Pelicans Hand Grizzlies First Loss 135-134 in OT Despite Ty Jerome's 40

Jeremiah Fears made two free throws with 7.3 seconds left in overtime Monday night, and the New Orleans Pelicans handed the Memphis Grizzlies their first loss of the season, 135-134, at FedExForum.

Ty Jerome scored 40 points on 14-of-22 shooting. His 15-foot pull-up for the win missed in the final second, and Herbert Jones grabbed the rebound.

Memphis fell to 6-1. New Orleans is 3-4.

Karlo Matković's 3-pointer with 2:36 left in regulation put New Orleans up 124-115. The Pelicans did not score again in the fourth quarter.

Jerome scored the next nine. He hit a 10-foot floater at 1:43, pulled up from 27 feet in transition at 1:13, and added another floater with 36.1 seconds left to make it 124-122.

Trey Murphy III missed a driving layup on the other end, and Jerome rebounded it. His floater with 4.6 seconds left tied the game. Saddiq Bey missed a 26-foot 3-pointer with 1.5 seconds left.

Cameron Boozer blocked a Fears layup at 1:18, between Jerome's first two baskets of the run.

Jaylen Wells said rebounding hurt Memphis most at the end of the game.

"I think it shows our fight," Wells said. "I think we should have never been in that position to begin with. A lot of just identity things that haven't shown through the first six games, or five games, that should've just never happened this game. Rebounding, things like that. But obviously we didn't give up, kept fighting. So there's the good and the bad with that."

Boozer opened overtime with two free throws for a 126-124 lead. Zion Williamson answered with a three-point play, and Jerome hit a 30-foot step-back 3-pointer at 3:17 to put Memphis back ahead 129-127.

Williamson scored the Pelicans' next six points. Zach Edey fouled out on a loose-ball foul at 2:33, and Williamson's step-back jumper at 1:16 made it 133-129.

Jerome scored on layups at 1:05 and 18.8 seconds. Matković fouled him on the second, and the free throw put Memphis ahead 134-133.

Williamson missed a turnaround jumper. Bey grabbed the offensive rebound at 9.4 seconds, and Wells fouled Fears, who made both free throws.

Williamson finished with 25 points and 11 rebounds. Matković also scored 25 and made 5-of-8 3-point attempts, and Derik Queen added 20, 18 of them in the first half. Murphy and Bey scored 18 apiece.

Grizzlies coach Tuomas Iisalo said Memphis lacked physicality in some first-half sequences and corrected it later.

"The big picture for us was we gave up a lot of transition points, especially in the first half," Iisalo said. "I thought we did a better job with that as the game wore on. Unfortunately, they got 12 more shot attempts, and even though we were getting pretty much everywhere we wanted in the half-court offense, it was difficult for us to overcome 12 more shot attempts. And then in the end, I just watched that situation from the rebound. Super close that Boo gets the tip to Stew — or Ty, sorry, or Jaylen. And that's sometimes, it really looks like a half an inch or so that he needed a little bit more to tap it out."

"So that was the margin today," Iisalo continued. "Unbelievable comeback by the guys there in the end of [the] fourth, and just kept believing in our thing and got the necessary stops, just like we got in that last situation too, but just need a couple more boards today."

New Orleans attempted 101 shots to Memphis' 91. The Pelicans grabbed 14 offensive rebounds and scored 22 second-chance points. The Grizzlies had 11 offensive boards and nine second-chance points.

Memphis committed 16 turnovers, and New Orleans scored 21 points off them. The Pelicans turned it over eight times.

The Grizzlies shot 18-of-40 from 3-point range and 51.6% overall. New Orleans outscored them 62-54 in the paint.

Boozer finished with 18 points, nine rebounds, and five assists. Wells scored 16, Isaiah Stewart had 14, Cam Spencer added 13 points and seven assists off the bench, and Jerami Grant scored 11. Cedric Coward had 10 points and nine rebounds. Edey had six points and nine rebounds, six of them offensive, in 19:24.

The teams traded the lead 16 times and tied eight times. Memphis' biggest lead was seven, at 80-73 after Jerome's back-to-back 27-foot pull-up 3-pointers in the third quarter. The Pelicans led by as many as 10 in the second quarter.

Attendance was 13,322.

The Grizzlies host the Indiana Pacers at 7 p.m. CT Wednesday at FedExForum, then host the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday.