Warriors lose in Memphis to go winless on road trip
MEMPHIS — The Memphis Grizzlies delivered a 131-110 beatdown Thursday night to hand the Warriors their eighth straight road loss in what was another chippy meeting between the teams.
Ja Morant remains away from the Grizzlies as the NBA investigates an incident where he flashed what appeared to be a handgun on Instagram Live at a Denver-area nightclub. But even without their star guard, forward Brandon Clarke (Achilles) and center Steven Adams (knee), the Grizzlies controled the game from the start, receiving contributions from up-and-down its roster with six players finishing in double figures scoring.
The Warriors weren’t at full strength either. Andrew Wiggins missed his 10th straight game because of a family matter and Jonathan Kuminga became a late scratch after he rolled his right ankle during warmups.
With Kuminga out, coach Steve Kerr went with a four-guard lineup, hoping to reverse the Warriors’ trends of slow starts.
Again, it didn’t work.
Memphis took a 48-28 lead at the end of the opening quarter and led the entire way.
“We were impatient early, we took some really tough, quick shots, and I didn’t think we got organized well enough,” Kerr said. “In hindsight, probably got a little bit too cute with that but we are where we are. We’re searching a little bit on the road and took a gamble with that and it didn’t pay off.”
Golden State started to come back to life in the second quarter, stringing together a 23-7 run to come within four with 4:48 left in the half.
But the Warriors unraveled after that, much to the amusement of the home crowd, who booed Draymond Green sporadically throughout the night. Golden State turned the ball over four times in the span of two minutes, which allowed the Grizzlies to see their lead swell to 18 by the break.
At one point during that meltdown, Dillon Brooks picked off a Warriors’ pass and turned it into a layup. He then taunted Green, going face-to-face with the Warriors star. Green, who is one technical foul away from a suspension, kept his cool.
“He thought he would bait me like he gets baited,” Green said. “I get technical fouls when I want to get technical fouls. So I think that’s probably the difference between me and him. If I did that to him, it’d be a double tech because he would respond. But it’s not a double technical because I didn’t respond. So one of us are baitable, one of us are not.”
Brooks was also in the ear of Stephen Curry throughout the night, telling the four-time champion that he could take him one-on-one.
The Warriors clawed back in the third but could never take control of the game. They were within six at the start of the fourth, but Memphis took it from there.
Kerr waved the white flag with 3:43 left in the game, telling Green to go back to the bench and also pulling Curry.
All momentum gained from the Warriors’ undefeated five-game homestand has evaporated. Golden State, which is 34-33 this season and 7-26 on the road, will return home for two tough matchups before hitting the road again for a five-city trip. They host the East-leading Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday and Phoenix Suns on Monday.
“Frustrating overall obviously, not being able to win a game on the road or figure out what adjustments we need to make to do it,” Curry said. “Again, keep our faith and hope in what we have in this locker room that we have enough to be a threat inside of Chase Center, outside of Chase Center or whatever it means these last 15 games.”