Memphis had its own problems. Isaiah Stewart (knee) and Scotty Pippen Jr. (back) sat again, so this was the same thinned rotation that got run off its own floor by Oklahoma City. Then Quinten Post went down with a head injury and was listed as doubtful to return, which left the Grizzlies even shorter up front. They won anyway. Memphis also closed as the favorite after opening as an underdog, which tells you how much the Toronto scratches moved the number.
For about a quarter, Toronto hung around. The Raptors took the 1st 26-25. Then Memphis won the 2nd 34-27 and went into the break up 59-53. That 2nd-quarter run decided the game. The Grizzlies never gave the lead back, and the box below shows how steadily it grew: 6 at the half, 8 after 3, 16 at the horn.
Toronto stayed close through 3 quarters. Down 89-81 going into the 4th, the Raptors were 1 run away from making it a game. Instead they managed 21 in the final period while Memphis put up 29. A roster missing 2 starters plus its top frontcourt backups ran out of answers late, and that's where the margin came from. The preview's worry about Toronto's frontcourt depth showed up right where you'd expect it, in the final 12 minutes.
The preview wanted to know whether Jamal Shead could run the offense again, whether RJ Barrett could carry it again, and whether Ty Jerome and Cameron Boozer could make up for Memphis's missing pieces. The box score we pulled only had the line score, so we can't settle any of those individually here. The team totals do tell the story. Memphis scored 118, its 3rd score of 118 or more in its last 5 games. Toronto, 3 days after scoring 121 in Milwaukee, got held to 102.
That makes it 1 win in Memphis's last 4, and it came in the first road game since the slide started. The Grizzlies are now 7-3 and still waiting on Stewart and Pippen, with Post's head injury now a question too. Toronto drops to 5-5 and is back to watching the practice reports, because this lineup wasn't built to beat a decent team for 48 minutes.
