Memphis Grizzlies (6-5) at Golden State Warriors (8-3)
Tipoff: Wednesday, 11/20/2013, 7:30PM PDT
Location: #Roaracle, Oakland, CA
TV: CSNBA | Radio: KNBR 680 AM
Livetweet: @LetsGoWarriors (@goldenstatenz & @samesfandiari)
WARRIORS PRACTICE FACILITY, OAKLAND, CA — 28 points on 11-for-18 from the field with 11 rebounds in an 89-86 win at the Los Angeles Lakers last Friday. 22 points on 9-for-12 from the field with 10 rebounds in a 97-86 win at the Sacramento Kings on Sunday. Then on a back-to-back on the road, 26 points on 10-for-16 from the field with 15 rebounds in a 106-102 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.
Zach Randolph has been playing as well as anybody in the NBA the past week, righting the ship of last year’s Western Conference Finals runners-up, the Memphis Grizzlies, who are now 6-5.
David Lee, who is likely to draw the one-on-one assignment on Randolph, said he saw what Zach had done to the Clippers, as well as on the 2nd half of the game tape of the Sacramento game.
“He’s a guy that’s very difficult to stop inside and he’s a handful for anybody,” Lee said after practice yesterday, “The biggest thing you have to try to do is make sure he doesn’t get those low catches in the paint because once he gets it down low, even though he’s not jumping up over and dunking on people, he’s guy that’s always gonna finish those inside.”
“The second thing is, to keep him off the glass. He’s most effective when he’s offensive-rebounding the ball so do my best to do both of those things,” added Lee. “Also, make him work defensively. Last game they had Gasol on me, but we’ll see what those matchups are and we’ll go back at ’em.”
“There’s problems when Zach has got a rhythm and he’s scoring the basketball. Right now he’s playing at an extremely high level, but one we’ve become accustomed to watching with him,” said head coach Mark Jackson, “He’s a big-time scorer, big-time rebounder, and he’s very comfortable right now. We’ve got to find a way to force him to defend and try to make life a little tougher for him when he has the basketball.”
A lot has happened since the Golden State Warriors got routed in Memphis 108-90 on November 9th, on the second of a back-to-back to close out their road trip. After that, the Grizzlies made a quick trip to the Indiana Pacers, only to get blown out. Memphis proceeded to lose embarrassingly back home to Rudy Gay‘s return with the Toronto Raptors, before setting out on their current four-game road trip.
Meanwhile, the Warriors got back on their feet after the slippage in Memphis, cruising to victory over the Detroit Pistons, with Andre Iguodala‘s buzzer-beater against the Oklahoma City Thunder, and a sweep of a home-and-home series against the lowly Utah Jazz.
Oh, and the Warriors have lost their last 11 games to Memphis.
“Well, we own this one. Not pretty and hasn’t been fun,” Jackson said, “It’s important for us to step up to the challenge tomorrow night, find a way to get a win. They’ve played well against us. They’ve had a lot to do with that but so do we.”
“We touched on it today, we’ll touch on it again tomorrow, we touched on it in Memphis before the game when they absolutely lit us up. They’re a tough team and they cause a lot of matchup problems. They have our number for whatever reason. We have a lot of guys that are kind of quietly brooding up some frustration coming into this game which is a good thing,” said Andrew Bogut on Tom Tolbert show on KNBR yesterday, “We have our work cut out for us but we’re definitely focused on this. Look, win or lose is not the be all, end all. We’re now on our home floor, we should win.”
Stephen Curry will sit this one out due to the concussion he suffered on Monday night in Utah. Ironically, it will be Curry Bobblehead Giveaway night at Oracle. Warriors PR staff said that doors will open at 6:00PM, as usual, so plan accordingly.
Tony Allen will be out for the Grizzlies due to a one-game suspension for kicking Chris Paul in the face. According to reports by local Warriors Twitterers, the Vegas line on the game has the Warriors favored by 4.5 points.
Jackson told media that he will decide if Harrison Barnes will start tonight, in place of Curry, as a game-time decision.
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