- Toronto Raptors defeated Memphis Grizzlies 108-99 this Sunday night.
- The champions took the lead in the second period, and never looked back after that.
- Toronto will meet the Brooklyn Nets in the first round of the playoffs.
Toronto Takes Down Grizzlies
The champions reached 50 wins for the fifth straight year, even though this season is about last shorter than expected. Their last night’s win against the Memphis allowed them such a success, but we need to say that the young Grizzlies forced the Raptors to battle for this victory at some parts of the match.
“We’ve played heavy minutes,” Nick Nurse said, explaining how his players felt against the Grizzlies.
It was a nice thing to see the two former Canadian teams going one against another, especially as they wore the old uniforms. On the front of the Grizzlies’ jerseys stood Vancouver, and that really brought back some cool memories.
Memphis opened the game better, and they had a five-point lead at the end of the first period, 25-20. But once the champs increased the tempo, there was no way for the young rivals to endure that, and quickly enough, Toronto built a double-digit lead, 56-45, with 1:25 to go until the half time.
As time went by in the third, the Raptors were increasing the lead, and at the start of the final quarter, after Serge Ibaka’s three they would reach the biggest advantage of the game, 91-73
However, the Grizzlies rallied after a 13-1 run they made, to come down to just three points, 95-92 with 3:33 to go. All of their players began splashing from all sorts of positions, yet they didn’t have the power to continue in the same manner, and Toronto broke their resistance with seven unanswered points.
Pascal Siakam scored 26 points, 9-for-16 from the field and 4-for-9 for three. The Raptors had five more players with double-digit points. Norman Powell scored 16, Kyle Lowry 15 with 8 assists and 7 boards, Fren VanVleet 14, and 5 assists. The latter two added four steals each.
Serge Ibaka had a superb game with 12 points and boards each, three steals, and two rejections.
Among the Grizzlies, Dillon Brooks scored a team-high with 25 points, adding six boards on top. Grayson Allen added 20 with four threes and rebounds.
Ja Morand finished the game with 17 points and 10 assists, and Brandon Clarke had 16 with 9 rebounds.
“My focus now is learning from my mistakes from this game against the Raptors, try to fix them, and go out and play Boston,” said Morant at the press.
Up next, the Grizzlies face the Boston Celtics on Tuesday, while the Raptors take on the league-leading Milwaukee Bucks.
Toronto Facing Brooklyn in the First Round
With a 129-120 win over the LA Clippers, the Brooklyn Nets have clinched seed No.7 in the Eastern Conference, which leads them straight onto the Raptors who already secured the second position.
The team from the East coast came here without injured Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. At the same time, Spencer Dinwiddie, DeAndre Jordan, and several other valuable players also decided to opt-out against playing or had some health problems, which made the Nets heavily handicapped.
