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Mark Jackson figured his Golden State Warriors could be in for a tough night, calling the Memphis Grizzlies ”the best frontline in basketball” hours before tipoff.
At this point, the Warriors coach should know.
Zach Randolph, Rudy Gay and Marc Gasol had their way inside on both ends of the court to help the Grizzlies complete a 3-0 road trip with a 94-87 victory over the Warriors on Wednesday night. Memphis, which has won eight straight against Golden State, outscored the Warriors 60-34 in the paint.
”Those are our horses,” said Grizzlies guard Tony Allen, who had 10 points and four rebounds off the bench. ”We ride those guys.”
Randolph finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds, Gay scored 18 points and Gasol added 12 points and nine rebounds as Memphis made its quick West Coast swing more memorable. The Grizzlies (23-10) also won at Phoenix on Sunday and at Sacramento on Monday, building a 1 1/2-game lead over Golden State (22-12) for fourth place in the Western Conference.
”We needed this,” said Gay, who also had six assists and five rebounds. ”We’ve been going through some ups and downs and had some lapses, some kind of lapse games. We lost a couple at home. We had to come out here for ourselves to get three out of three.”
Consider it done.
Stephen Curry scored 24 points and Klay Thompson had 20 points, seven rebounds and seven assists as the Warriors lost back-to-back games for only the second time this season.
— Reported by Antonio Gonzalez of the Associated Press
