The Grizzlies lost a close game in Indiana due to mental mistakes, a breakdown in the third quarter, and squandered opportunities. The Pacers defeated Memphis 116-110 to snap their three-game winning streak.
Indiana capitalized with 24 points off the Grizzlies’ 13 turnovers and grabbed 11 offensive rebounds that resulted in 15 second-chance points.
Jaren Jaren, Jr. led Memphis with 25 points, five rebounds, four assists, and two steals. He also tied a career-high with 11 made free throws.
In January, Jackson Jr. averaged 24.3 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 2.8 assists as the Grizzlies went 8-6 in the month.
Vince Williams Jr. continues to impress, game by game. He finished with 20 points while shooting 8-of-12 from the field, and had eight rebounds.
“They had a lot more offensive rebounds than us, and that led them to easy baskets at the rim,” Williams Jr. said on how the Pacers closed out the game. “Honestly, the bigs got nice rebounds and put it right back up on us, and that kind of hurt us at the end of the day.”
Despite missing key players, the 23-year-old believes the team is up for the challenge of competing against anyone. “We all come in together; we work hard together; so honestly, team chemistry is still there all the way. We just came up short tonight, and really it was just offensive rebounds that hurt us.”
Williams Jr. took responsibility for his blunders down the stretch, which Indiana took advantage of to pull out the win.
“My two missed layups, and I missed my free throws,” said the VCU alum on the differences in the last three minutes. “But they just out-hustled us, which led to some easy buckets in the fourth too, and they got some wide-open threes, and we had to play catch-up.”
“Not really, because we were still in the game at the end,” said Williams Jr. when asked if the Pacers wore them down due to key players being out with injuries. “We come out and play hard each and every day, and we just try to put ourselves in the best position to win.”
When GG Jackson II is given extended minutes, he takes full advantage. In 28 minutes off the bench, the rookie finished with 18 points and four rebounds on 6-of-9 shooting.
“I feel like it just shows the depth that this team has,” said Jackson II of the tenacity of the team. And fully healthy, I feel like we can be a serious contender going deep in the playoffs and even contenders for a title.”
“The first half, we tried to keep it tight and were really keen on personnel,” explained Jackson II on what went right for the Grizzlies in the first half. “The ball was popping a lot, multiple guys were scoring, and Jaren (Jackson, Jr.) was getting his sweet spots again with the left-hand hook.
The 19-year-old continued, “I feel like overall we were playing really good basketball, and then later in the second half (there were) costly turnovers and lackadaisical effort sometimes. You gotta have 110% effort the whole 48 minutes if you want to win a basketball game.”
“A lot of missed opportunities at the rim obviously. I felt like at times the ball kind of got stagnant … and then [on the] defensive end guys were just scrambling around a lot and a couple of their guys hit threes. We really did not want to live with it. But the situation from scrambling left them open. So it’s just little things like that, that if we pick up on those and fix those, I feel like we’ll be good.”
No rest for the weary. The Grizzlies look to start a new winning streak tonight at FedExForum against the Sacramento Kings at 7 p.m. CT.
