National Basketball Association

4 Takeaways From Blazers-Grizzlies

Updated Aug. 15, 2020 6:40 p.m. ET

The Portland Trail Blazers took down the Memphis Grizzlies, 126-122, in the first game of the Western Conference play-in round on Saturday, setting up a first round playoff matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Here are four key takeaways from Portland's win on Saturday:

1. Nurkic has career-day after grandmother's passing

Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic revealed Saturday morning on Instagram that his grandmother passed away due to COVID-19.

How did Nurkic respond?

By putting together one of the best games of his career, scoring 22 points, grabbing a career-high 21 rebounds, dishing out 6 assists, and adding 2 steals and 2 blocks.

It was a special moment for Nurkic, who said after the game that he didn't plan to play.

2. Melo remains clutch

Veteran superstar Carmelo Anthony has made it a habit of hitting clutch threes in Orlando, and he kept with the trend on Saturday.

Anthony finished the day with 21 points, 9 of which came in the final 12 minutes.

Portland needed every fourth quarter point from both Melo and McCollum, considering Lillard only scored 5 points in the fourth on five free throws.

Lillard did not score in the final 9:17 of the game.

3. Ja Morant is here to stay

In the Grizzlies' most important game of the season, their rookie sensation showed up big, scoring a career-high 35 points.

Morant's previous career-high was 30, and in the bubble, he averaged 19.7 points and 9.7 assists in Orlando, up from his regular season averages of 17.8 points and 7.3 assists.

For Morant, the main area that could have used improvement on Saturday was turnovers. He racked up a career-high 8 TOs, including 3 in the final 4:28.

4. What went wrong for Memphis?

After Portland took a 16-point lead late in the first quarter, it looked like the Blazers might blow the doors off the Grizzlies. However, Memphis stormed back to take the lead midway through the second quarter, and Memphis led by 8 with 9:55 to go In the fourth.

What happened? Well, the only major difference on Saturday was the free-throw line.

After the 9:55 mark in the fourth, Portland outscored Memphis 11-1 from the free-throw line, with Lillard going 5-for-5. For the game, the Blazers went 35-for-41 from the line compared to 18-for-22 for the Grizzlies.

Memphis shot better from the field (48.9% compared to 45.2%) and connected on seven more 2-point field goals. The Grizzlies made 14-of-25 threes compared to 15-of-40 for the Blazers.

Although they committed five more turnovers, the Grizzlies won both the rebounding battle (37-30) and the assist battle (30-20). The only major category that was significantly lopsided was points at the line.