Grizzlies-Warriors Preview

By MATT BEARDMORE
Posted Mar 06 2012 5:24PM

Memphis Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins was thrilled with how his team closed out its last game.

There were similar feelings following a furious fourth-quarter rally in Oakland six weeks ago.

Memphis goes for a fifth consecutive win overall and fifth in a row over the Golden State Warriors, who get back to work Wednesday night after a strong finish to their longest trip of the season.

Down by one heading into the fourth quarter Saturday, the Grizzlies (22-15) shot 11 for 20 from the field and forced seven turnovers in the final 12 minutes of a 100-83 victory over Detroit.

"It was just awesome," Hollins said after his team won for the 10th time in 12 games. "I thought we switched. We challenged shots. We got steals. Our energy level just rose."

The same thing happened in the Grizzlies' game at Oracle Arena on Jan. 23. After trailing by 20 in the third quarter, Memphis outscored the Warriors 39-22 in the fourth to pull out a 91-90 victory.

Rudy Gay scored three of his team-high 23 points in the final 23 seconds to help Memphis end a three-game road losing streak to Golden State, which suffered a season-high third consecutive home defeat.

The Warriors (15-20) return to the Bay Area following a 3-3 trip that ended Monday with a 120-100 victory over Washington. Golden State shot 54.2 percent from the field, including a season-best 65.2 percent (15 of 23) from 3-point range in its highest-scoring game of 2011-12.

The team shot 39.6 percent overall during the trip's first five games.

"I wish they would have came a little bit earlier, but we're going to take this one, go home and see what happens," said Monta Ellis, who went 4 for 10 from long distance in the last two games after opening the trip 2 for 15 from beyond the arc.

Ellis and Stephen Curry were both on target in the last game against Memphis, scoring 33 and 36 points, respectively, but the host Grizzlies won 104-103 on Feb. 18 when Tony Allen put back Gay's miss with 5.6 seconds left.

Memphis' last defeat in this series was 115-109 in Oakland on Nov. 3, 2010, as Ellis scored 39.

The Grizzlies could continue that run if their 3s keep falling. Memphis, which is shooting just 32.8 percent from beyond the arc, hit 5 of 6 from long range in the fourth quarter on Saturday, with O.J. Mayo knocking down three.

It's 14-2 when it hits more than a third of its 3s.

"We're not a big 3-point shooting team, but, believe it or not, we have 3-point shooters on this team," said point guard Mike Conley. "Our philosophy is so much inside-out that we just don't look to shoot the ball at the 3-point line."

All-Star center Marc Gasol leads the Grizzlies with 18.8 points per game and 9.8 rebounds during the winning streak. He has totaled 32 points and 24 rebounds against Golden State in 2011-12.

Warriors forward David Lee has scored 13.5 points per contest against Memphis, 5.7 lower than his season average.

Curry has a team-high 54 points versus Memphis this season - one more than Ellis - but could be backing up Dominic McGuire for a second straight game. The third-year guard had 12 points in nine minutes off the bench Tuesday after a strained foot tendon limited him to three seconds over the previous four games.

Grizzlies top Warriors 110-92 for 5th straight win

By ANTONIO GONZALEZ
Posted Mar 08 2012 1:49AM

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) Tony Allen realized this West Coast trip might be a little different for the Memphis Grizzlies as soon as he boarded the team bus in San Francisco for the short drive across the bay.

Not much about the team's demeanor changed when the game started, either.

Rudy Gay had 26 points, 12 rebounds and five assists to lead the Grizzlies to their fifth straight victory, blowing past the Golden State Warriors 110-92 on Wednesday night.

"Looking at the way these guys were just locked in on the bus, nobody was really saying too much," said Allen, who had 12 points and six rebounds. "Wasn't nobody talking about no TV shows that was on before. Wasn't nobody talking about anything that didn't have to do with the game, and I kind of noticed that. The focus was from way before the game, and it carried over."

Did it ever.

Marc Gasol added 17 points and 12 rebounds, and Marreese Speights scored 18 points to pace the hot-starting and hard-closing Grizzlies, who sprinted to a 21-4 lead, lost it, then built back a 22-point cushion late. Memphis, which shot 52 percent, has won nine of its last 10 games and is gaining momentum for the second straight season after finishing a win short of the Western Conference finals last year.

"If you want to be a good team, you have to win on the road," Gasol said. "You have to come out, execute and be mentally stronger. We're taking steps forward, baby steps, it's a process."

Golden State took another step backward.

Monta Ellis had 16 points and a hobbled Stephen Curry came off the bench to score 15 for a Warriors team that just returned home from a solid 3-3 road trip only to turn in another perplexing performance. Golden State had 15 turnovers and shot just 44 percent, baffling rookie coach Mark Jackson with the often lackadaisical effort.

"As a coach, you don't want to have to coach energy, effort, passion," Jackson said. "They outworked us, and the only way we got back into the game was because, even though we went small, that group competed and they worked. Just an embarrassing effort for us tonight."

The scoring swings started out extreme in this one.

The Grizzlies converted defensive stops into easy baskets, making 10 of their first 11 shots - almost all layups, dunks or inside the paint - in a swift and stunning burst of offense. Mike Conley's lob to Gay for a thunderous alley-oop over Dorell Wright for one of his 12 assists, highlighted the 21-4 run in the first 5:26.

