– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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WASHINGTON — One night after a dramatic statement victory against the defending champions and, arguably, the Eastern Conference’s best team, the Memphis Grizzlies were assigned the team with the East’s worst record, yet had to perform without their a couple of their best players.
No problem for the Grizzles, and that continues their trend of recent performances that prove how deep and dangerous this young team may become before the season is through.
Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 21 points while Scotty Pippen Jr. had 14 points and 12 assists as the Memphis Grizzlies, playing on the second of back-to-back nights, romped to a 140-112 victory over the Washington Wizards inside Capital One Arena. Seven different players scored at least 12 points for the Grizzlies, who have won nine out of their past 10 games.
Last night saw the Grizzlies win in Boston against the Celtics, but a tip time less than 24 hours after that victory called for some rest as Ja Morant and Brandon Clarke sat out the contest. Despite that, Pippen stepped in to the point guard role and ran the offense seamlessly as Memphis shot 52 percent from the field (50-of-96) while making 17 three-point attempts.
The Wizards had snapped a 16-game losing streak the night before after it withstood a 56-point barrage from three-time MVP Nikola Jokic to defeat the Denver Nuggets, but could not come close to taking advantage of playing another Western Conference team who was without their superstar in the lineup. Jonas Valanciunas had 20 points and 14 rebounds (seven offensive) while Marvin Bagley III scored 20 off the bench. After scoring 39 points against the Nuggets, Jordan Poole was held to just nine on 2-of-6 shooting.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Sunday evening’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Michael R. Smith. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page, Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 27 pictures in total.
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