LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Memphis star Ja Morant and Miami’s Tyler Herro, two of the NBA’s top young guards, delivered dazzling performances on Thursday in impressive triumphs.
Morant had a triple double for the host Grizzlies, who stretched their NBA win streak to seven games, while Herro unleashed a historic career-best effort for the Heat.
Morant managed his third triple double of the season and the seventh of his career with 25 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists to lead Memphis in a 142-101 rout over Milwaukee.
Asked if it was the Grizzlies’ best performance so far this season, Morant said, “easily.”
The 23-year-old guard’s masterful display highlighted a blowout triumph for Memphis, which led 70-41 at half-time and 117-71 after three quarters.
Herro scored a career-high 41 points, making 13-of-20 shots from the floor and 10-of-15 from 3-point range, and added six rebounds for the Heat in a 111-108 victory at Houston.
The 22-year-old US guard became the youngest NBA player to produce 40 points, 10 3-pointers and five rebounds in the same game.
Herro broke his old career mark of nine 3-pointers in a game set one night earlier in a 110-108 victory at Oklahoma City.
Jimmy Butler added 20 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists for Miami.
At Memphis, the Grizzlies improved to 19-9 while Milwaukee fell to 20-8 in the matchup of second-place clubs in the Eastern and Western conferences.
“Everybody is in their groove, everybody is in their rhythm and everybody is playing with confidence,” Morant said.
The Bucks suffered their second-most lopsided loss since coach Mike Budenholzer took over to start the 2018-19 campaign.
Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 19 points on 5-of-13 shooting while Khris Middleton had only three points on 1-of-12 shooting.
“Pretty much just not leaving anybody on an island with Giannis and Middleton,” Morant said of the Memphis defensive scheme.
“We have somebody guarding them but it’s a team effort to slow those two guys down, try to force them into tough shots.
“After that it’s about rebounding and running. We excelled at that and it led to us getting out to a big lead early.”
