Morant fires Grizzlies to defeat Bucks, Rockets hold off Mavs

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Ja Morant's 12th career triple-double gave the Memphis Grizzlies a 122-99 NBA victory over the reeling Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday as Houston defeated the Dallas Mavericks.

Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 37 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, but teammate Damian Lillard was held to four points on 1 of 12 shooting.

Brook Lopez was Milwaukee's second-highest scorer with 12 points as the Bucks lost their fourth straight after opening the season with a win over injury-plagued Philadelphia.

Morant was the engine, scoring 26 points with 10 rebounds and 14 assists.

“I just came out aggressive and took what the defense gave me,” said Morant, who scored 21 points in the first half and helped Memphis build a 70-48 lead.

He had plenty of support as seven Grizzlies players, including all five starters, scored in double figures. Milwaukee was never able to get the deficit below 18 points in the second half.

“Everyone was kind of in a good rhythm, we got it going early,” Morant said after Memphis recovered from a sluggish loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday.

“We have stops,” he said. “We boxed, we ran out and played our game. That's how we want to play. If we want to achieve something in this league, we have to do it every night.”

The Bucks are clearly missing the contribution of the injured Khris Middleton, who has not played yet this season as he recovers from an ankle injury.

“I thought we played with the right attitude,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. “We didn’t shoot, and there will be nights like that too. But on these nights we have to find a way to get stops.”

“Morant had a free pass as far as driving tonight … we need to do a better job of figuring out how to contain guards like that,” Rivers said.

In Dallas, the Rockets finally prevailed over their Texas rivals, leading by as many as 23 points and securing a 108-102 victory.

Jalen Green scored 23 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for the Rockets, who had lost six of their last seven games against the Mavs.

Green scored 11 points in the fourth quarter to help the Rockets hold off a late Dallas surge. Dillon Brooks and Alperen Sengun each scored 17 points for Houston, which defeated Dallas 50-37.

Mavs star Luka Doncic scored 15 of his 29 points in the final period, and his three-pointer brought Dallas within three points with 1:08 minutes left.

Amen Thompson and Brooks responded with baskets and the Rockets held on.

Kyrie Irving scored 28 points for the Mavs, but Klay Thompson was the only other Dallas player to score in double figures with 12.

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