Two nights after securing their historic 70th win against the Spurs at home, the Golden State Warriors (70-9) headed to FedEx Forum, “all in” for their pursuit of 73 wins, to face the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Warriors were without Andrew Bogut (rest), with Festus Ezeli taking his spot in the starting lineup. Kevon Looney (hip) was also out.
The Grizzlies were without
1st Quarter – Dimes
Draymond Green hit a left-corner three, Lance Stephenson answered with a triple at the shotclock buzzer the next time down, Harrison Barnes answered that with a catch-and-shoot trey from the right side assisted by Stephen Curry, and Matt Barnes answered that with a right corner three-pointer fed by Vince Carter.
Both teams would try two more threes, with Klay Thompson an early shotclock miss, then Green lost the ball, but Jordan Farmar missed an in-transition jumper with no rebounders, and Draymond came back with a brick from the top.
Zach Randolph hit a jumper over Ezeli and Steve Kerr had enough of the “home run” shots and called an early timeout with the Grizzlies up, 8-6, with 9:41 remaining.
Out of the timeout, Curry found Ezeli inside for a jump hook plus a foul, then threw a touchdown pass to Klay for a reverse layup two seconds after Carter hit a fade-away jumper on a pinch post over Steph:
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Thompson later added an “and-one” off a catch from a curl and the Warriors had an 18-17 lead with 6:36 to play.
After a timeout by Memphis head coach Dave Joerger, Curry found Ezeli with an overhead lob…
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…then again on another pick-and-roll with “The Kraken”.
Jordan Farmar missed a jumper, Steph got the rebound, and kept the ball all the way for a reverse layup past Farmar at the other end:
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Matt Barnes threw up an airball after getting contact on a drive with no call, Andre Iguodala dribbled all the way to the right block, and found Green up top.
Draymond upfaked, dribbled, crossed over, then found a lane to jam home two points to cap a 15-2 run that gave Golden State a 26-19 lead with 3:48 to go.
Curry answered a long two-point jumper from Carter with a cut and a lefty layup via entry pass by Green, but P.J. Hairston rebounded a missed three from Steph and went coast-to-coast for an “and-one” layup against Leandro Barbosa.
Draymond made a bad pass that led to a Xavier Munford-to-Barnes behind-the-back pass for a fastbreak dunk, but Green made up for it, hitting a three as the shotclock expired on the next possession.
The Warriors took a 31-28 lead heading into the second stanza.
2nd Quarter – Bench Unit Can’t Defend Rim
Harrison started the second quarter on a roll, hitting two jumpers after a missed three, but Carter hit a three, fed Chris Andersen for a layup at the rim, and added two more free throws. Brandon Rush also made a dribbling mistake:
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Marreese Speights came in, answered the Carter triple with a jumper, then got two throws after being fouled on a reverse layup and pick-and-roll slip pass by Ian Clark.
But Andersen got a dunk assisted by Munford, added another two points from the charity stripe after getting fouled by Speights following a bad catch on a mistargeted pass by Harrison, and although Barnes hit another jumper, the Grizzlies came back with another dunk, this time from Jarell Martin and Carter got a tip-in putback.
That was Memphis’ 8th offensive rebound. 23rd total, compared to Golden State having zero offensive rebounds and 17 total.
Kerr took another timeout to bring in Curry and Green.
The Warriors immediately capitalized with Green getting a bucket inside on an entry from Curry, then they forced a shotclock violation by the Girzzlies.
However, Iguodala made a bad pass, Randolph couldn’t take advantage and missed a jumper, and Draymond took the rebound down the floor, found Klay on the left wing, and Thompson delivered a swish from beyond the arc.
Joerger called a timeout to stop the momentum as Golden State cut the Memphis lead to 48-46 with 2:37 left in the half.
To close out the half, Green got an uncontested drive after Matt Barnes missed a three, Stephenson made two consecutive turnovers, while Thompson hit a triple assisted by Draymond, and Ezeli made both free throws after getting fouled on a roll from a high pick.
After Stephenson’s second turnover, Curry heaved a three-quarter-court shot that missed by about a yard, and the Warriors took a 53-50 lead into halftime.
Steph had just 6 points on 0-for-5 from downtown, albeit 6 assists, while 39-year-old Carter led all scorers with 13 points. Draymond had 12 points, while Harrison and Klay added 11 apiece.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @davemray)
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