In the third quarter of Game Four against the San Antonio Spurs Saturday, the Memphis Grizzlies looked to be in pretty good shape. They were up 64-55 in the third quarter, building on a five-point halftime lead. Things started to go a bit wrong from there thanks to turnovers, including one where LaMarcus Alridge stole a loose ball and went coast to coast for an emphatic dunk, but Memphis extended the lead to 10 points partway through the fourth quarter on a Mike Conley Jr. shot and led 88-80 with four minutes to go.
The lead soon diminished, though, and Spurs’ star forward Kawhi Leonard was the biggest reason why. Leonard scored the Spurs’ final 16 points in regulation to force overtime with the score tied 96-96, which included an 11-0 San Antonio run. One of his most impressive plays was this steal and coast-to-coast layup:
Soon after that, he made a huge three:
And followed that with a long two to put the Spurs up 96-94 with just 12 seconds left:
That led to a great play by Conley to tie the score up, though:
After Leonard missed a shot at the buzzer, this went to overtime. Both players had some amazing plays there, including this Conley drive and layup:
Leonard then made this three on a crazy play where Patty Mills tripped and almost lost the ball, but still managed to get it to David Lee for a pass to Leonard:
And after some free throws by Memphis, Leonard made another three to tie the game with under 13 seconds left:
But the Grizzlies struck back, with Conley setting up Marc Gasol for the go-ahead shot with less than a second left:
San Antonio then missed a desperation heave, giving the Grizzlies a hard-fought 110-108 win. This game was definitely the story of Leonard and Conley, and they were both huge for their teams. Leonard finished with 43 points, eight rebounds, six steals and three assists, while Conley had 35 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. With the series now tied at two, they’ll clash again in Game Five Tuesday. If both play anywhere near as well as they did Saturday, that will be one to watch.
