Dillon Brooks scored 24 points as the Memphis Grizzlies started fast, withstood blowing a 22-point lead and ended a season-opening five-game home losing streak with a 115-110 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Friday.

The Grizzlies improved to 2-4 since losing star point guard Ja Morant to an ankle injury on Dec. 28 at Brooklyn, but it was hardly easy after a fast start. Memphis held a 62-40 lead with a minute until halftime and wound up getting outscored 70-53 the rest of the way.

Brooks tied his season high by scoring 24 for the second time this season for Memphis, though he missed two 3-pointers in a span of 24 seconds that would have given the Grizzlies a 10-point lead late in the fourth.

Those misses nearly proved costly as Memphis committed a 5-second violation on an inbounds play with 21.9 seconds left, and Brooklyn pulled within 113-110 on a 3-pointer by Caris LeVert with 11.8 seconds to go.

Memphis iced its fourth straight win over Brooklyn on two free throws by Desmond Bane with 6.1 seconds left, and the game ended when Gorgui Dieng intercepted an inbounds pass from Brooklyn's Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot with eight-tenths of a second left.

Brandon Clarke scored 12 of his 21 points in the opening quarter when Memphis took a 40-28 lead. Reserve De'Anthony Melton added 14, including a 3-pointer that put the Grizzlies up 111-104 with 69 seconds remaining.

The Grizzlies won on a night in which Jonas Valanciunas left after halftime due to health and safety protocols. According to a report by Fox Sports South, it was not due to a positive COVID-19 test.

LeVert led all scorers with 43 points and hit a career-high seven 3-pointers. He scored 19 points and hit five 3-pointers in the third quarter when Brooklyn stormed back.

Taurean Prince added 16 while Joe Harris contributed 13 as Brooklyn played without Kevin Durant (COVID-19 health protocols) and Kyrie Irving (personal reasons).

After trailing 72-54 early in the third, the Nets took their first lead since the opening minutes on a 3-point play by Jarrett Allen that made it 79-78 with about 3 1/2 minutes left. Memphis regrouped and carried a 92-86 lead into the fourth.

--Field Level Media