Duke in the NBA: Grayson Allen shines in NBA debut
By Zach De Jong
Former Duke Basketball guard Grayson Allen got his NBA debut against the Memphis Grizzlies and was able to make the most of his opportunity.
Grayson Allen checked in for his first regular season minutes against the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night.
Allen brought a spark off the bench that the Utah Jazz were lacking. This spark was no surprise to Duke fans as he provided this same spark in the 2015 NCAA National Championship game.
The opportunity was given to Allen in the third game of the regular season by coach Quin Snyder who also attended Duke University.
The Utah Jazz rookie guard finished with 11 minutes, 7 points, and was +/- rating of +6 while he was on the floor.
Allen also finished the game with the starting lineup minus Ricky Rubio. During this time Allen hit a three pointer and had an athletic dunk after a pump fake from three-point line. The dunk came during a 7-0 Jazz run with 1:21 remaining in the fourth-quarter. The video of Allen’s dunk was captured by the Utah Jazz’ Official Twitter account.
Allen finished the game shooting a perfect 100% from the field as he went 2-2 on field goals and 1-1 on three-point attempts.
He was also seen playing intense defense during his time at the end the game. Allen was able to fight over screens and make life difficult for the offensive players. As well as, a good hustle play to tip a rebound to Rudy Gobert to give the Jazz a chance to spur a comeback.
The Utah Jazz came up short as the Memphis Grizzlies pulled away in the final moments 92-84. Allen looks to have earned himself more minutes in the future.
The Jazz’ next game is against the Houston Rockets on Wednesday, October 24. The Rockets will be without guard Chris Paul as he serves his final game suspension from the Los Angels Lakers scuffle on Saturday night.