Dennis Schröder, Ziaire Williams dominate in Nets’ 119-106 road win over Grizzlies

The Memphis Grizzlies basically gave the Brooklyn Nets a 2030 second-round pick to take on Ziaire Williams’ contract last offseason. The former lottery pick was reduced to a salary dump so the team could open up cap space to re-sign wing Luke Kennard.

Wednesday night inside FedExForum, in his first game back in Memphis since the trade, Williams made his former team look silly for giving up on him so easily. The 23-year-old made his presence felt the second he checked into the game, collecting three steals in the first half which all led to thunderous dunks. Those electric plays set the tone in the Nets’ 119-106 defeat of the Grizzlies. His homecoming was definitely one to remember, and he made quite the statement.

Williams not only got the dub in his revenge game, but stuffed the stat sheet, finishing with 17 points, three assists, four steals and one block. His energy and effort off the bench helped Brooklyn improve to 2-3 and earn its first road win of the season. It has now beaten Memphis three straight times on the road, the first time it has done so since 1996-98.

“It feels great, I wanted this one bad,” Williams said. “I was definitely happy I was able to talk some smack, and more importantly, get the win.”

The Nets shot better than 50% from the field for the second straight game, once again fueled by Dennis Schröder, who poured in a season-high 33 points on 11-of-14 shooting with eight assists and six 3-pointers. The veteran guard scored 28 points against the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night and has now had four straight games with 20-plus points and five-plus assists.

The German is having a career season scoring the ball and has been playing like one of the best guards in the Eastern Conference this season. In his first five games, he is averaging 24.6 points and 8.2 assists while shooting 54.7% from the field and 55.3% from deep.

Jaren Jackson Jr. scored a team-high 30 points for Memphis. Ja Morant was limited to just 14 points on 5-of-16 shooting.

“He said ‘just give me the ball. I’ll take care of this.’ And that’s what he does,” Jordi Fernandez said of Schröder. “He’s a leader. He puts everybody in plays; if he has to score, he scores. And he finishes the game.”

The Nets played without Nic Claxton and lost the battle in the paint 58-46 and were outrebounded 38-34 against the larger Grizzlies. However, they made up for it with another stellar all-around defensive performance, forcing 22 turnovers which created 31 points.

Free throw shooting by both teams was also far more balanced compared to Tuesday’s loss to Denver, although Memphis appeared to have a considerable advantage early. Brooklyn had 25 attempts at the charity stripe (made 22) while the Grizzlies had 29 (made 22).

The Nets will return to action against the Chicago Bulls at Barclays Center on Friday.

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