,” Iisalo explained. “Two of these three games, I thought we had a good chance. Today, [we] played 48 minutes, tried to compete.”

“Just was clear that it wasn’t our day,” Iisalo added. “And what we got to do is make sure even in those games we keep competing, and I thought we did then.”

Javon Small, who is on a two-way contract, scored 10 points with 4 rebounds and 2 assists in 21:07. It was his second appearance of the season.

Small’s faith in this group goes back to the first day of training camp.

“82 games. It’s only our ninth game,” Small said. “We’re still figuring out rotations, like you said. We’re still figuring out how to play with each other fully. So it’s a long season. It’s only nine games in.”

“We started off hot,” Small detailed. “We’re on the losing streak right now, but I feel like we’ll be in a pretty good spot once we get back in that win column.”

Wells finished with 7 points on 2-of-7 shooting in 25:09. Kris Murray and Quinten Post combined to go 0-of-10 from the field.

Memphis visits the Toronto Raptors on Monday at 6:30 p.m. CT. The Denver Nuggets come to FedExForum on Wednesday, and the Grizzlies’ next NBA Cup group game is Nov. 13 at New Orleans.