Tom Benson era begins as New Orleans Hornets defeat Memphis Grizzlies 88-75: NBA Recap
The Memphis Grizzlies travelled to New Orleans to take on the Hornets, who were playing for the first time in front of new franchise owner Tom Benson.
Benson was in the arena watching the match, and quite possibly inspired the Hornets as they played incredible basketball to defeat the 5th ranked Memphis 88-75.
Eric Gordon had a team high 18 points for the Hornets as they dominated the Grizzlies both offensively and defensively. Rudy g*y was the leading scorer for Memphis with 24 points.
It was a well contested 1st quarter with 5 lead changes. Memphis and New Orleans exchanged leads a few times in the early minutes until Greivis Vasquez scored a three pointer for the Hornets to give them a 9-5 lead. Memphis fought back and two free throws by Rudy g*y tied the game at 11. Memphis went on to take the lead, and held it till the end of the quarter where they led 16-15.
Memphis went on a 10-1 run in the 2nd quarter to take a 30-21 lead. However, the Hornets went on a 6-1 run to end the first half and cut back Memphis’ lead to 4. Memphis led 37-33 at half time. The Hornets took the lead early in the 3rd quarter with free throws by Al-Farouq Aminu. The Hornets outscored Memphis 29-19 in the third period and ended it leading Memphis 62-56.
Two back to back shots to open the final quarter gave the Hornets a 10 point advantage early in the period. Memphis scored 6 in a row to reduce the lead to 4, but the Hornets responded with 6 straight points to stretch the lead back to 10.
A layup by Eric Gordon gave the Hornets their largest lead of the night at 15, with only 1:11 left in the game. The Hornets controlled the entire final quarter and lead comfortably throughout, to score an easy 88-75 win in the end. The Hornets outscored Memphis 55-38 in the second half.
Carl Landry added 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Hornets, while Jason Smith added 14 points and 10 rebounds. Al-Farouq Aminu had 12 crucial points for New Orleans. Rudy g*y was the top scorer for Memphis with a game high 24 points but apart from him, no one in the Memphis roster really clicked on the night. Marc Gasol had 11 points and 7 rebounds before he left the game after colliding with Xavier Henry of the Hornets. The referee called foul on Henry and Gasol took the free throws and left the game in the final quarter.
Memphis took tired and rusty, going 35.7% from the field and 27.8% from the 3 point line. They committed 20 turnovers compared to 15 by the Hornets, and had 15 assists against 22 for New Orleans. The Hornets shot 43.8% from the field and a perfect 21 of 21 from the foul line. They were poor from beyond the arc, going 3 of 13 for the night. The Hornets also outscored Memphis 40-22 in points within the paint.
Memphis had won 7 of their last 9 games coming into this game but did not look dominant for any part of the game. They are 1.5 games clear of 6th place Dallas in the Western Conference.
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