Santi Aldama scored 22 points and Jay Huff had a career-high 18 points to lead the Memphis Grizzlies to a 124-111 victory in their home opener Saturday night against the Orlando Magic.
Ja Morant finished with 16 points and 10 assists for the Grizzlies. The double-double by Morant was the 60th of his career, tying him with Mike Conley for the franchise record. Reserve point guard Scotty Pippen Jr. also had a double-double (11 points, 12 assists).
Orlando was led by Franz Wagner with 23 points. Jalen Suggs scored 21.
Aldama and Huff came off the bench to score their points. Memphis got 66 points from its reserves.
The Grizzlies were bolstered by scoring 62 paint points, dishing 38 assists and shooting 53.5 percent from the field.
Memphis had a comfortable lead entering the second half and were up by 29 midway through the third quarter. But the Magic countered by scoring 21 consecutive points to trim the Memphis advantage to eight. Suggs had two 3-pointers during the streak for Orlando, which knocked down seven 3s in the quarter.
Memphis snapped the Magic’s run on a floater by Jaren Jackson Jr. with 2:43 to go in the third quarter. Jackson was making his season debut after missing the first two games with a hamstring injury he suffered in the team’s first preseason practice.
The Grizzlies were held scoreless for nearly five minutes during the drought, but recovered to pull away in the fourth quarter.
Memphis never trailed in the game. The Grizzlies built a double-digit lead (25-14) eight minutes into the first quarter and extended it in a second quarter in which they outscored Orlando 35-19. Memphis scored the final 12 points of the second quarter to build a 26-point halftime advantage at 69-43.
Aiding the Grizzlies’ first-half runaway was unselfish play. Memphis had 22 assists on 27 baskets and shot 58.7 percent from the field. Orlando was hampered by 14 turnovers and 35.6 percent shooting from the field.
–Field Level Media