warriors game day: sights & sounds from #warriorsground – smaller golden state outboards memphis grizzlies (Photo: @samdiggityphotography Instagram account)
ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — Golden State Warriors forwards Andre Iguodala (knee tendinitis) and David Lee (hamstring) were listed as “game-time decisions”, but at the pre-game press conference, head coach Mark Jackson announced:
David Lee is out. Andre Iguodala is expected to play. Both according to head coach Mark Jackson.
— Rusty Simmons (@Rusty_SFChron) March 29, 2014
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Marreese Speights was listed as a starter against his former team. His brother Wilbur Speights tweeted us the following information:
@LetsGoWarriors mo started 52 games with the Grizzlies and won 38 of the when Zach Randolph was out I'm watching it
— Wilbur Speights jr. (@bspeights88) March 29, 2014
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It had been five days since the last Warriors game, which was a loss to the San Antonio Spurs, but #DubNation was ancy:
This 5 day stretch in-between games was killin me #LetsGoWarriors
— Karina (@iKarinaMorales) March 29, 2014
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It was such a welcome sight to see the team warming up from courtside, on the way up to press row.
IN-GAME
Speights came out motivated, but on a freak play in which Klay Thompson didn’t hedge quickly enough, leading to a drive by Gasol, Andrew Bogut gave help and Gasol inadvertently knee’d Bogut in the pelvic area. Bogut would not return and was listed as out with a “pelvic contusion”.
However, the Warriors took a 25-22 lead with 1:41 to go in the first quarter, a welcome sign that they were focused. By the end of the quarter, the Warriors held their lead as Speights was up to 7 points and 5 rebounds. Thompson started to find his stroke and had 8 points. It was Warriors 30, Grizzlies 27, at the end of the first quarter.
The bench did a solid job not letting the game get loose, against the Grizzlies’ second-string. In a view from near courtside, Draymond Green had this nice putback of Jermaine O’Neal’s miss.
Curry had some dazzling plays. One of them was a behind-the-back crossover of Conley that resulted in a miss, but Curry came back at the end of the first half with a designed play out of side out-of-bounds, split two defenders and got a layup to go before the buzzer to give the Warriors a 53-52 lead at halftime. Curry led the Warriors with 14 points, while Speights added 9. Both Gasol and Zach Randolph had 9 points for Memphis.
Two bad turnovers by Thompson led to the Warriors being down by 8, but Speights and Curry sparked a comeback to 68-68. #Grizzlies 88, #Warriors 86, Q4, 5:26. Memphis making some incredible shots.
The Warriors got down 93-86 with under 4:00 to go, but rallied to score the final 14 points of the game and won, 100-93. Curry ended with 33 points on a night displaying a dazzling array of moves, such as this one as well as a three-point and-one. Green had two huge treys from the top of the key.
POST-GAME
Coach Jackson gave a lot of praise to Green. “He’s a guy that, when he came into this league, people were saying, ‘Why is he shooting threes?'” Jackson said, “The guy’s a tremendous warrior, no pun intended.”
Green said he was hyped up to guard Randolph, who also attended Green’s alma mater, Michigan State University. “Z-Bo’s like a brother to me,” Green said, “This was like a playoff game.”
Curry said post-game that when the Grizzlies went up 93-86, the Warriors had to be careful about body language and that they were vocal as they turned it around and ended with a 14-0 run to close it out.
Speights said he was informed that he starting at morning shootaround today. “I got an opportunity to start, so I made sure I capitalized on it,” Speights said after the game in the locker room.
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