The Memphis Grizzlies carried an unbeaten road record into Monday's game at Toronto after dropping three straight at FedExForum, a preview published before tip-off reported.
Memphis had opened the season 6-0, then lost its last three at home, the first two by a combined five points, before falling 128-97 to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday. The Grizzlies were 4-0 on the road, tied with the San Antonio Spurs as the only teams without a road loss at the time of the preview.
Head coach Tuomas Iisalo said, 'You're always looking at a rolling average of the games and try not to put too much stock into one game. Two of the three games, I thought we had a good chance. We played 48 minutes and tried to compete (on Friday), but it was clear that it wasn't our day. What we've got to do is make sure that even in those types of games, we keep competing.'
Guard Ty Jerome led the team at 26.6 points per game and already had two 40-point performances. Rookie Cameron Boozer, the third overall pick, was averaging 15.6 points and a team-best 10 rebounds. Jaylen Wells had scored in double figures in each of his first five games, then gone 2-for-10 from the field in losses to Indiana and Oklahoma City, averaging 10.7 points. Friday was the first time Memphis had been held under 100 points all season, the preview said.
Toronto was described as short-handed heading into the home date. The preview did not predict a final score.
The article was written as a pregame look, not as a recap of the game that followed.
Sources: game preview reports