This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Golden State Warriors at the Memphis Grizzlies, Game 3 of the Western Conference Semifinals.
Memphis took a 55-39 lead into the third quarter.
3RD QUARTER: Z-Bo Turn-And-Face Unstoppable
The Warriors finally got a few shots to fall, with Klay Thompson opening the quarter with a catch and pop curl by a screen over Tony Allen.
Draymond Green followed that up by finally hitting a shot, getting a three from the left elbow to bang in, assisted by Stephen Curry.
The Grizzlies were a little antsy, as Green missed a follow-up triple from the top over Marc Gasol, but Allen tried a low-percentage touchdown pass to Gasol, the ball sailing into the seats off of Gasol’s fingertips by the Memphis basket.
Draymond then blocked a shot by Gasol and Klay went off to the races, getting a finger roll over Mike Conley on the fast break.
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Green then drew a charge on Allen and Curry got a right side scoop to drop as he faked a pass to Barnes in the right corner…
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…then Draymond boarded a missed trey by Courtney Lee and found Klay for a triple from the left wing, and the Grizzlies’ lead was cut to 58-51 with 8:36 to go in the period, and Memphis head coach Dave Joerger called timeout.
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After the timeout, Curry drained a left corner triple as he passed to Draymond and Green noticed that the Grizzlies stopped tracking Steph, and the Warriors had the lead down to two possessions, 60-54.
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But Golden State started to commit fouls and turnovers and the game slipped away again.
Conley missed a three-pointer, but Thompson was stuck switched on Gasol, isolated on the opposite for the rebound, and had too much contact on the board. After Allen got a layup on a catch inside as he cut with the Warriors’ attention away from the Grizzlies’ fifth option, Klay couldn’t catch a nice lead pass from Andrew Bogut on the left block.
Thompson then got baited into his fourth personal as Conley dribbled down the left side, about to turn the corner on the baseline, and Warriors head coach Steve Kerr had to go with Leandro Barbosa with 6:21 left in the period, down 62-54.
Allen lost the ball shortly thereafter and Curry crossed over on the top impressively, but the open trey back-rimmed yet again, and Bogut slapped Gasol on the rather distant and hapless help, and picked up his fourth personal. In came Festus Ezeli.
Zach Randolph then took control, dominating the young Festus. He turned and faced Ezeli at every opportunity on the right block, getting a jumper to fall, drilling a toss nearly from the hip and from about twenty feet with the shotclock buzzing, and twice blowing past Ezeli on the right baseline, the first time getting fouled by Harrison Barnes on the help and the second one a nifty reverse layup to give the Grizzlies a 78-60 lead with under a minute to play.
Curry was still not himself, airballing a three that was not close, prior to that.
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Barbosa couldn’t provide the needed spark off the bench for the foul-troubled Thompson, as he took his eye off a touchdown pass and lost the ball on the Warriors’ baseline, charged into Conley, and committed a blocking foul thirty feet from the hoop — with the Warriors in the penalty, no less — as Beno Udrih dribbled with 33.6 ticks left.
During this time, Barnes had a strong upfake and scoop in the lane, Curry had a fade-away with Courtney Lee and Randolph giving chase — and might have been fouled…
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…and Ezeli made a clutch bucket with a righty jump hook over Kosta Koufos, but those good plays were few and far between as Koufos continued his strong play from the first half, with an inside bucket on the left side over Draymond.
The Grizzlies took a 79-64 lead into the final frame as Randolph grinded out 10 of his 20 points for Memphis in the quarter.
4TH QUARTER: Warriors Can’t Take Full Advantage Of Grizzlies In Penalty
Marreese Speights started the 4th quarter and scored six straight points, swishing a jumper after Klay probed the left side with a continued dribble, then stole the ball as Vince Carter made a bad pass to Randolph up top, getting fouled by Udrih on the other end for two free throws, and scoring a bucket down low fed by Draymond after Andre Iguodala blocked a drive from Allen.
But Speights headed to the locker room grabbing his left calf after Joerger called timeout with 9:33 remaining with the Grizzlies up, 83-70.
