NBA: Ja Morant’s triple-double halts Grizzlies’ skid, sinks Pacers

Ja Morant #12 of the Memphis Grizzlies during the second half against the Indiana Pacers at FedExForum on January 29, 2023 in Memphis, Tennessee. Justin Ford/Getty Images/AFP

Behind a second consecutive triple-double by Ja Morant, the Memphis Grizzlies rallied from 12 points down at halftime to snap a season-high five-game losing streak with a 112-100 home win over the Indiana Pacers on Sunday night.

Morant had 27 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds for his fifth triple-double of the season. Jaren Jackson Jr. added 28 points and eight rebounds for the Grizzlies.

Ziaire Williams started in place of Desmond Bane (knee soreness) and had seven points and two rebounds for the Grizzlies. Brandon Clarke recorded 13 points and two rebounds starting in place of Steven Adams (sprained knee).

Xavier Tillman (nine points, 11 rebounds), David Roddy (11 points) and Tyus Jones (10 points) came up big off the bench for Memphis.

27 PTS
10 REB
15 AST@JaMorant becomes the first player in @memgrizz franchise history with 25+ PTS, 10+ REB and 15+ AST in a single game! pic.twitter.com/cTbIyUHGIn

— NBA (@NBA) January 30, 2023

Bennedict Mathurin had a team-high 27 points and eight rebounds for Indiana. Aaron Nesmith tallied 16 points and five rebounds, while Myles Turner added 15 points and four boards.

Andrew Nembhard (12 points) and Isaiah Jackson (13 points) were terrific off the bench for the Pacers. T.J. McConnell was held scoreless starting in place of Tyrese Haliburton (knee contusion, sprained elbow), who missed his 10th straight game.

Indiana jumped out to a 32-23 first-quarter lead behind eight points from Nesmith and nine points from Mathurin off the bench. Jackson contributed nine points in the opening quarter as Memphis shot just 15.4 percent (2 of 13) from the 3-point line.

The Pacers maintained a 52-35 lead with 5:31 to go until halftime behind a red-hot offense that was shooting 60 percent from the field (18 of 30), including 42.9 percent (6 of 14) from behind the arc.

But Memphis outscored the Pacers 15-10 for the remainder of quarter and entered halftime trailing the visitors 62-50. Morant and Jackson combined for 31 of the Grizzlies’ first-half points.

An 18-2 run, sparked by an alley-oop from Morant to Jackson, tied the game at 70-all with 4:35 to go in the third quarter. Memphis took an 80-79 lead with a quarter to play on a Roddy jumper with 34 seconds to go.

A thunderous dunk by Morant capped a 7-0 early fourth-quarter run and put the Grizzlies up 87-79 with a little over 10 minutes to play.

RELATED STORIES