The Lead: Friday night, against the Denver Nuggets, the Grizzlies played explosive offensive basketball to start, opening up a big first quarter lead. Their opponents roared back behind a barrage of three-point shots from one of their perimeter starters. The game wound down into a tight, hard-fought contest in the final minutes, with multiple ties and lead changes down the stretch. Rudy Gay scored six points in the final minutes, each score breaking a tie or regaining a lead. In the end, Gay held the ball, Griz down one, drew a double-team and pulled up for a mid-range jumper. It bounced off the rim and was tipped in by a teammate for the game-winning basket.
Saturday night against the Warriors? Same damn thing. The only things missing were Bill Murray and Andie McDowell.
Once again, the Grizzlies came out like gangbusters in the first nine minutes, building a 27-9 lead with strong work from all five starters, led by Mo Speights’ 10 points on 5-6 shooting.
Then, first Warriors guard Steph Curry got hot, scoring 16 points across the late first and early second quarters. Then backcourt mate Monta Ellis joined in, scoring 14 points in a seven-minute stretch midway through the second quarter. With Curry and Ellis dominating (they scored 30 points between them in the second quarter and finished with 69 of Golden State’s total 103 points), the Warriors outscored the Grizzlies 66-37 in the middle of the game to build an 11-point lead.
The Grizzlies fought back to tie the game early in the fourth and, the rest of the way, there were eight ties and nine lead changes. In the final three minutes, Gay hit three short jumpers, the first tying the game, the second breaking a tie, and the third bringing the Grizzlies from a one-point deficit to a one-point lead.
And, again, it came down to a one-point deficit, Grizzlies ball, fewer than 30 seconds on the clock. Gay’s shot bounced up and Tony Allen tipped it in for a one-point lead. With six seconds left for the Warriors, Mike Conley stepped in to take a charge on Warriors forward David Lee and the Grizzlies survived another wild one.
The biggest difference? Well, that brings us to …