With the Warriors now showing a late double from the weakside from Curry, the Golden State defense showed a bit of the vise grip even against the taller Grizzlies. Carter made another errant pass that Draymond stole and got fouled. Then, Barnes missed a triple from the left corner, but the ball bounced to Thompson and he got fouled by Gasol.
Memphis was in the penalty with 6:38 to go in regulation.
The Warriors continued to play elite defense, as Klay swatted an Udrih layup…
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…but that was after Draymond made a bad pass to Thompson on the right side that Allen stole easily. Thompson then stole the ball from Allen, but after he was fouled, Klay inexplicably missed both free throws, with the second one going in and out.
Golden State chipped away. Curry found Barnes on the left corner, who then found Thompson, who let Allen fly by and side-stepped to drain the three to cut the Memphis lead to 10, 86-76, with 5:37 remaining.
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Iguodala made one of two free throws after getting grabbed by Allen, but Randolph answered with another clutch shotclock buzzer-beater, a lefty hook over Barnes.
Barnes answered that with a two-hand slam underneath over Gasol fed by Iguodala from the top…
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…Klay slapped the ball away from Gasol down low and Gasol shoved Draymond for two more free throws, and Thompson deflected a pass by Conley. Klay fell down on his back after crossing halfcourt, no traveling was called, and Curry ended up getting fouled on the left side, but Draymond was called for a lane violation on the second free throw with the score 88-82.
Green made up for it by tapping the ball out as Randolph tried an entry pass down low, and Barnes soared in for the finger roll, assisted by Iguodala, and Golden State had, incredibly, cut the lead to just four, 88-84, with 3:07 to go.
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But one game after Conley hit a clutch three, it was Lee’s turn tonight and he drained a three-pointer assisted by Allen. Kerr called timeout with 2:45 left, down 91-84.
The Warriors got fouled again, as Gasol pushed Green on a rebound, but Draymond made just one of two.
With the shotclock expiring, Gasol, with Steph hounding him up top, got a three to bank in at the buzzer, but Iguodala came back with an and-one, driving from the top against the switched Gasol, fouling him out.
The officials used the break in the action to check Gasol’s three-pointer, and his foot was on the line. Iguodala canned the and-one free throw and the Warriors were back to within two possessions, 93-87 with 1:45 to play.
Lee missed a three-pointer this time, but Green turned the ball over trying to drive the left side, and Allen got the touchdown pass from Conley, scoring the layup and getting hit on the wrist by Iguodala, although the and-one was not called.
Allen screamed, “And one!” at the ensuing Kerr timeout and the Grizzlies had their knockout punch, 95-88, with just 1:09 left.
Curry then got the ball on a flare, with Randolph forced to switch. Steph juked Z-Bo and freed himself for a triple, but it back-rimmed, epitomizing the night he was having. Conley came back with a lefty scoop going by Barnes up top, and Memphis sealed the game, 97-88, with 40 seconds remaining.
Steph was still not himself after getting fouled on the next possession, as the second free throw went in and out, with an exasperated Curry flicking his wrist in disbelief of his off shot.
Iguodala made another Warriors turnover on a side inbound, their 17th of the night, leading Barnes too far on the set backdoor play and forcing Harrison to save the ball to the Grizzlies, and that was all she wrote.
Memphis won, 99-89, going up 2-1 in the series with Game 4 coming up again at the FedEx Forum two nights from now on Monday.
The Warriors missed six free throws to close out and tallied, for the second straight game, 6-for-26 from beyond the arc. Curry was just 2-for-10 from downtown, 8-for-21 total, for 23 points, 6 assists, and 4 turnovers.
Klay scored 20 points but got only 13 shots up, going 8-for-13, to along with 8 rebounds but also 5 personal fouls. Draymond was just 1-for-8 floor, 1-for-6 from deep, and the Warriors were a total 19-for-28 from the charity stripe.
Barnes had a great game, scoring 16 points on 7-for-10 field and 6 rebounds.
Randolph tallied 22 points on 9-for-15 field and 8 rebounds, while Gasol added 21 points, 15 rebounds. Allen recorded 4 steals.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @lyndsimetzphotography)
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