Lance Stephenson (left) of the Indiana Pacers drives down the court while being pursued by Chris Paul of the Los Angeles Clippers in the second half at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, yesterday. The Pacers defeated the Clippers 109-106.
MEMPHIS: Matching the most wins in franchise history was a nice moment for Memphis. The Grizzlies have their sights set on much, much more this season.
Mike Conley got Memphis to 50 wins by driving for a layup with 0.6 seconds left, and the Grizzlies rallied to beat the San Antonio Spurs 92-90 yesterday for their third straight victory.
The Grizzlies won 50 in a season for the first time since 2003-04, and they also won their 12th straight at home. They improved to 26 games above .500 in a game where Conley’s bucket gave them their first lead since 18-16 late in the first quarter.
The Grizzlies lost their final four games in the 2003-04 season, then were swept in the play-offs - by the Spurs.
Conley scored the final five points and finished with 23. Jerryd Bayless had 17 points, Marc Gasol 16, Zach Randolph 11 points and 10 rebounds, and Tayshaun Prince had 11 points.
Tony Parker had 25 points for the Spurs. Parker tried to beat the buzzer with a jumper that was too late. -- Roy Hibbert wasn’t available the last time the Indiana Pacers faced the Los Angeles Clippers. This time he was, and that made all the difference yesterday in a battle between division leaders.
Meanwhile, Hibbert scored 15 of his 26 points in the first quarter and grabbed 10 rebounds before fouling out, and the Pacers barely completed a sweep of their four-game road trip with a 109-106 victory.
Hibbert, who was serving a one-game suspension from the league when the Pacers lost to the Clippers 99-91 at Indianapolis on February 28, made all eight of his shots in the first half and finished 11 for 14 from the field to help his team extend its winning streak to five and increase its Central Division lead to 6 1/2 games over idle Chicago.
Paul George added 23 points and 10 assists.
Clippers centre DeAndre Jordan, whose games this season have fluctuated between dominant and invisible, played 17 scoreless minutes and went to the bench for good with 6:26 left in the third quarter. The Clippers were outscored 42-25 while he was on the floor.
Playing without their top two scorers, the Houston Rockets stumbled onto another effective way to put up points.
Omer Asik matched his career high with 22 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, and the Rockets hardly missed James Harden and Chandler Parsons in a 111-103 win over the Orlando Magic yesterday.
Harden sat out for the second straight game with a sore right foot and Parsons missed the game with an illness. So the Rockets turned to Asik and 6-foot-10 Greg Smith and found easy baskets inside most of the night.
Lin had 19 points and 11 assists, most of them to Asik. The 7-footer made 11 of 13 shots - most of them dunks - and Smith added 12 points.
The Utah Jazz looked like a team on the verge of collapse 10 days ago.
Now they’ve won a season-best five straight to move a half-game ahead of the idle Los Angeles Lakers for the eighth Western Conference play-off spot.
Jefferson scored 24 points, Mo Williams hit six 3-pointers and the Jazz (39-36) beat the Portland Trail Blazers 112-102 yesterday.
Agencies
