The Memphis Grizzlies came into American Airlines Center and took care of business from the very first minute, handing the Dallas Mavericks a 124-105 defeat on Friday night in front of 19,165 fans. Fueled by a dominant first-quarter burst and consistent offensive execution across three periods, Memphis controlled the tempo throughout and never trailed. Cam Spencer led the charge with a team-high 25 points, while Dallas struggled to find answers against a Grizzlies squad that shot 50.5 percent from the field. The result moves Memphis to 22-36 on the season, while Dallas falls to 21-38.
Quarter-by-Quarter Breakdown
First Quarter: Memphis Sets the Tone Early
Memphis wasted no time establishing control, outscoring Dallas 34-20 in a first quarter that felt like a statement from the opening tip. The Grizzlies attacked the paint, moved the ball with purpose, and forced the Mavericks into uncomfortable defensive rotations. A 14-point deficit after 12 minutes put Dallas in an early hole that it would spend the rest of the night trying to dig out of.
Second Quarter: Mavericks Can’t Claw Back
Dallas showed some fight in the second quarter, improving to 24 points on the frame, but Memphis answered at nearly every turn, adding 30 more of their own to take a 64-44 lead into halftime. The Grizzlies’ ball movement — they finished with 29 assists on 47 made field goals — was a constant headache for the Dallas defense. A 20-point halftime deficit left the home team with a steep hill to climb.
Third Quarter: Grizzlies Deliver the Knockout
If the first half left any doubt, the third quarter erased it. Memphis poured in 37 points — their best quarter of the night — against just 26 for Dallas, pushing the lead to as many as 31 points and effectively ending the contest with a full quarter still to play. The Grizzlies shot efficiently, defended the three-point line on key possessions, and executed their offense with a level of precision that Dallas simply could not match.
Fourth Quarter: Dallas Salvages Pride
With the game well out of reach, the Mavericks outscored the Grizzlies 35-23 in the fourth quarter — their best frame of the night by a significant margin. Dallas played looser and with less pressure, giving reserve players extended run. The final score of 124-105, while respectable on paper, does not fully reflect how dominant Memphis was for the first three quarters of this contest.
Key Performers
Cam Spencer, G — Memphis Grizzlies
Spencer was the standout performer of the evening, finishing as the game’s leading scorer with 25 points. His efficiency and shot creation gave Memphis a reliable offensive option throughout the night, and his team-best rating of 38.3 underscores how impactful he was from start to finish.
Walter Clayton Jr., G — Memphis Grizzlies
Clayton Jr. quarterbacked the Memphis offense effectively, dishing out a game-high 5 assists. His ability to push the pace and distribute in the open court was a key reason the Grizzlies were able to generate such high-quality looks, particularly in transition.
Olivier-Maxence Prosper, F — Memphis Grizzlies
Prosper contributed a double-figure rebounding performance, pulling down 10 boards to lead all players in that category. His work on the glass helped Memphis control the possession battle and limit Dallas to difficult second-chance opportunities.
Brandon Williams, G — Dallas Mavericks
Williams led the Mavericks in both scoring (16 points) and assists (4), providing some of the more consistent offensive production for the home team. He was Dallas’s most impactful player on the night, but 16 points from a team leader in a 19-point loss tells its own story about where the Mavericks are right now as a roster.
Dwight Powell, F — Dallas Mavericks
Powell was a bright spot for Dallas, posting 13 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double that earned him the team’s top efficiency rating (27.4). The veteran big man competed hard and gave Dallas a physical presence inside, even as the game slipped away.
Game Analysis
The numbers tell a clear story. Memphis shot 50.5 percent from the field compared to Dallas’s 42.0 percent, made more threes (12-of-32, 37.5%) versus the Mavericks’ below-average 28.1 percent (9-of-32), and converted 85.7 percent from the free-throw line against Dallas’s 66.7 percent. The Grizzlies also held a 29-to-24 advantage in assists, reflecting a team that was sharing the ball and generating clean looks rather than relying on isolation scoring.
For Dallas, the free-throw disparity was particularly damaging. The Mavericks attempted 33 free throws — 12 more than Memphis — but converting only 22 of them (66.7%) meant that the extra trips to the line were largely neutralized. Dallas also attempted the same number of threes as Memphis (32) but made far fewer, a difference that accounted for roughly nine points of the final margin on its own.
Defensively, Dallas struggled most in the first and third quarters, when Memphis combined for 71 points across just 24 minutes of play. The Grizzlies’ pace and ball movement created open driving lanes and kick-out opportunities that the Mavericks’ defense repeatedly failed to close out on.
Standings and Series Context
With the win, the Memphis Grizzlies improve to 22-36 on the season, including a 10-19 record on the road. For a team still searching for consistency away from home, this was a quality road result. Dallas drops to 21-38, with their home record now sitting at 14-18 — a concerning number for a franchise that needs American Airlines Center to be a genuine advantage. Both teams are well outside playoff positioning in the Western Conference, and with the season entering its final stretch, the focus for both organizations will increasingly shift toward player development and roster evaluation heading into the offseason. The Grizzlies take this one by 19 and move a game ahead of the Mavericks in the overall standings.
