The NBA regular season continues with the New Orleans Pelicans hosting the Memphis Grizzlies. In this game, the Grizzlies trailed by 24 points at one point, but eventually came back to defeat the Pelicans 115-113, ending a five-game losing streak and ending a four-game winning streak.
The Grizzlies' Morant returned from suspension and contributed 34 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists in his season debut to win for the team. For the Pelicans, Ingram had 34 points and six assists, Valanciunas contributed 22 points and 14 rebounds, McCollum had 18 points and six assists, and Zion had 13 points. At the beginning of the game, the two sides went back and forth, and the score difference did not widen.
Midway through the game, the Grizzlies suddenly went on a 9-0 run to take a six-point lead over the Pelicans at 22-16. However, the Pelicans then quickly caught up and narrowed the deficit to one point. In the end, the Grizzlies ended the first quarter with a 25-21 lead.
As the second quarter began, the Pelicans gradually gained momentum, and Zion's two free throws helped them take a one-point lead at 30-29. In the next nearly 6 minutes of the game, the Grizzlies did not score a point, and the Pelicans played a wave of 23-0 offensive to completely open up the difference. At halftime, the Pelicans led by 19 points, 60-41.
In the third quarter, the Grizzlies regained their touch and scored six consecutive points to narrow the gap. They then went on the offensive again, hitting a 7-0 wave to narrow the deficit to eight points. Heading into the final quarter, the Pelicans still led 87-77. With 9:47 left in the final quarter, McCollum hit a three-pointer to give the Pelicans a 96-82 lead.
The Grizzlies then scored seven straight points to stop the Pelicans when they trailed 89-96. After the timeout, the Grizzlies continued to close the gap, with Morant and Bane scoring four straight points to close the gap to two points. The game entered the final moments, and the two sides remained deadlocked. In the end, the Grizzlies won 115-113 against the Pelicans in the final moments of the game with Morant's killer shot.