Next, the high-scoring Grizzlies face the Pelicans’ leaky defense

The Memphis Grizzlies offense has taken a remarkable turn for the better and put together a fairly favorable game on Friday night as they took on a New Orleans Pelicans team that has a hard time slowing anyone down.

In their last five wins, the Grizzlies have averaged 140.4 points. That includes an NBA season-high and franchise record of 155 in Thursday night’s win over the Toronto Raptors.

“We’re just moving the ball,” said rookie forward Jaylen Wells, who was one of eight Memphis scorers in double figures against Toronto and finished the game with 17 points. “A lot of guys had a lot of assists. We play fast and hit a lot of threes.”

Nine Grizzlies combined for 36 assists while the team made 58 of 109 field goal attempts. Wells made a team-high five 3-pointers in 10 attempts and Memphis finished 18 of 45 (40 percent) from distance.

Just a week earlier, the Grizzlies made a franchise-record 27 treys in 48 attempts in a 144-93 win over Golden State, which was the largest margin of victory in the league this season.

The Grizzlies, who have won 13 of their last 16 games, didn’t play their best defensive game against Toronto. They led 78-70 at halftime and allowed 100 points in three quarters, although they entered the fourth quarter with a 21-point lead.

“Giving up 70 points in a half is very out of character, and I’m glad our guys responded,” Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins said. “When we started cracking down, you could feel the dynamic really changing.”

Memphis’ halftime score was its highest this season and the Grizzlies lead the NBA with an average of 123.7 points per game.

They appear to have a good chance of surpassing that mark against a New Orleans team that has allowed an average of 120.9 points during its eight-game losing streak.

The Pelicans never led and fell behind 39-22 at the end of the first quarter to the Houston Rockets, who lost 128-111 on Thursday night. It was New Orleans’ 17th loss in its last 18 games.

Coach Willie Green, who regularly praises his players for their toughness and competitiveness while playing without several injured key players in almost every game this season, felt differently Thursday.

“(It was) just a lack of competitiveness from our guys from start to finish,” Green said. “We were just soft tonight – period. There are times when you play against good teams and maybe go down. But as I told our team, we cannot step onto our home court and have this lack of physicality.”

The Rockets totaled 261 points in two lopsided wins over the Pelicans in eight days after winning 133-113 in Houston on Dec. 19.

Forward Herbert Jones complained about the Pelicans’ lack of effort and “sense of urgency.”

“We all need to get better at this,” Jones said. “I don’t really care how much we lose. I’m more concerned with how we lose, and we can’t lose like that. We have to be better defensively. We have to be more physical.” “

–Field level media