(The Sports Xchange) – The Memphis Grizzlies held off a late charge by the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night at FedExForum for a 99-89 victory and a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference semifinal series.
Grizzlies power forward Zach Randolph scored 22 points and center Marc Gasol posted a double-double with 21 points and 15 rebounds.
Gasol did most of his work in the first half, but he hit a jumper that beat the shot clock with 2:06 left to hike the Grizzlies’ lead to 93-85. Gasol fouled out with 1:45 left.
Golden State, which trailed by 19 points early in the fourth quarter, got to within four at 88-84 with 3:15 to play on a Harrison Barnes layup (16 points, six rebounds). But Memphis closed on an 11-5 run to seal the victory.
Warriors guard and NBA Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry finished with 23 points and six assists. But Curry was just 8 of 21 from the floor and 2 of 10 from 3-point range.
Warriors guard Klay Thompson scored 20 points, going 8 of 13 from the field and 3 of 6 from behind the arc.
After making 20 turnovers in the Game 2 loss, Golden State committed 17 more turnovers in Game 3 that led to 22 Memphis points.
The Grizzlies had their largest lead with 10:38 left in the fourth quarter when Randolph knocked down a step-back jumper for an 83-64 lead.
Grizzlies point guard Mike Conley, who again played with a mask because of a facial injury, had 11 points and five assists. Guard Courtney Lee finished with 11 points and four assists.
When an NBA team takes a 2-1 lead in a best-of-seven series, that team goes on to win the series 81.7 percent of the time.