"That lies on our first unit and me being a captain I'll take responsibility," said Warriors forward David Lee, who had 11 points and four rebounds.

The home crowd showered the team with boos, and perhaps the frustrated fans awakened the Warriors.

Golden State surged back with a 31-14 spurt to even the score at 35 halfway through the second quarter. Curry, with a strained tendon in his surgically repaired, troublesome right foot still causing fits, tossed a high-arcing lob to Ellis later in the period to help the Warriors take a four-point lead.

The Grizzlies slowly started to pull away again in the third quarter, going ahead 79-66 on Quincy Pondexter's 3-pointer. They just blew away the Warriors in a frustrating fourth quarter for the home team, building a 22-point lead that started to rattle Golden State even more.

Warriors backup guard Nate Robinson and Memphis' O.J. Mayo each were whistled for a technical foul following a brief scrum. Lee and Speights were also called for technicals later in the period with the game out of reach.

The flow of the game reminded Memphis coach Lionel Hollins of the old Warriors teams led by NBA career wins leader Don Nelson.

"It was always the torture chamber. They would come out, and there's such huge ebb and flows in the game," Hollins said. "You play well for a while, then they get hot for a while, then you play well for a while. You just got to stay with it, stay with it. We came out in the second half with a great focus and we didn't let up in the second half like we did in the first half."

NOTES: Grizzlies PF Zach Randolph, out with a torn ligament in his right knee since Jan. 1, is participating in practice again. Hollins said Randolph will play again when "he's ready," but it appears the forward won't return until at least Tuesday when the Grizzlies return home against the Lakers. ... Dominic McGuire started in Curry's place for the second straight game. Curry missed the previous four with the injury.

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Follow Antonio Gonzalez at: www.twitter.com/agonzalezAP

Notebook: Grizzlies 110, Warriors 92

Posted Thursday March 8, 2012 1:35AM

By Geoff Lepper, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: Rudy Gay collected a season-high-tying 26 points, 12 rebounds and five assists and the Memphis Grizzlies set a season-high with 33 assists Wednesday, cruising past the Golden State Warriors 110-92 for their fifth consecutive win. Marc Gasol had 17 points and 12 boards and Marreese Speights added 18 points as Memphis' starting frontline players combined to outscore their Golden State counterparts, 61-20. Monta Ellis and Klay Thompson led the Warriors with 16 points each, but Golden State -- which has now lost five in a row to Memphis -- didn't lead once in the second half.

QUOTABLE: "We're winning, that's all I like. To call yourself a good team, you've got to go out on the road and win. They were focused. . . . We didn't let up in the second half like we did in the first half after we had the lead."
-- Memphis coach Lionel Hollins

THE STAT: The Grizzlies' previous two wins against the Warriors this year were each by a single point, but Memphis simply ran Golden State off the floor this time, piling up an astounding 32-5 advantage in fast-break points.

TURNING POINT: Memphis blew out of the gates with a 21-4 start, but that lead disappeared in less than 10 minutes. The Grizzlies regained their equilibrium before the half and reeled off 11 straight points early in the third quarter to break open what had been a tie game. Golden State never got closer than seven points after that.

QUOTABLE II: "That's incredible when you're playing against the Warriors, because they can get out and run. We didn't really turn the ball over where they had chances to run back at us. Most of the turnovers, we just threw the ball in the stands. So that'll really cut down on [an opponent's fast-break points]."
-- Lionel Hollins on the disparity in fast-break scoring.

GOOD MOVE: The Warriors' small-ball bench look -- made more dangerous by the fact that Stephen Curry was among the reserves as he continues to recover from a strained right foot tendon -- helped Golden State shoot itself back into the game in the first half with a 5-for-10 mark on 3-pointers. By going small himself in the late third and early fourth quarters, Hollins set up Memphis for a 21-11 run that left the Grizzlies up 99-78 with 6:43 remaining.

BAD MOVE: Golden State coach Mark Jackson didn't want to push Curry -- who had only clocked 9 minutes and 21 seconds of playing time since the All-Star break -- too hard, but it was abundantly clear from the first half that the Warriors desperately needed his offense. By the time Jackson went to Curry with 7:40 left in the third quarter, it was too late: Memphis held a 69-58 advantage.

HOT: Speights opened up strong in the first quarter, going 4-for-4 from the floor while dropping in top-of-the-key jumpers over David Lee. But Speights really got going in the third period, delivering eight points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals.

NOT: Lee's string of double-doubles ended at four straight games, and he finished with just 11 points -- his third-lowest total of the season -- and four rebounds.

NOTABLE: Memphis point guard Mike Conley tied his season-high with 12 assists. . . . The Grizzlies assisted on all 13 of their buckets in the first quarter, and hit 10 of their first 11 shots. . . . The Warriors' two steals represented a season-low.

UP NEXT: For the Warriors, Saturday vs. Dallas, Sunday @ L.A. Clippers, Tuesday @ Sacramento. For the Grizzlies, Saturday @ Phoenix, Sunday @ Denver, Tuesday vs. L.A. Lakers.

• Grizzlies: Arthur, Randolph
• Warriors: Brown

• Grizzlies: Mayo, Speights
• Warriors: Lee, Robinson

• Lead Changes: 4
• Times Tied: 5

• Arena: ORACLE Arena, Oakland, CA
• Officials: #14 Ed Malloy, #30 John Goble, #69 Ben Taylor
• Attendance: 19171
• Duration: 2:05