The Grizzlies tried to make Wednesday night’s game ugly, but the Blazers took care of business anyway, 116-89 (Box score). Despite 10-point first-half lead for the Grizzlies, the Blazers had the bench empty midway through the fourth quarter. So what happened in between? Well...
- An unpleasant first half. The Grizzlies sat nearly every player with a name you’d recognize. In order to compete, Memphis admitted their plan was to make the game “ugly”, and did just that on defense. Despite the talent disparity, they were successful: Portland struggled for much of the first half, until the Grizz ran out of gas and Lillard sparked a late run capped by a steal from Chandler Parsons, followed by a buzzer-beater.