ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — Two nights after defeating the Kings at home, the Golden State Warriors (58-14) were back at #WarriorsGround to play host to the Memphis Grizzlies (40-32).
The Warriors were without Kevin Durant (left knee MCL sprain, left tibial bone bruise) and Damian Jones (D-League assignment).
The Grizzlies were without Marc Gasol (left foot strain) and Chandler Parsons (knee). Head coach David Fizdale elected to start Zach Randolph at center.
Q1: Sparks But No Stopping Grizz
Draymond Green hit the first Golden State triple, but Stephen Curry threw the ball away and Tony Allen scored uncontested to kill that momentum.
Shortly thereafter, Curry came back with a splash from the left corner, then tapped the ball away from Mike Conley and led the break that finished with a no-look flip to Green for a two-hand smash:
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Out of a Memphis timeout, Andre Iguodala drilled a three, but Vince Carter dunked home a putback miss of Andrew Harrison’s three, and Harrison ended a seven-point run with another triple to give the Grizzlies a slight cushion, 21-15, with 2:45 remaining.
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Zaza Pachulia did well to get a couple offensive rebounds in the quarter, but the Warriors couldn’t capitalize until Iguodala led another break with a feed to JaVale McGee for an and-one…
https://twitter.com/CSNWarriors/status/846157952721432576/video/1
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…and Steph added to the push with a trey.
Iguodala later soared in for a jam, but Conley answered that with a triple up top over Curry and Steph airballed just before the buzzer, the Grizzlies taking a 28-25 lead into the second stanza.
Q2: Near Stalemate
Despite a triple by Klay Thompson and a beautiful Euro-step fast break finish by Iguodala…
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With 8:36 to play, David West missed two consecutive tip-ins in heavy traffic, and Memphis held a 37-31 lead.
But Iguodala swished a triple from the left corner, plus got hit by Carter for an and-one…
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With 6:41 to go, the Warriors cut their deficit to 39-37.
Out of the timeout, Clark hit a three, Randolph answered, then Shaun Livingston found Curry in the right corner, but James Ennis, III came back with a strong and-one inside.
Later, Barnes made a nice help block of Randolph, which led to Steph on the break, where he hesi’ed Carter up top, drove in, then hesi’ed him under the hoop again, getting the unorthodox layup:
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…but Randolph traded bad passes with Steph, and Conley’s attack to close the quarter ended with a Draymond clean block off the board that was mistakenly ruled a non-reviewable goal-tending.
Iguodala managed to hook Carter on the inbound, with the whistle on Carter, and two free throws capped the half off with a slim Warriors lead of 56-54.
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(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @bimbo.jimbo)
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