Nearly 300 days had passed since the three core players on the Memphis Grizzlies’ roster — Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Desmond Bane — had started the same game.
But during Saturday’s wire-to-wire 124-111 win over visiting Orlando, Morant, Jackson and Bane were together again. Their reunion gave the Grizzlies a chance to be themselves again and post a convincing victory, one that saw Memphis hold commanding leads throughout, including a 29-point cushion in the second half.
Monday against the visiting Chicago Bulls, the Grizzlies will send the trio out to start a second consecutive game seeking similar contributions.
“I told Jaren that I’m so excited to play with him again,” Bane said. “He’s a difference-maker for us.”
Jackson made his season debut Saturday. He had missed the team’s first two games recovering from a preseason hamstring injury.
In the lopsided win over the Magic, Morant had 16 points and 10 assists in 25 minutes. Bane added 13 points and seven rebounds in 28 minutes and Jackson finished with 13 points in 23 minutes.
“Those three guys are special,” Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said. “They are the leaders of what we are building here.”
Jenkins said he’s been challenging Morant, Bane and Jackson to set examples of leadership on and off the court.
“Those guys can be drivers for us,” Jenkins said. “It’s going to their sacrifices and unselfishness. We got to see all three of those guys in one game have a tremendous impact and we’ve got to continue to replicate that.”
While trio together was a welcome sight for Jenkins, a developing core of reserves has been encouraging, too. In the win over Orlando, the Grizzlies got 66 points from their bench, including a team-high 22 from forward Santi Aldama and a career-high 18 from center Jay Huff. Scotty Pippen Jr. added a double-double (11 points and 12 assists) in relief of Morant.
The Bulls, who lost 114-95 at home Saturday to Oklahoma City, will be in search of consistency. Despite an impressive win at Milwaukee last week, there’s work to be done amid a 1-2 start.
“You’re going to get (behind in games) when you don’t shoot the ball well from anywhere,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said. “But our guys hung in there (against OKC). They kept battling and fighting and got themselves back in there.
“But that’s been the issue for us. We’ve had a couple of halves where we’ve had 39 or 40 points, and then you look as some of the second halves and it’s been 63, 65, 64 (points). For whatever reason, we haven’t been able to shoot the ball consistently throughout the course of the game.”
The Bulls shot 34.8 percent from the field against OKC and made just 15 of 53 (28.3 percent) from beyond the arc. Zach LaVine led them with 22 points and nine rebounds but also lost seven turnovers.
Chicago center Nikola Vucevic has started the season with three straight double-doubles, including 18 points and 13 rebounds against the Thunder. He leads active NBA centers with 517 in 14 seasons.
