Memphis Grizzlies Halt Golden State Warriors’ Win Streak At 16, 105-98

The battle between the two teams holding the best records in the NBA came down to a surprising bench mob in the second quarter. The Memphis Grizzlies reserves led by shooting guard Vince Carter and Jon Leuer provided the spark by scoring the first 20 points to start the second quarter that relegated the visiting Warriors to playing catch-up the rest of the way, 105-98, in favor of the Grizzlies.

The Warriors were missing the services of center Andrew Bogut who missed his fourth straight match due to a sore knee and a still sidelined David Lee who continues to nurse his troublesome hamstring. The best team in the NBA sporting a 21-2 record prior to the game did their best by matching the grit and grind identity of the Memphis team that is known for its inside game by scoring 50 inside the paint points. Little did they know that this was the strategy of Coach Dave Joerger who stayed home on the shooters in exchange of dribble penetration and attempts at close range.

The fearsome duo of Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph provided their usual output with the Spanish centre chipping in 24 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists and the behemoth Randolph registering a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. The biggest key was the bench especially Carter who unloaded his 16 points coming in part from 3 three-point baskets in the decisive second quarter. Not to be outdone, Leuer chipped in 11 while Kosta Koufos, Beno Udrih and Tayshaun Prince added a combined 13 points of the bench coupled with stingy defence.

''They deserve all the credit for what they did,'' Gasol described the bench play to Yahoo Sports. ''They came in, and I thought defensively they did an amazing job playing from one side of the floor helping the other side ... Young guy Vince made some tough shots.''

The Warriors tried to come back late in the game courtesy of an alley-oop dunk from reserve Shaun Livingston which trimmed the lead to 90-88 with a little over 5 minutes to play but the home team responded with a 7 to nothing run that was capped off by two technical foul shots off the excessive complaining of coach Steve Kerr and Andre Iguodala. The last gasp of the team with best record in the league ended when Curry missed two three point attempts in consecutive possessions in the waning seconds of the ball game.

The Warriors will try to go back to their winning ways Thursday when they host the resurging Oklahome City Thunder while the mighty Grizzlies have their hands full against the reigning champions San Antonio Spurs who will host them Wednesday night.