Dillon Brooks scored 22 points to lead the Memphis Grizzlies to a 121-92 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday near Orlando.
The Grizzlies win snapped a five-game losing streak that dated back to before the season was put on hold by the pandemic. It also kept Memphis (33-37) in the eighth spot in the Western Conference, a game ahead of Portland with three games remaining.
The Thunder (42-26) had a chance to move up to fourth with a win but fell to sixth with the loss.
Memphis dug itself into a big hole early, falling behind 37-19 just 10 minutes in thanks to seven Grizzlies turnovers and seven first-quarter 3-pointers by Oklahoma City.
But from there on, Memphis dominated, outscoring the Thunder 102-55 the rest of the way.
Even as they fell behind big, Memphis shot a better percentage than the Thunder.
The Grizzlies’ shooting stayed strong and they cut down on turnovers the rest of the way to start turning the game around quickly.
Oklahoma City went cold offensively in the second quarter, as Memphis started with a 20-3 run to take the lead for good.
The Thunder pulled to within three just before the half with a pair of 3s in the final five seconds. After Danilo Gallinari hit the first from a feed from Chris Paul, Paul got a steal and hit a 3-pointer of his own at the buzzer.
But Memphis started stretching the lead right out of the break, and Oklahoma City never again seriously threatened the lead.
Memphis shot 55.4 percent from the field, including 8 of 11 shooting for Jonas Valanciunas, who added 19 points. Ja Morant also scored 19.
Paul led the Thunder with 17 points. Oklahoma City shot just 35.1% from the field, its worst shooting performance of the season.
The Thunder were without center Steven Adams, who took a hard fall in Wednesday’s win over the Lakers.
(Field Level Media)
