How the Grizzlies melted down in loss to Spurs

Memphis played with urgency and immediate rim pressure after halftime: fast, downhill and getting early layups and dunks, which didn't let the Spurs settle down defensively. Memphis pushed the pace relentlessly after every rebound, and they turned each Spurs miss into a transition opportunity. They scored inside-out, not from the perimeter.

Cedric Coward dunked, Zach Edey had an alley-oop dunk, Vince Williams Jr. hit a short jumper, and the team as a whole had multiple drives that either led to easy baskets or drew fouls. These were high-quality, high-efficiency possessions that only came about by constant, purposeful movement and rim attacks instead of isolated jump shots.

While Williams had an impactful quarter to lead the way with multiple assists and a pair of blocks, the real strength of the team was the balanced scoring and everyone getting involved. With so many threats, San Antonio couldn't key in on a single option defensively.

Why that success died in the fourth quarter

San Antonio would go on to completely change, and dictate, the pace of the game in the final quarter with slow, methodical sets, high ball screens for De'Aaron Fox and grabbing multiple offensive rebounds to kill any momentum from the Grizz.

Crucially, Memphis stopped running and became a half-court team, which isn't their identity - much less without Ja Morant to at least create on his own if all else fails.

San Antonio played cleanly and also forced Memphis into mistake-heavy basketball with their defense and they followed suit with critical turnovers and multiple fouls that let the Spurs score with the clock stopped.

The shot quality completely collapsed as well while the Spurs were trading threes for twos and the Grizzlies simply couldn't keep up. Fox hit multiple daggers while Memphis converted on just one big three during the final stretch.

The final six minutes were particularly challenging for the Grizzlies. They missed several layups and forced shots as the shot clock dwindled. Jaylen Wells also missed two free throws, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope committed a travel violation, and Cedric Coward made a costly turnover. Compare that to the third quarter display of dunks, drives, and early-clock looks and you can see just how drastic the two quarters were.

The Grizzlies’ third quarter was powered by pace, rim pressure, and balanced playmaking — they lived in transition, shared the ball, and kept San Antonio on its heels with dunks, layups, and free throws. But when the fourth quarter slowed down, Memphis’ offense unraveled. The Spurs turned every possession into a half-court grind, buried them with timely threes, and forced Memphis into turnovers, misses at the rim, and empty trips at the line. The contrast was jarring: free-flowing and aggressive in the third, stagnant and mistake-prone in the fourth.

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