Golden State Warriors power forward Andrew Wiggins (22) looks for someone to pass to against the Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant (12) at the Chase Center in San Francisco on Wed Jan 25, 2023 (USA Today photo)
Warriors Get Past Rival Grizzlies 122-120
By Barbara Mason
Wednesday night the Golden State Warriors (24-24) took on the Memphis Grizzlies (31-17). Two teams with two differing styles: the Warriors leaning on outside shooting and the Grizzlies excellent play from inside. Ja Morant re-joined Memphis and the Warriors found a way to clog up the paint in this game to contain him as Golden State came up a winner by a bucket 122-120 at the Chase Center in San Francisco.
The Grizzlies had a couple of scores to settle, one back on Christmas Day and the other in last year’s playoffs. This was without a doubt a highly physical game. The Grizzlies came in as the number one defensive team in the league and Golden State had to contend with that.
Game Recap: The first quarter got underway and 59 seconds into the game Stephen Curry already had two personal fouls. Early turnovers and early fouls was not the way the Warriors wanted to start this game. Despite five turnovers and eight personals, Golden State had a 24-22 lead after the first 12 minutes.
The Warriors trailed by a single point at halftime 54-53. That was a triumph in itself considering the fact that Golden State had 14 turnovers. It was a choppy first half that lacked rhythm. The entire starting roster had two personal fouls each and so trailing by a single point was fortunate.
The Grizzlies, an excellent second half team, won the third quarter 42-37 leading 96-90.
With three minutes left in the game the Warriors made a push trailing by two points 113-111. Golden State tied the game at 113 with 2:06 left on the clock.
The Warriors would have to fight for this game when Curry was ejected in a tragic turn of events. It came down to the final thirty seconds with Golden State leading 117-116. Klay Thompson gave the Warriors the lead 120-118 with 14.1 seconds left. With 2.6 Jordan Poole dropped a lay-in to win the game by two points.
This was a hard fought win for the Warriors. Curry finished with 34 points and Thompson had a great game with 24. Poole who had the game winner finished with 21 points. This game was downright ugly at times with 22 turnovers but Golden State hung in to the end and pulled this one out.
Friday night the Warriors will play the Toronto Raptors at Chase. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 PM