ATLANTA (AP) — Grayson Allen scored 17 of his season-high 30 points in a dominant third quarter, leading the Memphis Grizzlies to a 131-113 win over the short-handed Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night.
Ja Morant added 14 of his 19 points in the Grizzlies’ decisive third quarter. Memphis outscored Atlanta 43-23 in the period to break open a close game.
Jonas Valanciunas had 19 points and 11 rebounds in the Grizzlies’ fourth consecutive win. Atlanta’s four-game winning streak ended.
Bogdan Bogdanovic led Atlanta with 24 points. Trae Young had 14 points and 11 assists.
With Clint Capela and Danilo Gallinari added to Atlanta’s already lengthy injury list that also includes De’Andre Hunter and John Collins, the Hawks were without four of their top five scorers for the season. Only Young remained from that top-five list.
Rookie center Onyeka Okongwu, who made his second start, and forward Solomon Hill had the difficult assignment of leading Atlanta’s inside defense against Valanciunas. Okongwu set career highs with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Capela, the NBA’s rebounding leader, was held out with a recurrence of left Achilles soreness. Collins (sprained left ankle) missed his fifth consecutive game. Hunter was averaging 16 points before persistent right knee soreness forced him to miss more than half the season.
One night after finishing with 10 points and 10 assists in Tuesday night’s 124-112 win at Miami, Morant was scoreless before his layup with 1:29 remaining in the first half. Morant was fouled but missed the free throw.
Morant turned up the offense in the third quarter and helped the Grizzlies pull away. Memphis led only 67-64 at halftime before opening the quarter with a 29-11 run, stretching the lead to 96-75. Morant had seven of the Grizzlies’ first 11 points of the period.
Allen had a stretch of 11 consecutive points for Memphis in the period while making three 3-pointers.
