The Warriors suffered their first defeat of their current road trip, falling 110-89 to the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday night. Kevin Durant led Golden State with 21 points, while Stephen Curry tallied 17 points and a team-best eight rebounds, but the Warriors were unable to overcome a season-worst 23 turnovers. With the loss, Golden State drops to 20-4 on the season.
GAME LEADERS
Marc Gasol opened the scoring on the game’s first possession, Kevin Durant splashed a corner three-pointer in response, giving Golden State what would turn out to be their only lead of the entire night. The Warriors would go on to miss their next eight attempts from the field, allowing Memphis to open up an early double-digit advantage. Durant’s jumper with 5:48 remaining in the first frame brought an end to the cold spell and cut the Grizzlies’ lead to nine, but Memphis would follow that up with an 11-2 burst to extend their lead to 29-11 on Zach Randolph’s jumper with 2:13 to play. The Warriors would score the next five points before Toney Douglas’ jumper sent the game into the second quarter with the Grizzlies holding a commanding 31-16 lead. In addition to committing five turnovers compared to just two assists, Golden State didn’t do themselves any favors at the free throw line, converting only five of their ten attempts in the quarter.
The Warriors would double their assist total within the opening minute of the second frame, but the turnover and cold shooting woes would continue to plague Golden State going into halftime. After shooting 20.0 percent from the field in the opening quarter, the Warriors didn’t perform much better in the second, where they’d make just 7-of-21 attempts. Golden State cut the deficit to 11 first on a Shaun Livingston dunk at the 6:16 mark and once again on a Stephen Curry three-pointer on the Dubs’ next possession, but Memphis would close the quarter on an 18-6 run, taking their largest lead of the opening half on Jarrell Martin’s dunk with 13 seconds remaining.
The Warriors’ 38 points were the fewest they had scored in a half this season. While the Grizzlies didn’t shoot the lights out (40.5 percent) in the first half, they possessed an extreme scoring advantage in points off turnovers and at the free throw line, where they managed to outscore Golden State by 16 and 17 points, respectively.
If the Warriors had any hopes of getting back in the game in the second half, those were dashed quite rapidly upon resumption of play, as Memphis opened the third quarter on a 7-0 run to build a 30-point lead with 10:38 remaining, the largest deficit Golden State had faced all season. The Warriors wouldn’t go away just yet, however, trimming 10 points off that deficit before Tony Allen’s dunk with 14 seconds remaining closed out the scoring and gave the Grizzlies an 87-65 lead heading into the fourth and final quarter.
The damage had been done, however, and back-to-back three-pointers for Memphis to begin the fourth quarter would put the game out of reach for good. With the Warriors scheduled to play Sunday evening in Minnesota, Steve Kerr emptied the bench and allowed his reserves to play out the string of the eventual 110-89 defeat.
The loss drops Golden State to 20-4 on the season. They’ll attempt to bounce back in their second road game in as many nights when they travel to Minnesota to take on the Timberwolves on Sunday.