Painful defeat
Griz fall to Spurs; Gasol injures knee
When the Grizzlies’ biggest player hobbled off the court and into the locker room, their smallest guy tried his best to loom even larger.
But not even Mike Conley’s 28 points and four steals — both game highs — could help the Griz overcome the loss of center Marc Gasol or the San Antonio Spurs.
Gasol sprained his left knee with 10:24 remaining in the second quarter of the Grizzlies’ 102-86 loss Friday night in FedExForum. He didn’t return and will undergo a magnetic resonance imaging scan early Saturday.
The Griz (7- 6) won’t practice or worry about having a four-game winning streak snapped by the Spurs (11-1), who pulled away in the final six minutes for their ninth win in a row.
“I was just worried about big fella. I wasn’t worried about picking up the scoring load,” Conley said after making 12 of 19 shots. “I just wanted to do whatever was working for us. We made some plays, got back in the game and just didn’t have enough. But we played hard.”
Memphis lost for the 12th time in its last 14 meetings with San Antonio, including the 2013 Western Conference finals. Many of those games have been close, and the Griz trailed in this one 79-78 with 6:37 left in the fourth quarter. That’s when Spurs guard Tony Parker took over, scoring six straight points before Tim Duncan added a 17-foot jump shot.
Those eight straight points gave the Spurs a cushion that
Grizzlies forward Tayshaun Prince drives past Spurs center Tim Duncan in the Grizzlies’ 102- 86 loss, which snapped a four- game winning streak. was firm enough given the Griz scored just two field goals the rest of the way. Conley made both shots. “This is the best team in the league,” Griz forward Zach Randolph said of San Antonio. “They have the best coach in the league. Shoot. What can you say? They do everything right.”
Randolph should know, especially when it relates to shutting him down. Randolph finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds but continued a string of poor shooting games against the Spurs. Randolph missed his first four shots and finished 5 of 15.
He routinely was forced to take shots in a crowd of Spurs defenders.
“We’ve worked a lot on post defense,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “It’s what we are committed to and with Zach Randolph, if you don’t play he kills you. I have to give our guys credit for being real focused as far as post defense is concerned.”
Parker’s 20 points led the Spurs, who shot 53 percent and closed the game on a 23-8 run.
“They are incredibly smart,” Griz coach Dave Joerger said. “They have a lot of shooters so they spread you out. You end up chasing your tail sometimes when the ball gets into the paint.”
San Antonio made 11 of 18 shots in the fourth and routinely found open shooters down the stretch.
“They made some tough shots,” Griz reserve guard Mike Miller said. “That’s what San Antonio does. They’re notorious for it.”
Memphis entered the fourth quarter trailing 71- 65. The Griz cut into a 14-point deficit mainly due to a stout defense that kept the Spurs from scoring around the basket.
Closing down the lane helped the Griz manufacture a 22-8 run that knotted the score at 59. Kosta Koufos, who started the second half in place of Gasol, capped the barrage with a layup after Tony Allen drove deep into the lane and delivered a nifty pass.
The Spurs shot just 8 of 21 (38 percent) in the third quarter after shooting 58 percent in the first half. The Grizzlies’ defense struggled to keep up with the Spurs’ ball movement. San Antonio was methodical in building a 51-37 halftime lead.
“One thing they do well is stick to their system offensively and defensively,” Allen said. “They just take what’s open. We knew what guys were going to do what. Once we weathered the storm with those guys being up, we had lapses on defensive coverage.
“Those guys stick to what they do for 48 minutes. When you have a team that’s consistently doing that, it’s no coincidence they’re 11-1. We’re a work in progress.”
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UT
DAL
BOSTON — Paul George scored 27 points and led a comeback from an eightpoint halftime deficit to help the Indiana Pacers improve on the best record in the Eastern Conference with a 97-82 win over the Boston Celtics on Friday night.
Trailing 50- 42 at halftime, Indiana outscored Boston 25-8 in the third quarter to take a 67-58 lead. It was the Celtics’ lowest scoring quarter of the season. The Pacers kept rolling with a 30-24 fourth quarter and improved to
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FG FT Reb Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS
11-1. George had 22 points in the second half.
Jordan Crawford had a season-high 24 points but just five in the second half, and Jeff Green added 20 for the Celtics, who lost their sixth straight game to drop to 4-10 after winning four in a row.
OTHER GAMES
Timberwolves 111, Nets 81 at Minneapolis: Kevin Love had 17 points, 16 rebounds and four assists in just 28 minutes, and the Timberwolves beat Kevin Garnett for the first time since he left Minnesota. Garnett finished with eight points and eight rebounds in 21 minutes.
76ers 115, Bucks 107 (OT) at Philadelphia: Evan Turner scored 27 points and Spencer Hawes scored 11 of his 25 points in the final two minutes of regulation and overtime to lead Philadelphia over Milwaukee, snapping a four-game skid.
Suns 98, Bobcats 91 at Charlotte, N.C.: Channing Frye scored 20 points, P.J. Tucker was 6-of- 6 from the field and Phoenix defeated Charlotte to snap a four-game losing streak.
Raptors 96, Wizards 88 at Toronto: DeMar DeRozan and Rudy Gay each scored 17 points to help Toronto beat Washington, overcoming John Wall’s season-high 37 points.
Hawks 96, Pistons 89 at Auburn Hills, Mich.: Jeff Teague scored 14 of his 18 points in the third quarter, then helped Atlanta hold on with a spectacular blocked shot in the final minutes against Detroit.
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HALL OF FAMER DIES
Vern Mikkelsen, Basketball Hall of Fame player who won four NBA titles with the Minneapolis Lakers, has died in Minneapolis. He was 85.
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76ERS 115, BUCKS 107
FG FT Reb Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS