Thunder erase 29-point hole after Morant injury to push Grizzlies to brink
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Chet Holmgren scored all but one of his 24 points in the second half and the Oklahoma City Thunder overcame a 29-point deficit after Ja Morant left the game with a hip injury and beat the Memphis Grizzlies 114-108 on Thursday night for a 3-0 series lead.
Morant was hurt with just over three minutes left in the first half and Memphis leading 67-40. The Grizzlies led by 26 at halftime.
The 29-point comeback was the second-largest in an NBA postseason game since play-by-play data began being recorded in the 1996-97 season.
The only one bigger: A comeback from 31 points down by the Los Angeles Clippers against Golden State on April 15, 2019.
The top-seeded Thunder, who won Game 1 131-80 in the fifth-biggest margin of victory in NBA postseason history, didn’t even have a lead in this one until the fourth quarter. Now, they can close out the series Saturday.
“I just through out of halftime, we kind of reconnected to who we are. We were very out of character in the first half,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 31 points for Oklahoma City and Jalen Williams added 26, splitting a pair of free throws with 1:20 left to give the Thunder their first lead.
Scotty Pippen scored 28 points, two short of his career high, to lead Memphis. Jaren Jackson Jr. added 22 points as Memphis saw its substantial lead evaporate in the second half.
“Understanding leads,” Williams said. “You’re never too far ahead, and you’re never too far behind.”
“They built a 29-point lead in a half, so we felt like all we had to do was build our own 29-point lead,” GIlgeous-Alexander said.
Morant went down hard under the basket with just over three minutes remaining in the first half and was ruled out for the remainder of the game early in the second half with a left hip contusion.
Memphis was on a fast break after a Thunder turnover. Pippen was driving to the basket when he dropped the ball off to Morant at the rim. Luguentz Dort, who was stumbling at the time, fell into Morant while he was in the air, sending the Morant crashing to the floor. The play was reviewed for a flagrant foul, but was ruled a common foul.
Morant had 15 points and five assists.
Memphis carried a 77-51 lead into the break. But the Thunder used a 36-18 scoring edge in the third quarter to claw back,
“I think it is very hard to describe to anyone who hasn’t been in that situation,” Grizzlies interim coach Tuomas Iisalo said.
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