Pelicans at Grizzlies
Memphis center Marc Gasol is fresh off a hot performance and that
qualifies as bad news for the New Orleans Pelicans, who visit the
Grizzlies on Monday. Gasol poured in 37 points in Saturday's 103-95
victory over the New York Knicks, and the point total was one shy of the
career-best 38 Gasol scored against the Pelicans on Dec. 1.
Gasol hit all 16 of his free-throw attempts and collected 13 rebounds, six assists and four blocked shots in the 113-104 win over New Orleans. Against the Knicks, Gasol was 15-of-29 from the field and 7-of-8 from the free-throw line to help Memphis win for the fourth time in five games. New Orleans has won consecutive games as it aims to go on a roll and get into the competition for a Western Conference playoff race. Power forward Anthony Davis has averaged 23 points in two games since returning from a back injury.
TV: 2:30 p.m. ET, ESPN, FSN New Orleans, FSN Southeast (Memphis)
ABOUT THE PELICANS (13-26): Backup small forward Ryan Anderson scored a season-high 32 points and matched a season best with six 3-pointers in Friday's 109-107 victory over the Charlotte Hornets. Anderson has reached double digits in eight straight games and 12 of the last 13 and was scintillating while making 12-of-19 shots against Charlotte. "We moved the ball, we found the open man, we were incredibly unselfish," Anderson said afterward. "My teammates did a great job of finding me when I was wide open. It's fun to play that way."
ABOUT THE GRIZZLIES (23-19): Memphis is 8-1 when Gasol reaches 30 points in his career and the effort against New York impressed coach Dave Joerger. "The tone of his body was, 'I'm going to score until you stop me,'" Joerger told reporters. "He's driving into the paint, they're crashing down into the paint and someone has to come and help. That opens it up for other people. If not, he is in that mindset that he is going to go. I thought that was very positive for us and it opens up other things." Gasol is averaging 25.3 points over the past three games after scoring 12 points or fewer in each of the previous four games.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Grizzlies have won four of the past six meetings.
2. New Orleans C Omer Asik had just three rebounds against Charlotte after averaging 12.3 over the previous three games.
3. Memphis SF Jeff Green is averaging 17 points off the bench the past two games and scoring just seven total points over the previous two contests.