Memphis Grizzlies’ Ja Morant (12) dunks against the Los Angeles Clippers during the first half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Jan. 4, 2020, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
LOS ANGELES — Jae Crowder scored 27 points and the Memphis Grizzlies took advantage of Los Angeles star Paul George’s absence to rout theClippers 140-114 on Saturday.
Jaren Jackson Jr. added 24 points, and Ja Morant and Dillon Brooks had 22 points each to help Memphis improve to 7-10 on the road with its highest scoring game of the season.
Montrezl Harrell led the Clippers with 28 points, and Kawhi Leonard and Lou Williams added 24 points each. The team appeared out of sorts from the start without George. He sat out with left hamstring tightness and Los Angeles clearly missed his defense.
The usually stoic Leonard complained to the referees, who hit him with a technical after the halftime buzzer. Coach Doc Rivers stayed on court discussing it and was unhappy about other calls in the game.
The Grizzlies raced to an 18-point lead to open the game, highlighted by a 16-2 run that included four 3-pointers. By the time Williams made the Clippers’ first 3-pointer late in the second, cutting their deficit to seven, the Grizzlies had already connected on 10 3s. Los Angeles never got closer.
Raptors 121, Nets 102
Fred VanVleet had 29 points and 11 assists, Kyle Lowry scored 26 points and Toronto bounced back from its worst offensive performance of the season to beat slumping Brooklyn.
Serge Ibaka finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds for the Raptors. They were held to season lows for points and shooting in their 84-76 loss in Miami, when they hit just 31.5% overall and went 6 for 42 from 3-point range (14.3%.). Toronto made 13 3s and beat Brooklyn for the 17th time in 18 meetings.
Spencer Dinwiddie scored 23 points for the Nets. They have lost five straight games.
Jazz 109, Magic 96
Donovan Mitchell scored 32 points and Georges Niang added 15 off the bench to help Utah beat Orlando for its fifth straight victory.
Bojan Bogdanovic had 14 points, Emmanuel Mudiay scored 12 points and Joe Ingles had 11.
Terrence Ross led Orlando with 24 points. Nikola Vucevic had 22 points and 11 rebounds.
Thunder 121, Cavaliers 106
Dennis Schroder scored 22 points, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 20 and Oklahoma City beat Cleveland to run its winning streak to five.
Danilo Gallinari added 19 points, hitting five 3-pointers, and Steven Adams grabbed 16 rebounds.
Collin Sexton scored 30 points for Cleveland.