The Golden State Warriors were at the “Grindhouse” — aka FedEx Forum — tonight to face the Memphis Grizzlies in Game 3 of the Western Conference Semifinals.
1ST QUARTER: Pace Favors Grizzlies
The Warriors jumped out to an early 13-8 lead and their defense was focused, although Zach Randolph made the usual impressive inside shots in traffic to keep the Grizzlies close, with a spin and bank and a lefty over-the-shoulder floater, both deep in the left block, against Draymond Green.
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However, Green did well to avoid any early fouls, but on the offensive end, with Memphis conceding the perimeter to him, Green was unable to capitalize, missing two open three-pointers and catches as the Grizzlies doubled Stephen Curry as he probed the defense.
Meanwhile, the #SplashBrothers accounted for the Warriors’ first 11 points. Klay Thompson got off to a good start as Curry set a screen on Tony Allen out of a side inbound, then Andrew Bogut handed the off and set another screen to free up Thompson for a dribble-stop-pivot jumper from the right baseline.
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Although Klay’s second shot was an airball under duress, he drilled his next three after Marc Gasol missed a midrange jumper, Thompson got the rebound, dribbled up the court, got a drag screen from Green, and stopped and popped from the left elbow.
Shortly thereafter, Courtney Lee made a spin move from the left baseline on Harrison Barnes, but Green got a hand in there to bother him, Thompson picked up the loose ball, raced ahead, threw the ball ahead to Curry, who gave a touch pass right back to Klay for the easy right-handed banker on the fastbreak.
Curry’s long range ball wasn’t finding the mark, though, having missed a right wing triple off the dribble and a three-ball left corner pocket pull over Gasol going short, but Barnes corralled the offensive rebound off the second miss and swished a short jumper.
Memphis head coach Dave Joerger called timeout with 6:11 to go and Golden State up, 13-8, after Barnes’ basket.
But the Grizzlies fought back. Randolph got another bucket inside, spinning from the deep right block over Bogut, even with Thompson helping. The Warriors’ defense relented a bit as Lee got a runner down the lane to rattle in, getting past Barnes, Green bit on a Gasol upfake and reached in on the drive to pickup his first foul, and Mike Conley juked Leandro Barbosa, who had come in for Klay, and stepped back for a triple.
“Z-Bo” Randolph then entered the ball to Gasol down low and, with no help offered by Andre Iguodala off of Allen. Warriors coach Steve Kerr burned his first timeout to stop the bleeding, as the Grizzlies evened the score at 17-17 with 3:21 to go.
Out of the timeout, Curry’s shooting woes continued. After Festus Ezeli got blocked at the rim by Kosta Koufos on a nice inside dish from Steph as he probed the baseline, Curry back-rimmed a jumper from the right elbow and his only two buckets on 7 field goal attempts were in the paint.
Koufos then got a putback of a missed three by Jeff Green with the shotclock winding down.
Kerr inserted Marreese Speights for Ezeli and Speights delivered, with an elbow jumper over Koufos and a free throw after Beno Udrih fouled Speights on the catch inside, but Andre Iguodala bit too hard on Vince Carter on the perimeter and the 38-year-old veteran drove past him and got a running floater to drop.
The Grizzlies took a 23-20 lead into the second quarter. Golden State shot just 9-for-23 for the quarter, with Thompson leading with 7 points.
2ND QUARTER: Gasol Continues To Dominate Inside
Koufos continued his good play off the bench, connecting with Udrih on an entry pass for a layup after Speights bricked the opening possession on a hook shot that went way over Koufos and off the board too hard, followed by an entry pass by Iguodala to Barnes that was mishandled.
Speights back-rimmed a catch-and-shoot and Udrih came back the other end with a reverse layup past Shaun Livingston, and Kerr called another timeout with the game slipping away, 27-20, with 10:36 to go in the half.
But the Warriors continued missing shots. A missed open three from the left side by Iguodala, delivered by Curry, rimmed off and Golden State was 1-for-8 from downtown.
Steph then missed a designed catch-and-shoot trey off a series of off-ball screens running from the baseline to the elbow, and Jeff Green got a right side triple as Conley went past Thompson. Green’s trey over the lunging Klay gave the Grizzlies a 38-24 lead with 7:00 to play.
Thompson answered with an upfake-jumper that trickled in, possibly getting hit on the arm, but with the physical style of the game not warranting a call, and that broke a 28-9 run by the Grizzlies.
Gasol and Randolph continued their dominance inside, however, as Gasol drew a foul on Bogut on a spin down low, and Conley drilled a trey as Gasol made a strong dribble from the top right into Draymond.
Turnovers hurt the Warriors again as a Curry swing pass to Draymond got deflected, Allen missed the layup on a 3-on-1 against Steph on the fastbreak, and Jeff Green made the easy putback.
Kerr called timeout again and the Grizzlies had built a 16-point cushion.
About the only Warrior who did not seemed rattled was Barnes, who made a couple of nice buckets, including a badly needed upfake-dribble-and-pop from the left side to stop the bleeding momentarily at 51-37 with 2:36 left, but the Grizzlies continued to have success going down low as Draymond fouled Gasol on the deep entry catch, and Iguodala did the same versus Randolph.
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Curry had to make an acrobatic double-clutch banker from the left side just to cut the lead to 14 with a minute to go, but then Steph committed his 4th turnover, trying to pass back out to Klay from the free throw line, but getting the pass easily intercepted by Allen, who soared in for the finger roll fastbreak layup.
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Golden State closed out the quarter in similar ugly fashion, with Iguodala missing a conceded three-pointer from the top, Thompson missing a fade-away jumper from the left baseline, and even as Curry got another offensive rebound on the last sequence before the half, his fade-away jumper at the buzzer was way off again.
Memphis took a commanding 55-39 lead into halftime. Gasol led the way with 16 points, 10 rebounds on 5-for-9 field and 6-for-6 from the free throw line and Randolph had 8 points, 5 rebounds. Meanwhile, Curry was just 5-for-13 from the field, 1-for-5 downtown, for 12 points and Draymond had zero points on 0-for-4 shooting. Thompson collected 10 points but was just 1-for-3. Iguodala was also 0-for-4.
The Grizzlies led the points in the paint, 34-16.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @jazzbeezy)
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