The Memphis Grizzlies have been one of the most talked-about teams in the league lately. While much of that attention usually centers on Ja Morant’s antics, this time it came from an entirely different direction. During their 137-96 blowout win over Sacramento, the Grizzlies’ announcers brought up a topic that probably should’ve been avoided on national television, and it quickly became the night’s biggest storyline.

It all went down during the dying seconds of the game, with the Grizzlies waiting for the final buzzer when play-by-play announcer Pete Pranica asked sideline reporter Rob Fischer about whether he hit parlay or not.

“Fish, you hit that parlay, right?” Pranica questioned Fischer. “I did,” the announcer responded as he celebrated getting his first payout of the season. “I did hit the parlay. First one this season, Pete. We all needed a game like this. Everybody needed it,” Fischer further elaborated.

Although many thought Fischer and Pranica were unprofessional for discussing this, there was more context to it. You see, with Broadcast on the FanDuel Sports Network, Fischer had given viewers a FanDuel Same Game Parlay before tip-off.

Of course, encouraging everyone else to gamble is quite a debatable topic at the moment, given the recent betting scandal that featured Miami Heat’s Terry Rozier, alongside other individuals. Nonetheless, this indicates that, contrary to what many viewers believe, the announcer probably had no money on the game and was rather celebrating his pregame.

Still, his getting excited about a play in a game that had already been decided speaks volumes about how betting is influencing the sport. Also, you can understand why this incident raised so many eyebrows in the first place. However, despite that, this wasn’t all the drama that unfolded during this clash between Memphis and Sacramento as the Grizzlies snapped their five-game losing streak.

An energized Santi Aldama helps Memphis snap its losing streak

Even though the Memphis Grizzlies’ announcers garnered all the attention during the final seconds of Thursday’s matchup, the focus was on the Grizzlies and Santi Aldama beforehand. Despite entering the game winless in the last five games, Memphis did not miss a beat against the Sacramento Kings, who extended their losing streak to eight games following this lopsided defeat.

Santi Aldama was the standout performer for the Grizzlies, as he scored 29 points along with five rebounds and three assists to wrap up a terrific night. “I’m going to sleep way better than I have been,” Aldama said following such a great performance in his first start of the season. “Good one. It feels good to be back in the winning column.”

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However, he did not do it alone and had a lot of help from his teammates. The likes of Jock Landale, Cedric Howard, and Zach Edey all added in double digits to help Memphis’ cause. What made this win even more impressive was the fact that the Grizzlies did so without their star guard, Ja Morant, who is out with a calf injury.

Even head coach Tuaomas Iisalo was quite happy to see his team finally click. “We’ve been working very hard trying to figure this thing out, and everybody is being stretched to the limit,” he said after the game. “It’s great to see a day when everything just clicks and you play great as a collective.”

Now, the Grizzlies will hope to build upon this win as they take on the struggling Dallas Mavericks next on Saturday. Will they be able to turn around their abysmal 5-11 start to the season from here? That’ll be something we’ll have to wait and watch as the season moves forward.