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Warren scores 26 to lead Pacers over Grizzlies, 126-114

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — T.J. Warren’s aggressive approach led the Indiana Pacers to their biggest offensive night of the season. Warren scored 26 points on 11...
T.J. Warren, Jae Crowder

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — T.J. Warren’s aggressive approach ledthe Indiana Pacers to their biggest offensive night of the season.

Warren scored 26 points on 11-of-15 shooting, and the Pacersbeat the Memphis Grizzlies 126-114 on Monday night.

“I just want to stay aggressive when I’m outthere,” Warren said. “We have a lot of potential. We’re clickingright now, so we just have to keep it up and get ready for the next one.”

Jeremy Lamb had 19 points and Aaron Holiday added 16 pointsoff the bench for the Pacers (10-6), who have won three straight and seven ofnine games.

Indiana’s 126 points were a season-best. The Pacers shot54.3% from the field and 54.5% on 3-pointers. Their 18 3s were also a seasonhigh and one shy of the franchise record.

“I thought we did a good job of executing, getting outand pushing the ball,” Pacers coach Nate McMillan said. “We had 29assists, so we had good ball movement. But we were trading baskets. We gave up62 points in the paint and that’s way too many points.”

Jared Jackson Jr. scored a season-high 28 points — includinga career-high six 3-pointers — Ja Morant had 19 points and 10 rebounds, andBrandon Clarke scored 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting for the Grizzlies (5-11),who have lost four straight.

“The biggest takeaway is that we didn’t come in with anurgency to start the game,” Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said. “Westarted selling the game a little bit, but a little too late for us when westarted settling in.”

The Pacers led by as much as 29 after T.J. McConnell scoredand Holiday made back-to-back 3-pointers, including one to give Indiana a112-83 lead with 10:45 remaining.

Jackson hit two 3s, Morant twice made layups and SolomonHill scored in a 12-0 spurt in the fourth quarter by the Grizzlies, but Memphiscouldn’t put enough together to overcome such a big deficit.

The Pacers took a 16-point lead in the first half after a12-2 run that ended with a free throw by Domantas Sabonis that made it 65-49with 2:02 to play in the second quarter.

Morant made a layup and Jae Crowder a 3-pointer to close outthe half. The Pacers led 67-56 at halftime.

TIP-INS

Grizzlies: Clarke was 5 for 5 from the field with 11 pointsin the first quarter. … C Jonas Valanciunas finished with 14 points and 11rebounds. … Memphis shot 47.4% from the field, including 13 of 29 on3-pointers.

Pacers: G Malcolm Brogdon had 14 points, six rebounds andeight assists. … Sabonis had 13 points, 13 rebounds and six assists. … F JaKarrSampson was inactive for a second straight game with a sore back.

STARTING FIVE

A number of injuries have left the Pacers short-handed manytimes this season, forcing McMillan to use seven different lineups so far.Against the Grizzlies, Indiana used its opening night starting five for justthe third time and is now 2-1 using that combination.

BIG BLOCKING

Myles Turner, who finished with seven points and fourrebounds, blocked a season-high five shots — the most by a Pacers player in asingle game this season.

UP NEXT

Grizzlies: Host the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday.

Pacers: Host Utah on Wednesday for the third of fourstraight home games.

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