Mike Conley, Kawhi Leonard Duel Ends With a Gasol Game-Winner as Grizzlies Take Game 4

Grizzlies
Spurs forward LaMarcus Aldridge and Grizzlies center Marc Gasol. (Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images)

The Memphis Grizzlies managed to tie the series against the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night, winning 110-108 in a phenomenal back-and-forth overtime victory that’ll go down as an instant classic.

For the fourth straight game, San Antonio was led in scoring by its superstar forward Kawhi Leonard. He finished with a playoff career-high 43 points, which included several clutch shots down the stretch, all while giving his typical stellar effort on the defensive end.

However, the Spurs struggled with their perimeter shooting for much of the game. After finishing the regular season No. 1 in three-point percentage, San Antonio only managed to connect on nine of its 28 attempts from long-range tonight. Memphis, on the other hand, shot an efficient 12-of-27.

Memphis capitalized on the Spurs’ shooting struggles and played its typical physical defense throughout the game. They were led by Mike Conley (35 points, nine rebounds and eight assists), Zach Randolph (12 points and 11 rebounds), and Marc Gasol (16 points, which included a game-winning layup with 0.7 seconds left in overtime). JaMychal Green also added 14 off the bench.

Mike Conley started things off well for the Grizzlies in the first:

And in the second:

Second-year guard Aaron Harrison ignited the crowd even more with a beautiful euro-step layup plus the foul in transition:

San Antonio received little help outside of Kawhi Leonard for most of the game. Tony Parker was a factor, however, scoring 22 points and dishing out five assists. Manu Ginobili, on the other hand, continued to struggle. He shot 0-for-5 from the field, which makes him an absurd 0-for-15 so far this series. Danny Green (0-for-5 from deep) was also ice cold.

The Grizzlies struggled in the third period. Having only three timeouts for most of the quarter, they were unable to slow down any momentum San Antonio created. Turning the ball over seven times didn’t help their cause, of course.

LaMarcus Aldridge silenced the Memphis crowd with a monster poster dunk:

Chaos commenced in the final period. The physicality doubled, and the energy inside of FedEx Forum was elevated. Memphis continued to scrap down the stretch, as they’ve done so many times during the regular season, but Kawhi Leonard suddenly became red-hot. He scored San Antonio’s final 16 points in regulation, including this tough jumper to put the Spurs up two:

Mike Conley responded with a clutch off-hand layup, which would force the game to go into overtime:

Conley would nail a similar shot late in overtime to give the Grizzlies some breathing room:

But Kawhi Leonard wouldn’t give in:

Grizzlies center Marc Gasol nailed the biggest shot of the night on the next possession, tying the series at two wins a piece.

Memphis wound up winning the rebound battle 51-37, which played a key role for them in winning the game. They struggled to take care of the ball, however, turning it over 22 times compared to San Antonio’s nine times.

The Grizzlies’ grit-and-grind mentality at home would prevail in the end, with the team once again surprising the world by turning this into a best-of-three series.

The Spurs will host Game 5 from AT&T Center on Tuesday night.

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