In a battle between two shorthanded squads, the Golden State Warriors came back from a 17-point deficit to defeat the Memphis Grizzlies 114-113 and improve to 29-25 on the season. They were undeniably aided by the Grizzlies clear desires to tank, but nevertheless, without Steph Curry, the Dubs found a way to win.
The Grizzlies jumped out to an early 17-7 lead as Golden State’s starting lineup struggled to find a rhythm offensively. Brandin Podziemski and Al Horford provided a much needed spark to get
the Dubs rolling. By the end of the first quarter, both teams had scored 32 points.
Memphis would slowly begin pulling away, largely aided by a spree of Warriors turnovers (they finished the game with 23). Draymond Green scored 14 points, largely thanks to some strong outside shooting, but arguably gave up even more offensively through 7 turnovers. His season-long struggles to avoid throwing posessions away continued. Without Steph Curry on the floor to help bail him out, the mistakes were only magnified.
Former Warriors two-way guard Ty Jerome was leading the way, seeming to be playing with an extra chip on his shoulder. Perhaps Jerome remembers that Golden State opted to convert a different two-way player (Anthony Lamb) to an NBA contract instead of him back in the 2022-23 season. Jerome led the Grizzlies to a 16-point lead through three quarters and finished with a team-high 19 points, 7 assists, and a +15 plus/minus.
Yet, the Grizzlies are trying to fall down the standings after trading Jaren Jackson Jr. at the deadline. While the commissioner’s office refuses to enforce anti-tanking rules, Memphis (emulating the Utah Jazz earlier in the day) sat their best players in the fourth quarter even as Golden State began stringing stops together.
The Warriors finally started getting consistent defensive stops in the fourth quarter, slowly cutting into Memphis’ lead. It’s worth noting that most of the comeback took place with Green on the bench.
Horford finished a layup to cut the deficit to 8 with less than five minutes remaining. Gui Santos nailed an open three on the following possession to cut it to five. Another stop turned into a layup by De’Anthony Melton in transition. Another stop was answered by a driving layup from Moses Moody. Podziemski immediately stole the Grizzlies’ in-bound pass after Moody’s make, but misse a layup that would’ve given Golden State a 114-113 lead.
Instead, both teams found themselves unable to score over the remaining two minutes until a final chaotic sequence.
Horford missed a shot in the post with 26 seconds left on the clock. After missing a tip-in attempt he managed to grab his own miss, but fell to the floor. As his upper body hovered above out of bounds he found Santos who was far enough behind the closest Grizzlies defenders to sneak to the hoop and make the go-ahead layup.
The Grizzlies had 19 seconds left to try and retake the lead, but ultimately missed a pair of shots.
Pat Spencer finished the game with 17 points and 7 assists. Moody quietly scored 15 points, doing most of his damage at the free-throw line. Santos continued his impressive run in the starting lineup, recording 16 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, and a +11 plus/minus on 7-for-10 shooting from the field in 30 minutes of action. Podz added 16 points off the bench as well. However, the hero of the night was Horford.
With Green out of control, Horford was a stabilizing presence in the post. He filled the stat sheet with 16 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal, and a game-high +24 plus/minus in 26 minutes. His final rebound and assist set up Santos for the game-winner.
