Gasol, Conley Lift Grizzles Past Bulls, NBA Roundup

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Published on March 16 2017 6:23 am
Last Updated on March 16 2017 6:23 am

By ESPN

After getting away lately from the tough defense that defines them, the Memphis Grizzlies have each other's backs again.

Marc Gasol and Mike Conley scored 27 points apiece to lift the Grizzlies to their second straight win after dropping five straight, beating the Chicago Bulls 98-91 on Wednesday.

"Our defense has been much more consistent," Gasol said. "We've been trusting the guy behind us a lot more, and the guy behind us has been there more often."

The Bulls lost for the sixth time in seven games and also lost Dwyane Wade to a sprained right elbow late in the game, missing the final 8:34.

Wade said he suffered the injury after colliding with a teammate and Memphis' Zach Randolph while going for a rebound.

"Hopefully it's not as bad as I perceived it to be," said Wade, who had his arm in a sling after the game. "I knew it was something more just because of what I heard. I tried to play through it a little bit until the pain started getting a little more."

Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said Wade will have an MRI on Thursday morning.

Meanwhile, Conley and Gasol combined for 18 points in the fourth quarter for Memphis, who had 24 as a team.

"Obviously we're going to go through those guys, but the best thing about those guys is that they're willing passers," said Tony Allen, who scored 10 points in his hometown of Chicago. "We want those guys to be more selfish than anything. When they have that 1-2 going, we just have to fall in line.

"We're going to need those guys to continue that down the stretch."

Chicago never led in the second half, but Nikola Mirotic had a pair of tying 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. Both were answered by Gasol, his teammate on the Spanish national team. The Grizzlies center hit a 3-pointer on the first, and then had a traditional three-point play on the second, finishing a dunk after a foul by Mirotic for an 86-83 lead.

The teams stayed within six points of each other in the first half, and Memphis went to the locker room with a 54-50 lead.

The Grizzlies then scored the first 10 points of the third quarter, capped by a pair of 3-pointers by Conley to go up 64-50.

Chicago closed the third quarter with a 7-0 run capped by Jimmy Butler's alley-oop dunk, delivered perfectly from Rajon Rondo from half-court to make it 74-71.

Rondo, who was starting his second straight game after coming off the bench for 27 straight games, scored 17 points to lead Chicago.

Mirotic and Butler had 14 points apiece for the Bulls, who shot 37.4 percent from the field.

"I like the way our defense is starting to come back to us," Memphis coach David Fizdale said. "It's just good to see our guys competing again. We're competing as a team and with some purpose again. That's nice to see."


Pacers 98, Hornets 77

Paul George couldn't have picked a better time to take over a basketball game and lead the Pacers to a much-needed win.

During the second half of the second night of a back-to-back, George played like someone on three days' rest.

George made six 3-pointers and scored 27 of his season high 39 points in the second half, and the Pacers knocked off the Hornets 98-77, keeping Indiana in the middle of the Eastern Conference playoff race.

Charlotte and Indiana went into halftime knotted at 42. Less than 24 hours earlier, the Pacers blew a lead on the road and lost to the Knicks. Now, it appeared Indiana was on the verge of losing a second consecutive game and sliding to the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings.

"There are times we lose focus out there," Pacers coach Nate McMillan said. "I thought they responded tonight. They were all business from start to finish. We know we gave one away (last night) and they responded by playing hard, coming off (the first night of a) back-to-back and I think we were locked in every possession on what we needed to do."

Jeff Teague added eight points, eight rebounds and 11 assists, Myles Turner finished with six points, 11 rebounds and three blocks. Monta Ellis scored 16 points for the Pacers.

Indiana led 50-47 in the third quarter when it looked as if both teams would trade the lead until the final minutes. But the moment George decided to put the game in his hands, so, too, did the rest of the Pacers decide to put the game away for good. Indiana used a 15-0 run to extend the lead and ultimately shut the door on the Hornets.

Charlotte outscored Indiana in the paint 42-18, but the Hornets shot just 40 percent (32 of 80) while the Pacers finished shooting 53 percent (39 of 73). 26 of Indiana's 39 field goals came by way of an assist on Wednesday night. Frank Kaminsky finished with 20 points and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist scored 10 points.

George was just too much for the Hornets to handle. The four-time All-Star made 15 of his 21 field goal attempts in addition to his six 3-pointers.

"Things came easy because of the offensive flow," George said. "Also, playing a team for the fourth time, I knew how they were going to guard me and I tried to take advantage of it."

The Hornets would make one last attempt at a comeback, opening the fourth quarter with an 8-2 run that would pull them within 10 points. But Indiana answered back with a run of its own, using a 14-2 spurt to go ahead by 22. Indiana's largest lead of the game was 25 in the fourth quarter.

Wednesday night's loss to Indiana was Charlotte's third straight and its fourth in its previous five games. Indiana (35-33) is trying to maintain its hold on the Eastern Conference's sixth seed, while the Hornets (29-39) sit four games out of the final playoff spot.

"You could see it right from the beginning of the game (George) had a look in his eye. Once he got into a rhythm, it's hard to stop him," Hornets coach Steve Clifford said. "When we play well at both ends of the floor, we've been a good team. Tonight, our defense was good enough -- except for the Paul George stuff -- (but) we were poor offensively."


Thursday, March 15 Scoreboard

Dallas 112, Washington 107

Indiana 98, Charlotte 77

Boston 117, Minnesota 104

Miami 120, New Orleans 112

Utah 97, Detroit 83

Memphis 98, Chicago 91

Houston 139, Los Angeles Lakers 100

Portland 110, San Antonio 106

Sacramento 107, Phoenix 101

Milwaukee 97, Los Angeles Clippers 96


Thursday, March 16 Schedule (All Times Central)

Utah at Cleveland, 6 p.m.

Oklahoma City at Toronto, 6 p.m.

Brooklyn at New York, 6:30 p.m.

Memphis at Atlanta, 6:30 p.m.

Los Angeles Clippers at Denver, 8 p.m.

Orlando at Golden State, 9:30 p.m.

 

Friday, March 17 Schedule (All Times Central)

Dallas at Philadelphia, 6 p.m.

Chicago at Washington, 6 p.m.

Boston at Brooklyn, 6:30 p.m.

Toronto at Detroit, 6:30 p.m.

Houston at New Orleans, 7 p.m.

Minnesota at Miami, 7 p.m.

Orlando at Phoenix, 9 p.m.

Milwaukee at Los Angeles Lakers, 9:30 p.m.


Saturday, March 18 Schedule (All Times Central)

Sacramento at Oklahoma City, 2 p.m.

Portland at Atlanta, 5 p.m.

Washington at Charlotte, 6 p.m.

Cleveland at Los Angeles Clippers, 7:30 p.m.

Utah at Chicago, 8 p.m.

San Antonio at Memphis, 8 p.m.

Houston at Denver, 8:30 p.m.

Milwaukee at Golden State, 9:30 p.m.


Sunday, March 19 Schedule (All Times Central)

Dallas at Brooklyn, 11 a.m.

Boston at Philadephia, noon

Phoenix at Detroit, 3:30 p.m.

Minnesota at New Orleans, 5 p.m.

Indiana at Toronto, 5 p.m.

Portland at Miami, 5 p.m

Sacramento at San Antonio, 6 p.m.

Cleveland at Los Angeles Lakers, 8:30 p.m.