Listening to the post game comments of New Orleans guard Chris Paul, you’d think the Hornets simply played a bad game against Memphis on Sunday.
But the fact is, Memphis routed New Orleans 111-89 on the strength of a well-balanced offense and great defensive effort that held Paul scoreless for the first time in his career.
New Orleans coach Monty Williams said the Hornets suffered an emotional letdown in getting blown out by the Grizzlies, but emotions didn’t have anything to do with the Hornets’ loss.
Memphis dominated every facet of the game, shooting better than 60 percent from the field. The Grizzlies scored 56 points in the paint and outrebounded New Orleans 41-34.
The win tied Memphis and New Orleans for the seventh seed in the Western Conference with two games remaining in the regular season. The Hornets own the tiebreaker between the teams by virtue of their better record against the Southwest Division.
New Orleans kept the game close in the first half behind Marco Belinelli’s three-point shooting. The Hornets shooting guard nailed four of seven from behind the arc and led New Orleans with 18 points for the game.
Memphis broke the game open in the third quarter by shooting 70 percent from the field and holding the Hornets to only 19 points. The Hornets packed it in at that point, with the Grizzlies building their lead to 25 in the fourth quarter.
The Grizzlies bench was spectacular throughout the game. Behind O. J. Mayo’s 18 points, Memphis’ bench outscored New Orleans 61-42.
A little more than 17,000 were in attendance for the Grizzlies final regular season home game. Memphis finished their home schedule with a 30-11 record and will close out the remainder of their schedule on the road, beginning on Tuesday night in Portland.
After securing the team’s first playoff berth since the 2005-06 season in their win over Sacramento on Friday night, Memphis will try to improve their seeding heading into the NBA playoffs.
The Grizzlies can move up to the sixth seed depending on how the remaining two games shake out.
A win over the Trail Blazers on Tuesday will give Memphis the tiebreaker over Portland in case the teams finish with identical records.
