Memphis takes advantage of the absences of Doncic and Irving to win

Undoubtedly the result surprised few. The shapes might have. The Mavericks were planted in Memphis without the availability of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, their two best players, but they were very close to giving that relative surprise. Doncic is going to be treated day by day for the new injury he suffered and Irving had attended to a personal matter that deprived him of preparing for this game. They were not the only major absentees because Ja Morant is still in retirement on the other side, the local, but they were the ones that attracted the most attention. And those that unbalanced the balance in a more aggressive way. The Texans grew up at the opportunity for feat and they had it in hand. 112-108, excessively suffered, the Grizzlies took it.

The main consequence of defeat is for Dallas, which has the balance in a tie and can soon drop another position -now it is eighth- more in the West, if Doncic does not force himself to play the next commitments. The normal season squeeze and finish, it’s time to define yourself.

Playing with fire were the Grizzlies during this Saturday day. They had managed to return to the path of victory against the Warriors, a game lord, after three painful falls, but with the Mavericks it was come back in the last quarter and drops of sweat until the last minute. Bane (25) was the top scorer and the good performance of Roddy (24) as part of the rotation drew attention. In the visiting side, the leadership fell into the hands of Hardaway (23), a veteran who is leaving some such good performances this season, and both Hardy (22) and Green (21) stood out in attack. The Spaniard of this match, Santi Aldama, converted half of his ten pitches. This confrontation will be repeated in just two days in Dallas.

After putting the Mavericks’ momentum on ice during the first half, something changed in the third quarter. The visitors’ attacking options came true with astonishing ease, played with thought, and the problem for the Grizzlies was already served on the table. That partial of 21-33 overturned the score. He also made the locals get their act together. But the gear change was proposed by a rookie, David Roddy, who left 17 of those 24 punches for the comeback in the fourth act. The teams did not stop making the rubber until five minutes remained. The new kid hit one of his 3-pointers to put the deficit to one and left the job done for the finisher. Despite the fact that Hardy also answered from the outside, a shot from Bane and a steal from Jones validated that penalty. Although it should be emphasized that Kidd once again underused Christian Wood, with 14 points in 15 minutes, alluding to the fact that he prefers Maxi Kleber in hot moments and it is not the first time that he has expressed it like this. Close but only close.