Memphis Grizzlies vs San Antonio Spurs Match Player Stats On Apr 25, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Apr 25, 2017

SAN ANTONIO -- The San Antonio Spurs faced the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday night hoping to find a little help on offense for Kawhi Leonard.

They succeeded.

Leonard scored 28 points, Patty Mills added 20 and Tony Parker 16 as the Spurs defeated Memphis 116-103 to take a 3-2 lead in their Western Conference first-round playoff series. Game 6 is Thursday in Memphis.

Mills, the backup point guard, made five 3-pointers -- four in the fourth quarter -- while finishing with a career best for scoring in the playoffs. LaMarcus Aldridge added 12 points and a game-high nine rebounds.

All that help was needed to stem a Memphis rally. The Grizzlies trailed by 18 with less than two minutes remaining in the third quarter, but they made a 17-3 push to get within four with nine minutes left.

Then Mills came off the bench to make his four treys, ruining a spectacular performance by Mike Conley, the Memphis guard who scored 17 of his 26 points in the third quarter.

Marc Gasol scored 17 for Memphis.

Leonard, despite facing multiple defenders when he drove to the basket, scored 12 points as the Spurs took a 55-49 halftime lead. He reacted to the extra attention by becoming a facilitator, assisting on five baskets in the half, including consecutive 3-pointers by Danny Green and Pau Gasol in the second quarter, when the Spurs made six treys.

James Ennis III, the primary defender against Leonard, led Memphis with 11 points in the half, four more than his average per game during the series and the regular season.

Spurs guard Manu Ginobili made his first basket of the series, a driving shot in the first quarter. He followed that with a 3-point basket less than a minute later and scored eight in the quarter.

Ginobili also made a big contribution in the third quarter with two assists and two steals, helping the Spurs to their big lead.

NOTES: Spurs F Kawhi Leonard's playoff streak of perfection from the foul line was snapped in the first quarter. Leonard made his first 42 in the series, including two Tuesday, before missing. Nearly half of those 42 made free throws -- 19 -- came in Game 2. ... Grizzlies coach David Fizdale said F JaMychal Green did not complain about being replaced in the starting lineup by Zach Randolph for the last three games. Green replaced Randolph as the starting power forward early this season, but Fizdale went to Randolph after the Grizzlies scored only 82 points in each of the first two games. "He's just 100 percent professional," Fizdale said. "The kid's all about winning. I think when (Randolph) sacrificed his spot earlier in the year that kind of set the tone for any change I felt like making when it came to how guys would respond." ... Speaking of lineup changes, starting C Dewayne Dedmon was available to the Spurs on Tuesday after missing Game 4 with some type of stomach ailment, but he played only two minutes as a reserve. He scored one point.