With eight-tenths of a second remaining, Jeff Green rose above the rim to receive an alley-oop off of a Courtney Lee inbounds, lifting the Memphis Grizzlies to a 95-93 win at FedExForum on Sunday afternoon.
The play was reminiscent of the Vince Carter to Lee inbounds with three-tenths of a second remaining against the Sacramento Kings from last season, and was the second Grizzlies game-winning bucket with under three seconds left this season (Zach Randolph against Portland on Nov. 13).
The final minute and a half of the game saw the Suns battle back from a six-point deficit to tie the game at 93 on a put-back layup from Alex Len with 11.9 seconds remaining after Suns forward Jon Leuer missed a pair of free throws.
Memphis and Phoenix managed to fit a whole game’s worth of dramatics into the final seconds. Mike Conley drove to the rim attempting to give the Grizzlies the lead. Len blocked his shot, but a goaltending call gave Memphis the advantage. After an official review, the call was overturned and the Suns were given the ball at half court with 2.1 seconds remaining.
Conley made up for the missed shot by pressuring Brandon Knight and forcing him to lose the ball out of bounds, giving Memphis the ball back with just enough time to set up the winning dunk.
Lee’s impact was not limited to just an assist on a game-winner in the final second. The guard lifted the team with his all-around play in the fourth quarter. He scored 13 points on 5-of-6 FG (.833), and was 2-of-2 from beyond the arc in the frame.
He finished the game with a season-high tying 18 points and added a season-best six assists, sharing the team lead with Conley.
Marc Gasol led the team with 22 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Zach Randolph missed out on a double-double by a single rebound, finishing with nine, to pair well with his 10-point performance.
Eric Bledsoe led all scorers with 23 points, but finished 8-of-22 from the field (36.3). In his return to Memphis, Leuer recorded a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds and chipped in four assists and three blocks.
Oklahoma City comes to FedExForum for the final time in the 2015-16 season on Tuesday, Dec. 8. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. and fans can catch the game on 92.9 FM ESPN, or on FOX Sports Southeast.
