Strong sides hit by huge losses

Los Angeles, Oct. 22: The defending champion Golden State Warriors and finals runners-up Cleveland Cavaliers are still shaking off the cobwebs, with both NBA powerhouses suffering doubledigit defeats.

The Warriors fell 111-101 to the Grizzlies in Memphis, while the Eastern Conference champion Cavaliers were manhandled at home by the Orlando Magic 114-93.

The Warriors dropped their second of three games to start the new season as center Marc Gasol scored 34 points for the Grizzlies, who continued their strong play against Golden State at the FedExForum.

Last season Memphis handed Golden State two of their 15 regular-season losses, including a 110-89 rout in December at the same venue.

The Warriors got 37 points from guard Stephen Curry and 29 points and 13 rebounds from forward Kevin Durant. But both were thrown out of the game with 43 seconds left for arguing with the officials.

Curry was tossed after he threw his mouthpiece in the direction of an official after he thought he had been fouled on a drive to the basket. Durant tried to argue in Curry’s favor and was sent to the dressing room as well.

It was the first time in his career that Curry was ejected in a regular season game. A much calmer Curry said after the game that his ejection was justified.

“I thought I got fouled. My frustration boiled over and I did something stupid,” Curry said adding: “I deserved to get kicked out.”

The Grizzlies led almost the entire contest and by as many as 19 points in the second half, showing off their revamped, up-tempo lineup.

In Cleveland, Nikola Vucevic scored 23 points and the Orlando Magic snapped a 17-game losing streak to the Cavaliers.

Orlando led by as many as 37 points and never trailed.

The skid was the longest in Magic history to any one team, just as the winning streak was Cleveland’s best against a single opponent.

Jonathon Simmons came off the bench to score 19 points for Orlando and Evan Fournier finished with 13 points. D.J. Augustin had 12 points and 16 assists.

“They were playing at a different speed than we were. Way faster,” said Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue. — AFP