Story by
Jaylen Wells Says Grizzlies 'Wear Them Down' After 66-45 Second Half in Portland
- Story by
- Jaylen Wells Says Grizzlies 'Wear Them Down' After 66-45 Second Half in Portland
(IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect)
Jaylen Wells scored 8 of his 10 points after halftime Thursday night, when the Memphis Grizzlies outscored the Portland Trail Blazers 66-45 over the final two quarters of a 124-103 win at Moda Center.
The teams were tied 58-58 at the break. Wells had gone 1-of-4 in the first half, with his only basket a 15-foot pull-up off a Cam Spencer pass at 5:03 of the second quarter.
Advertisement
At 8:39 of the third, Wells hit a 24-foot 3-pointer off a Cameron Boozer pass for a 66-64 lead. He pulled up for a transition 3 off a GG Jackson feed 2:26 later to make it 72-66. In the fourth, his fast-break layup off another Boozer pass at 3:52 put Memphis up 24 for the first time, 117-93.
Memphis plays a style that shows up in the second half if it does not show up in the first, in Wells' view.
"I think we wear them down," Wells said. "We wear them down, kept working, kept getting on the boards, kept [picking up full court], causing disruption. And I feel like that's our style of play. If it doesn't show up in the first half, it's going to show up in the second half. I don't think many teams can run with us and last as hard as we play."
Portland Shot 34.9% After Halftime
Memphis made 25 of its 52 shots after halftime and half of its 18 threes. Portland went 15-of-43, and 18 of its 23 3-point attempts missed.
Advertisement
Portland turned it over 9 times after halftime, and those became 13 Memphis points. Cedric Coward came up with one of the steals, his third of the night.
Memphis also won the second half on the boards, 29-20. Points in the paint went its way 32-20, fast-break points 14-5.
Portland managed 20 points in the fourth quarter on 6-of-21 shooting.
Three of Wells' five second-half shots went in, two of them from deep. Over the full game he shot 4-of-9 and finished a plus-20.
Four Road Wins in Seven Days
Memphis trailed 108-94 at Golden State on Oct. 23 and scored the last 17 points. Two nights later in Sacramento, it was 123-112.
Advertisement
Utah got within a point twice in the final four minutes the next night, and the Grizzlies won 110-105 .
Wells had not won many games on the West Coast before this trip.
"Team morale is high after that, especially coming at the end of a road trip, a four-game road trip on the West Coast," Wells explained. "That was a great team win from one through whoever played. Definitely team morale is high, and I don't think I've won that many games on the West Coast. It's all good."
Third Season in Memphis
Memphis drafted Wells 39th overall in 2024 out of Washington State. He started 74 games as a rookie, averaged 10.4 points, and was the only second-round pick on either All-Rookie team. Wells and Zach Edey both made the first team, the first Grizzlies pair to earn All-Rookie honors since Ja Morant and Brandon Clarke in 2019-20.
Advertisement
The Grizzlies went 25-57 last season and finished 13th in the Western Conference.
Wells said the work Memphis put in over the summer is showing now.
"We don't really listen to expectations, keep it in the locker room," Wells said. "We expect to go into every game outworking the opponent and obviously coming out with a win. So we believe in ourselves. This is not a surprise to us."
"But just being able to have that work in the summer and then coming out and showing it to the rest of the world and our fans," Wells continued, "we hope that we got the fan base behind us."
Memphis returns home Saturday to host the Sacramento Kings at 7 p.m. CT at FedExForum.
