Grizzlies hold on to down Raptors in Barone’s debut

The Grizzlies led by as much as 24 points in the first half, but saw the lead dwindle to as little as two points late in the fourth quarter before pulling out the win.

This was Barone’s first game as interim head coach after Mike Fratello was fired Thursday. Memphis is now 7-24 on the season, and had lost five straight and 14 of 16 coming into Saturday’s game.

Morris Peterson led the Raptors with 19 points, and Jorge Garbajosa scored 15 points for Toronto, which has lost three of four. Radoslav Nesterovic and Jose Calderon scored 13 points each, and Nesterovic pulled down nine boards for Toronto, which played without center Chris Bosh and guard T.J. Ford. Bosh, Toronto’s leading scorer and rebounder, missed his 12th game with a knee injury, and Ford sat with an ankle injury suffered in Friday’s 107-97 loss to Chicago.

Chucky Atkins scored 16 points for the Grizzlies, and Stromile Swift scored 15 points and grabbed 14 boards.

Atkins hit a jumper with just under two minutes left to put the Grizzlies up 106-100, but the Raptors refused to give up. Fred Jones hit two free throws, and a Garbajosa jumper brought Toronto to within 106-104 with 1:14 remaining. That was as close as the Raptors would get, though, as two Gasol free throws and two Atkins free throws sealed the win.

The Grizzlies led 86-78 entering the final 12 minutes.

Miller and the Grizzlies went off in the first quarter, as Miller scored 11 points to lead Memphis to a 39-18 advantage entering the second quarter.

The Grizzlies lead bulged to 44-20 early in the second, but Toronto trimmed the lead to 64-50 by halftime.

Game Notes

Memphis hit 10-of-21 from behind the arc (47.6 percent) led by Miller’s 7- of-12 performance...The Grizzlies won despite 22 turnovers. Toronto had 18 turnovers.