Keyonte George, Jazz beat Grizzlies to spoil Ja Morant's return

Keyonte George scored a career-high 39 points, Lauri Markkanen added 26 and Kevin Love had a season-best 20 to lead the visiting Utah Jazz to a 130-126 victory Friday over the Memphis Grizzlies.

Santi Aldama led the Grizzlies with 22 points and Ja Morant, returning from a lengthy injury absence, contributed 21 points and 10 assists. Cam Spencer added 20 points off the bench and went 6-for-6 from beyond the arc.

Morant played for the first time since mid-November. He had missed the team's previous 10 games with a right calf strain. While Memphis had Morant back in the lineup, it played without big man Zach Edey, who was diagnosed with a stress reaction in his left ankle earlier in the week. He will be evaluated in four weeks.

George dominated in the opening half. He made eight of his 13 field goal attempts, including four of his six 3-pointers, and had 27 points at the break.

George was held scoreless in the third quarter, but had 12 points in the fourth, including Utah's final six points.

The Jazz never trailed in the fourth quarter. They led 124-117 with 3:36 to go on a Love 3-pointer, but Memphis surged back and tied the game at 126 on a Jaylen Wells corner 3.

George then closed the game with a deep 2-pointer and two free throws with 6.8 seconds to go.

The Grizzlies opened the third quarter by scoring nine straight to build a 12-point advantage, but the Jazz battled back. Utah put together a 25-7 run to end the quarter and led 103-97 into the final frame. Love had three straight 3-pointers to close the run.

Memphis trailed by nine in the first quarter, but recovered by scoring 12 straight for a 41-36 lead early in the second quarter. Utah did not score in the first 3:49 of the second quarter. The Grizzlies led 64-61 at the half.

Edey's absence was noticeable. The Grizzlies had won seven of their previous nine games in part because of the 7-foot-4 Edey, who averaged 13.6 points and 11.1 rebounds in the 11 games he played after making his season debut on Nov. 15.

The Jazz snapped a five-game losing streak to the Grizzlies.

--Field Level Media