Grizzlies at Warriors
The Golden State Warriors own only five losses on the season, but one of those came in embarrassing fashion at the Memphis Grizzlies. The Warriors, who lead the NBA with an average margin of victory of plus-12.4, were smoked 110-89 in that Dec. 10 meeting and will get a chance to avenge the loss when the Grizzlies visit on Friday.
Golden State is 11-1 since that loss, with the lone setback coming by one point at Cleveland on Christmas Day, and pushed their latest winning streak to four in a row with a 125-117 triumph over the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday. Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson, who totaled 46 points in the Dec. 10 loss in Memphis, went for 79 against the Trail Blazers while Draymond Green handed out 11 of the team's 31 assists. The Grizzlies were not as sharp in their tuneup for the rematch and scored 43 points in the second half on Wednesday to suffer a 115-106 loss at the Los Angeles Clippers. "It’s an opportunity," Memphis coach David Fizdale told reporters of Friday's matchup. "If you can’t be up to play Golden State, then you are in the wrong business. I look at every game as an opportunity to turn it around."
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN, CSN Bay Area (Golden State)
ABOUT THE GRIZZLIES (22-16): Memphis owns one of the top scoring defenses in the NBA, surrendering an average of 98.6 points, but dropped four of its last six games and allowed at least 112 points in each of those four setbacks. "We will address our issues on the film," Fizdale told reporters after Wednesday's setback. "We obviously aren’t defending at the levels we like, we gave up 116 last night (in a 116-102 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers), 115 tonight. That’s very uncharacteristic of us. We’ll take care of that, and then we’ll get ourselves ready to go play the Warriors team on the road." Each of those last four losses came on the road, and the Grizzlies are 1-2 on the current four-game trip.
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (31-5): Golden State is an NBA-best 16-2 at home and is getting an MVP-level effort from Durant of late. The star forward hit 50 percent or better from the field in four straight games and seven of the last nine and needed only 16 field-goal attempts to record 30 points on Wednesday. "He’s obviously a super-efficient player," Curry told reporters of Durant. "He takes pride in it. He’s able to put pressure on the rim. He can score all over the place. To do that with that efficiency, it’s special to watch."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Warriors C Zaza Pachulia scored in double figures in back-to-back games for the first time this season on Monday and Wednesday.
2. Grizzlies PF JaMychal Green sat out the last game with a facial fracture and is day-to-day.
3. Golden State won its last two home games against Memphis by a total of 71 points.