The Memphis Grizzlies built a double-digit lead and controlled much of the night before the game unraveled late, falling 139-129 to the Philadelphia 76ers Tuesday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia after a fourth-quarter surge flipped the momentum.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For three quarters, Memphis played with the pace and offensive rhythm needed to stay in front. The Grizzlies moved the ball well, attacked the paint, and created enough separation to take a 115-107 lead early in the fourth quarter after a three-pointer from Ty Jerome.<\/p>\n
Then the game turned.<\/p>\n
Memphis suddenly went cold offensively, missing several straight shots as the 76ers caught fire. Philadelphia knocked down a string of threes and pushed the tempo during a decisive run that erased the Grizzlies\u2019 lead and shifted the energy inside the arena.<\/p>\n
What had been a Memphis advantage quickly became a Philadelphia cushion.<\/p>\n
Once the momentum swung, Memphis struggled to regain control.<\/p>\n
The 76ers leaned on a career performance from Memphis native Cameron Payne, who scored 32 points while knocking down eight three-pointers off the bench to fuel the comeback. Philadelphia\u2019s shot-making during the closing stretch proved too much for Memphis to counter.<\/p>\n
The Grizzlies generated offense throughout the night but could not produce the defensive stops needed to steady the game once the lead disappeared.<\/p>\n
After the loss, head coach Tuomas Iisalo pointed to the lack of defensive disruption as a major factor.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe weren\u2019t very disruptive defensively,\u201d Iisalo said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t pick up enough friction in the backcourt and we only forced about 10 turnovers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Turnovers compounded the problem.<\/p>\n
While Memphis found success on the offensive glass, the Grizzlies gave the ball away too often to maintain control of the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe ourselves turned it over more than 20 times,\u201d Iisalo said. \u201cThat makes it difficult when you\u2019re trying to control the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the loss, several Grizzlies delivered strong individual performances. Jerome led Memphis with 26 points and eight assists, helping guide an offense that remained productive through much of the night. GG Jackson II added 15 points, while Cedric Coward contributed 13 points and 16 rebounds with an energetic effort on the glass.<\/p>\n
For long stretches, Memphis looked like the team dictating the game.<\/p>\n
But the closing minutes again showed how quickly momentum can swing in the NBA.<\/p>\n
The team has shown it can build leads and compete for long stretches. The next step is learning how to protect those leads when the game tightens.<\/p>\n
The loss marked the Grizzlies\u2019 fifth straight, continuing a difficult stretch as Memphis searches for consistency late in games.<\/p>\n
The Grizzlies will look to regroup when they return home to face the Dallas Mavericks (21-44) on March 12th at FedExForum.<\/p>\n
\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Memphis Grizzlies built a double-digit lead and controlled much of the night before the game unraveled late,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3769],"tags":[679,7,3522,177,6,678,84386,207,3817,1201],"class_list":{"0":"post-653246","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-76ers","8":"tag-76ers","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-cedric-coward","11":"tag-memphis-grizzlies","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-philadelphia","14":"tag-philadelphia-76-ers","15":"tag-philadelphia-76ers","16":"tag-philadelphia76ers","17":"tag-ty-jerome"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}