Tuomas Iisalo said the Memphis Grizzlies trapped to force an early shot because they were out of timeouts, but Aaron Nesmith made the corner 3-pointer that sealed Indiana’s 107-103 win on Wednesday night.
Ty Jerome’s floater had pulled Memphis within 104-103 with 28.2 seconds left. Nesmith’s answer put Indiana back up four.
Iisalo said the possession began with a 4 second differential between the game clock and the shot clock.
“We were out of timeouts in that situation. Three possible scenarios there,” Iisalo said. “We can foul, put them on the free throw line.”
The second option was letting the Pacers run the clock down. Iisalo said a shot with about five seconds left would have meant Memphis had “to get the ball up in 3 seconds.”
“Or we could try to get them to take an early shot by trapping the ball, which they did,” he said. “Unfortunately, they made the shot.”
The Grizzlies (6-2) have lost two straight after a 6-0 start. They were the NBA’s last unbeaten team until Monday’s 135-134 overtime loss to New Orleans.
Iisalo said opponents are now bringing their best. “We are drawing the best shot from the opponents right now because of our start to the season,” he said. “That’s great for us in the long term.”
Grizzlies’ turnover problem
Memphis committed 19 turnovers, including 12 in the first half. “There seem to be all types of turnovers unfortunately today, and this was now a second game in a row,” Iisalo said.
He said Indiana “scored 24 points off of those.”
“Some of our passes were late, and that allowed their pressure defense then to put two on the ball but cut off the passing lanes,” Iisalo said. “Others were directly off the dribble.”
He said some turnovers came when Memphis had a chance to score and instead gave up fast breaks. He pointed back to the New Orleans loss, when Memphis missed a 2-on-1 and a 5-on-3 in overtime.
“So we got to be better,” Iisalo said. “That’s part of the learning process for us.”
Cold night from 3-point range
Memphis shot 12 of 44 from 3-point range. Jerome went 2 of 10 from deep and Cedric Coward 4 of 12, though both finished with 23 points.
Iisalo said it was both Indiana’s defense and missed open looks. He said the Pacers sent two defenders at the ball, and Memphis did not move it “quite fast enough” to the open man.
“When we did, we did get quality looks,” he said. “We’ve had some games where the opponents also haven’t made their shots and we have made our shots, and today it was the other way around.”
He said Jerome is “in some of the highest percentiles in the whole league” as a pick-and-roll ball handler. “We just got to figure that out,” Iisalo said.
He added that chemistry is the slow part with a new roster. “The thing that’s going to take more time is to get the synergy between the players when you have a new team,” Iisalo said.
Isaiah Stewart injury update
Isaiah Stewart left with a knee injury after scoring six points in 10 minutes and did not return. “No, there’s no further info,” Iisalo said.
Iisalo also used Olivier-Maxence Prosper earlier than usual in the second half. Prosper scored four points in seven minutes, including a fast-break dunk.
“Mostly energy and defensive intensity,” Iisalo said. “We never want to be the team that’s out-competed.”
Memphis hosts Oklahoma City on Friday at 8 p.m. ET.
