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Tyus Jones scores 27, leads Grizzlies past Pelicans, 121-109

NEW ORLEANS — Tyus Jones scored a career-high 27 points to go with eight assists while filling in for All-Star Ja Morant, and the Memphis Grizzlies beat the New Orleans Pelicans 121-109 Tuesday night for their sixth straight victory and ninth in 10 games.

Jaren Jackson added 23 points and ex-Pelican Steven Adams had 14 points and 13 rebounds for Memphis, which led for nearly the entire game and by double digits for more than half of it.

Morant sat out with left ankle soreness stemming from the Grizzlies’ victory at Charlotte last Saturday night.

While Morant averages 26.4 points per game, the Grizzlies have usually played well without him. They are now 12-2 in games he’s missed. Against New Orleans, Memphis had six players score 11 or more, including Brandon Clarke with 18 points.

CJ McCollum had 30 points to lead New Orleans, which fell to 1-3 since trading for the Portland star guard. Jonas Valanciunas scored 19 points and Brandon Ingram added 18 points for the Pelicans.

But that wasn’t going to be enough on a night when the Grizzlies outrebounded the Pelicans 49-34 and converted 18 offensive rebounds into 27 second-chance points.

Jackson had 13 points, Jones had 11 rand Adams 10 in the first half, and the Grizzlies led by as many as 20 points when Jones’ free throws made it 62-42 with 2:25 remaining in the second quarter.

New Orleans trimmed it back to 12 before the half ended, helped by McCollum’s floating jumper, driving layup, and driving floater off the glass as he was fouled — the latter making it 65-53 with half a second on the game clock.

Memphis pushed its lead back up to 17 in the third quarter when Jones’ 3 made it 87-70, but the Pelicans closed the quarter on a 13-6 run — again fueled by McCollum, who scored nine points during the surge on three driving layups and a banked floater as he was fouled.

The Pelicans briefly pulled within single digits in the middle of the fourth quarter, but never got closer than eight points.

TIP-INS

Grizzlies: Shot 50% (47 of 94) overall but just 29.4% (10 for 34) from 3-point range. … Missed 10 of 27 free throws. … Combined for 29 assists on their 47 made baskets. … Outscored New Orleans in the paint, 62-60.

Pelicans: Reserve forward Jaxson Hayes scored 13 pints and and reserve center Willy Hernangomez added 12 points. … Devonte’ Graham’s recent shooting slump continued. He missed five of six shots, all from 3-point range. … Shot 15.4% (4 for 26) from 3-point range.

UP NEXT

Grizzlies: Host Portland on Wednesday night in their final game before the All-Star break.

Pelicans: Hosts Dallas on Thursday night in the last of six straight games at home.

(This AP story is by Brett Martel.)

 

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