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Tuomas Iisalo Explains Why GG Jackson II Did Not Play vs. Thunder
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- Tuomas Iisalo Explains Why GG Jackson II Did Not Play vs. Thunder
(Petre Thomas-Imagn Images)
GG Jackson II stayed on the bench for all 48 minutes Friday night, when the Oklahoma City Thunder handed the Memphis Grizzlies a 128-97 loss. It was the first game this season the Memphis forward has not appeared in.
Jackson had played in all eight of Memphis' previous games, with one start. He averaged 7.4 points and 3.5 rebounds in 15.6 minutes and shot 39.6% from the field and 39.1% from 3-point range, per Basketball-Reference.
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Javon Small, a guard on a two-way contract, played 21:07 in his second appearance of the season.
Kris Murray took the minutes at the end of the game, Grizzlies coach Tuomas Iisalo said. Murray, Olivier-Maxence Prosper, Jahmai Mashack, Taylor Hendricks, and Karim López played the final 3:46.
"We've tried to figure out the rotation pattern for our second units," Iisalo said. "I think we talked about it here after last game. The periods in the first, in the middle of the first, and beginning of second."
"We felt like with Javon Small having a second ball handler there on the court, or somebody, a second guard, I think those units have been pretty good for us," Iisalo continued. "Didn't have a big impact today on the overall score. We saw some burst there, but overall, that was the idea behind it."
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Small's Minutes Next to a Second Guard
Small checked in at the 7:32 mark of the first quarter as part of a three-player change with Jerami Grant and Cam Spencer. Memphis led 12-8 at the time.
Within 30 seconds, he had assisted on a Cameron Boozer cutting layup. He later scored on a tip-in and hit a 3-pointer off a Grant pass with 2:50 left that cut Oklahoma City's lead to 25-24.
He had 5 points in 5:41 during that first stint.
Small started the second quarter in the backcourt with Ty Jerome, alongside Zach Edey, Murray, and Boozer. The Thunder outscored Memphis 36-21 in that quarter.
Small finished with 10 points on 3-of-9 shooting, including 1-of-4 from 3-point range, and went 3-of-4 at the line. He added 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 turnovers. Memphis was outscored by 25 points with him on the floor.
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In his only appearance before Friday, he had 7 points and 5 assists in 20 minutes.
Scotty Pippen Jr. was out again while recovering from a lumbar disc herniation. Pippen had averaged 6.4 points and 2.2 assists in 16.0 minutes over five games.
Memphis is still figuring out how to play together fully nine games in, as Small sees it.
"Multiple ball handlers on the floor most likely means that we got multiple decision makers," Small said. "Easy to play off of, like off the catch reads. ... It's just a little bit easier when you got a lot of decision makers out there."
Small is listed at 6-foot-1 and played college basketball at East Carolina, Oklahoma State, and West Virginia. He closed out a preseason win over the Chicago Bulls on Oct. 10.
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Small expects Memphis to be in a good spot once it gets back in the win column.
"I think just us going through war with each other every single day, through practice, through games, once training camp started," Small explained. "Like we've been with each other since day one, so I feel like we'll be good in the end."
Backup Center Minutes With Isaiah Stewart Out
The second units also played without Isaiah Stewart, who missed Friday with a right knee bone bruise. Stewart had averaged 11.9 points in 18.3 minutes across seven games.
Quinten Post took most of the backup center minutes. He went 0-of-7 from the field, including 0-of-5 from 3-point range, in 14:58.
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Post had missed two games with a sprained right ankle before returning Wednesday against Indiana.
Grant came off the bench for 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting. Spencer scored 7, and Murray had 2 points on 0-of-3 shooting.
The Thunder's bench, led by Bennett Stirtz's 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting, also got 9 points and 7 rebounds from Aday Mara.
Memphis' next game is Monday at 6:30 p.m. CT against the Raptors in Toronto.
