Houston Rockets vs Memphis Grizzlies Box Score on Nov 18, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Nov 18, 2017

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- The story of the Houston Rockets' 105-83 rout of the Memphis Grizzlies Saturday night at FedEx Forum was short and to the point.

Point guard, that is.

Chris Paul, playing in his second game after missing 14 games with a knee injury, used his 24 minutes efficiently with 17 points, four 3-pointers and six assists.

James Harden, meanwhile has 29 points and seven assists, shooting just 9 of 20 for the night, but 6 of 12 from beyond the arc for the Rockets, who won their seventh game in eight starts and are off to a Western Conference-best 13-4 start.

The Grizzlies, meanwhile, will be without their point guard and lynchpin Mike Conley for at least two more weeks as he tries to rest and rehab a sore Achilles that has hampered him all season. His replacement, Mario Chalmers, had only six points. Tyreke Evans, who has been averaging 18.5 points off the bench, had just seven backing up Chalmers, and the Grizzlies fell to 7-8 with their fourth straight loss.

Clint Capela added 17 points and 13 rebounds as the Rockets got a split of their already-finished season series with division rival Memphis. Ryan Anderson also had 17 points while Eric Gordon chipped in 12.

Chandler Parsons, getting his first start of the season, led Memphis with 17 points, but only four came after the break. Marc Gasol, who scored 35 in a loss to Indiana Wednesday, had 15 points and nine rebounds while JaMychal Green added 15 in the loss for the Grizzlies.

Paul had a dozen points in a dozen minutes, and was 3 of 4 on his three-pointers, while James Harden added 14 as the Rockets built up a 51-34 lead midway through the second quarter.

The Grizzlies went on a 15-0 run, sparked by three of Parsons' points and a pair of Green threes to close to 51-49. But Houston scored eight of the final 10 points of the half, six by Gordon, to make it 59-50 at the half. Memphis never got closer than nine in the final 24 minutes.

NOTES: Rockets G Chris Paul had his minutes doled out in five-minute chunks by coach Mike D'Antoni. "It works out well," D'Antoni said, "because that's all the wind he's got right now." ... Grizzlies C Marc Gasol made franchise history in Wednesday's home loss to Indiana with a 35 points, 13 rebounds, five assists and a season-best five blocks. It's the first 35-10-5-5 game in team history. "This is Mark's time and you're going to see him step up," said Grizzlies coach David Fizdale. .... Fizdale inserted F Chandler Parsons to and spark a struggling starting five. "When you lose Mike (Conley) it's a huge void and it takes a few games to figure out how to patch that up," Fizdale said. "Chandler has been playing at a great level and I think he can help that (starting) group."