This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Golden State Warriors at the Memphis Grizzlies.
3RD QUARTER: Warriors Climb Back But Late Push By Grizzlies Bench Again
Thankfully for the Warriors, Grizzlies super-defender Tony Allen isn’t that gifted on offense, because he got four shots at the rim and missed all of them, as Golden State scrambled to get the defensive rebounds.
However, the Dubs added four turnovers in the first two minutes as Curry committed two of them, Festus Ezeli got picked by Mike Conley up top trying to initiate the high action, Draymond Green made a bad pass, and Klay Thompson dribbled too much, eventually out of bounds, trying to be aggressive on the left side.
Curry got a one-legged jumper to go and deflected a Conley pass, one of a few Steph managed to get on the night, and Marreese Speights joined him on the 2-on-1 fastbreak against Courtney Lee, getting a putback as Curry rimmed out the layup.
Memphis head coach Dave Joerger called timeout as the Warriors somehow closed the gap to 61-55 with 7:30 to play in the third.
But after an Andre Iguodala three, some more sloppiness ensued as Shaun Livingston made a bad pass to Curry from the baseline to the paint and, as Curry corralled it and fell to the ground with Zach Randolph about to force a jump ball, Green got the ball but threw it away.
Green then blocked Randolph twice in a row under the basket, yelling, “Get that $h!t outta here!” twice in succession, but “Z-Bo” persevered and got the third putback to go.
After another Randolph layup on Green with the two Michigan State University alums having some words between them, on the way down the floor, Vince Carter tried to slow the transition by getting in the jogging path of Green — Carter had done that earlier on Curry — but Curry came back with a deep trey from up top in early transition.
Green barked, “Bitch!” at Carter and the refs gave Draymond a technical. Speights and Harrison Barnes got in between the official and a heated Green, and you could see Warriors head coach Steve Kerr yell, “Draymond!” trying to get him to calm down. Kerr gave up as Green’s teammates instead got him to calm down.
Unfazed, Green came back and blocked an Udrih three-point attempt, but Curry was too anxious, pump-faking an open three-point look into a contested one that rimmed off.
Iguodala got a three a beautiful touch pass from Livingston, but the Warriors couldn’t answer Carter’s three or Udrih’s jumper and that late push gave the Grizzlies an 11-point buffer heading into the final frame.
Carter tallied 16 points, 4-for-5 from beyond the arc. Curry had 15, but just 1-for-7 from downtown. The Warriors committed 7 turnovers in the quarter.
4TH QUARTER: Warriors Can’t Recover From Refs’ Non-Calls
Carter helped the Warriors get back into the game as he picked up a technical foul early while still jawing with Green, then missed three jumpers. Curry checked back in with 9:07 to go, with the Warriors down 86-76.
Kerr then drew up a baseline out-of-bounds play for Thompson, curling him around screens twice to free up for an open three-pointer, cutting the deficit to 86-79 with 8:59 to go. Iguodala then added his own trey, capping a 10-0 run.
The Warriors weren’t done closing the gap, as Curry got a jumper on the left side to bank home, assisted by Green on the pick-and-roll action. Then after a Jon Leuer miss, Thompson found Green on the in-transition and, with Livingston and Curry standing in nearly the same spot, Green passed to Livingston who drove into the lane unmolested for a a bucket to pull the Dubs to within two points, 88-86, with 6:44 to play.
Conley baited Curry into a shooting foul and made both free throws, but Golden State came back with a nice alley to Livingston from Iguodala. With 5:09 to play, it was still a two-point game.
Allen then got a key offensive rebound, his second straight sequence doing so, and dished to a wide-open Tayshaun Prince from the left corner. Prince swished the trey and Kerr called timeout with 4:38 to go, now down 93-88.
Thompson missed a jumper and Green missed the layup putback, then missed an ill-advised early three-pointer on the next sequence.
With the Grizzlies trying to pound the ball down low to their bigs, Iguodala pulled the chair a Randolph, led the break, and eventually found Curry in the left corner. But with Lee draped all over him, Steph missed and, on the ensuing possession, Conley found himself isolated on the left side with Livingston and drove his body into Livingston.
Conley took a baby step as the replay confirmed, but was not called for the traveling. He got the layup to go, Kerr blew a gasket and picked up a technical.
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The Warriors’ widening deficit was further compounded when, during the stoppage of play, Iguodala feigned Conley’s layup and exaggerated the steps, to which the officials took offense, slapping Iguodala with his own technical.
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Lee converted the two techs and, just like that, the four-point play added onto Prince’s three before the timeout, gave the Grizzlies a nine-point lead at 97-88 with just 3:05 remaining.
But the Warriors would have one last defensive stand and offensive run left in them, as Speights netted a fading jumper in the lane assisted by Curry, then Curry found Lee all by himself, ready to attack the baseline, and drew a charge on Lee.
Iguodala would steal the ball once again against Randolph, but Curry missed his second fastbreak layup, although there was plenty of contact at the rim. Iguodala couldn’t get the putback, and it was a huge blown opportunity.
Curry followed that up with another charge at the rim, after Marc Gasol missed a jumper. Steph deftly took the isolated Conley off the dribble, with the threat of the three-pointer from the right elbow, then shifted his body right-to-left into Conley, and converted the layup with Conley all over him. But the refs didn’t call the and-one and the Grizzlies still held a 99-96 lead with 38.3 ticks to go.
But the left-handed Conley answered Curry’s call with a right-handed runner in the lane and with 30.8 seconds to go, the Warriors were down by five. Curry missed two more three-point attempts as Green got the offensive rebound on the first one, and Allen closed out the Warriors with an uncontested dunk on the other end after the long rebound on Curry’s second miss.
Memphis closed out Golden State with a 105-98 final score.
Gasol scored 24 points to lead the Grizzlies. Conley and Randolph added 17 points apience. Randolph led the team with 10 rebounds. Udrih passed off for a team-high 8 assists
The Dubs were led by Thompson with 22 points on 8-for-16 from the field and 4-for-5 from downtown. Curry was the second-leading scorer 19 points and 6 assists, but shot just 9-for-25 total and only 1-for-10 from beyond the arc. Green grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds and led Golden State with 6 assists. Speights added 18 and Livingston 12, off the bench. The team totaled 11 blocked shots, but committed 14 turnovers.
Memphis shot 45.7% from the field while Golden State shot 41.1%.
After their win, the Grizzlies are now 20-4, snapping the Dubs’ 16-game winning streak, and the Warriors fall to 21-3 after their loss.
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