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Gay lifts Grizzlies with jumper at buzzer

Nov 1, 2008 - 4:46 AM By Shawn Pachucki PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MEMPHIS, Tennessee (Ticker) -- Rudy Gay sank a jumper at the buzzer to give the Memphis Grizzlies an 86-84 victory over the Orlando Magic on Friday.

Gay took an inbounds pass from Kyle Lowry with 1.8 seconds left and fired his shot, giving Memphis its first home opener victory.

"I felt like we shouldn't have to go to overtime to get (the win), and there was one guy in the building I wanted to have that shot and it was Rudy Gay," Grizzlies head coach Marc Iavaroni said.

Gay scored 20 of his 29 points in the second half, 14 during a 23-10 run over the final 11 minutes.

"I felt like I owed it to my team," Gay said. "I missed a few shots and made some bad plays, so obviously I wanted to shoot the ball and make up for it."

Keith Bogans hit two free throws to give Orlando an 84-82 lead with 1:17 to play. Hakim Warrick evened the game with a pair of his own nine seconds later.

Marc Gasol then blocked Bogans' shot and came up huge at the other end, back-tapping a missed shot and allowing the Grizzlies to keep possession.

After coming out of a timeout with 24 seconds left, Gay held the ball, running the clock down for the final shot. He drove and pulled up for a jumper that hit the rim and went over the backboard with 2.8 seconds left.

After a timeout, Lowry intercepted an inbound pass by Hedo Turkoglu. Lowry quickly called a timeout then found Gay in the corner for the game-winner.

"That was a play where we were just looking to get the ball to somebody who can get a shot off," Lowry said. "We got the ball to our main guy, Rudy Gay, and he made the big shot. That's what he does."

Orlando (0-2) scorched the nets at a 60-percent clip in the first half but went ice cold the rest of the way, shooting 25 percent and missing 10-of-12 shots during the Grizzlies' closing run. The Magic finished the game at 42 percent (29-of-69) from the field.

"We had no energy, no ball movement," Orlando head coach Stan Van Gundy said. "If we're not moving the ball and playing together, we're going to struggle, and tonight we didn't. We just couldn't buy a shot in the second half."

Rashard Lewis scored 19 of his 23 points before intermission and nailed back-to-back 3-pointers at the end of the first half to give the Magic a 55-43 lead at the break. Lewis was 7-of-12 from the field, including 4-of-8 from the arc in the first 24 minutes.

Dwight Howard added 10 points before halftime as the Magic used a 30-17, second-quarter advantage to grab the lead after Memphis had led by one at the end one quarter.

The third quarter turned into a defensive struggle with the Grizzlies outscoring the Magic, 18-13, but still trailing, 68-61 with 12 minutes left. Memphis finished strong, outscoring Orlando, 43-29, in the second half.

"Good things start when you play good defense," Gay said. "We had great energy on defense in the fourth and we were able to make our run.

"Marc (Gasol) was a big part of that. He battled Dwight Howard all night, and that's one of the most powerful guys in the league. He had the block at the end and grabbed some huge rebounds and gave us a chance."

Howard netted 14 points and pulled down 14 rebounds for Orlando, and Turkoglu approached a triple-double with 18 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.

"We gave them the opportunity and they took it," Howard said. "But tonight, we just turned the ball over too much. It really wasn't anything they did. We were just a bit careless."

Rookie O.J. Mayo added 17 points and six rebounds for Memphis, which struggled from the field, shooting just 39.5 percent (30-of-76), but converted 20 points off of 19 Orlando turnovers.

"It was great for our team," Gay said. "We needed that."