Duke in the NBA: Grayson Allen receives his first NBA start

Former Duke Basketball player Grayson Allen received his first NBA start for the Utah Jazz in the absence of Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell.

Utah Jazz star guard Donovan Mitchell missed Friday night’s game versus the Memphis Grizzlies with a sore hamstring. In his absence, former Duke guard Grayson Allen was able to receive the starting spot. This is Allen’s first time starting in an NBA game.

Allen’s first points in the start came on an alley-oop dunk after receiving a back-screen from Rudy Gobert. His alley-oop dunk can be viewed on the Utah Jazz Official Twitter account.

Allen did a great job relocating at the three-point line in the first quarter, but the shots didn’t fall. The Jazz rookie guard was able to play good defense early, fighting over Grizzlies screens. However, Allen had to take a seat with four-minutes left in the first quarter after picking up two early fouls.

With 9:13 remaining in the second quarter Allen checked back into the game. Shortly after checking back in, Mike Conley drove on Allen and was able to draw the rookies third foul in the first half.

Starting the second half Allen was able to show off his sweet shooting form, knocking down a pump-fake three. He has shown he has the skills to be a knock-down shooter in the NBA. Allen has been able to knock down the three-point shot from well beyond NBA range. He needs to work on playing defense without fouling though if he wants to be able to stay in the game at the NBA level.

Allen finished Friday night’s game with 27 minutes, 9 points, and 1 assist. He was able to hit a clutch three-pointer with 3:30 remaining in the fourth quarter to bring the Jazz within eight. Allen however, dealt with foul trouble for most of the night and struggled shooting from the field overall.

The Jazz lost to the Grizzlies 100-111, bringing their record to 4-4. Their next game is versus the Denver Nuggets on Saturday, November 3 at 9:00 PM ET.