While emerging as one of the NBA’s best stories this season, Memphis has excelled in a variety of categories, often overwhelming opponents despite being a below-average shooting team. On Tuesday, the Grizzlies brandished their usual strengths – rebounding, quickness, aggression – but added some red-hot perimeter accuracy. The result was a rare one-sided defeat for New Orleans, which trailed by 19 at halftime. Memphis established the upper hand by making its first five three-point attempts and rarely let up on the offensive end all night, clearing 100 points midway through the third quarter.
Playing without Brandon Ingram, who was sidelined due to hamstring soreness, the Pelicans had little margin for error against the Western Conference’s second-best team and couldn’t provide enough defensive resistance to stay competitive.