NBA: Memphis Grizzlies at Golden State Warriors

Although having the best record locked up, the Golden State Warriors won’t be resting any players leading up to the playoffs. This will be the 81st regular season game and the Memphis Grizzlies will be hungry for this win. The Warriors are looking for win number 66 which will rank them as one of the best regular seasons ever. The banged up Grizzlies will have their hands full tonight.

Check out our instant recap here:

1st Quarter

The Warriors were first to strike and they went up 5-0 after Klay Thompson and Draymond Green knocked down the jumpers. Thompson looked confident and active early on and he helped the Warriors maintain the lead. Zach Randolph hit two 17-foot jumpers to cut the deficit to one, but the Warriors responded with a 8-2 run. This was textbook Warrior basketball and the Grizzlies were in danger of letting this deficit slip away. A Leandro Barbosa triple made it a 14 point lead. The Grizzlies responded with 5-0 run to make a nine point deficit, but the Warriors came right back to hit two buckets and the lead was double-digits once again. Barbosa hit one last basket to give the Warriors a 36-21 lead heading into the second.

2nd Quarter

Both teams got off to a cold start, but Jordan Adams got on the board first for the Grizzlies. A Vince Carter 15 footer cut the the lead to 11, but Klay Thompson was feeling it and he got going offensively. He scored 10 points before the midway mark of the quarter and the Warriors were up by 17. The Grizzlies were not prepared for what Klay had in store. Thompson went off and nobody could stop him. He hit three straight difficult triples and the Warriors were running away with the game. Klay was so hot, the Warriors were forcing the ball to him, but he kept making the shots. Thompson scored 23 points in a row and the game was basically over. The Grizzlies had no answer and the Warriors were up 68-46 at the break.

3rd Quarter

Klay Thompson cooled off, but the Warriors didn’t. Andrew Bogut and Draymond Green chipped in to give the Warriors a 27 point lead. The Grizzlies were a mess offensively and it seemed impossible for them to make a comeback. The Warriors kept pouring it on and while the starters were in the game for most of the third quarter, their services will not be needed in the fourth quarter. At this point, Thompson already had 40 points in the game and then Kerr brought in most of his reserves. They didn’t miss a step, they came into the game firing on all cylinders and the lead was getting close to being 30. If it wasn’t for some reckless turnovers, they could have gone up by that much, but instead they finished the quarter leading 93-64.

4th Quarter

I could bore you with a summary of the fourth quarter, but the Warriors just needed to hold on. The Grizzlies actually had a huge fourth quarter, scoring 37 points and limiting the Warriors reserves to only 15 points. So the 27 point lead after third disappeared, but the Grizzlies didn’t have enough time to mount a complete comeback. The Warrior reserves had a terrible fourth quarter, which resulted in boring basketball. However, the damage was done and the Warriors won 111-107. The score was not indicative of the flow of the game.