Grizzlies come home to face Jazz after big win at Golden State (Jan 8, 2017)
Memphis Grizzlies coach David Fizdale has been looking for leadership from his team. On Friday night, he found it on the home floor of the NBA's top team.
The Grizzlies (22-15) erased a 24-point second-half deficit and shocked the Golden State Warriors with a 128-119 victory in overtime.
Memphis returns home from a four-game road trip to host the Utah Jazz (23-15) on Sunday night at FedExForum. The Jazz and Grizzlies, who are fifth and sixth in the Western Conference, have split two games this season.
"I could tell by our huddles that we weren't going to just let it go," Fizdale told The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal after Friday's win. "Marc (Gasol) was incredible today leading this group. He was very vocal and said all the right things in the huddle.
"He kept those guys believing that we had a chance, and our guys just competed their tails off. We got lucky. (The Warriors) missed some shots, they missed some free throws and it worked out for us."
Before Friday, NBA teams had won 662 consecutive regular-season games when leading by at least 19 points after three quarters. Golden State led 98-79 entering the fourth quarter.
The Grizzlies forced the Warriors into taking bad or contested shots, including a potential game-winner that Golden State's Stephen Curry was forced to launch from 35 feet.
"Defense takes a whole team effort, multiple efforts throughout the whole game," Gasol told the paper. "I mean, defense sucks. It's no fun playing defense if not everybody's in it because they're going to score."
Gasol, who leads the team with 19.8 points per game, scored 23 points. Point guard Mike Conley had 27 points and, for the second straight game, 12 assists.
"We did a good job of not allowing them any space," Conley said. "All their guys were really hunting shots, and later in the game I think we got into our legs a little bit and they were having to work so hard to get open looks which worked in our favor going into overtime."
On Saturday night, Utah used a game-ending 11-0 run and a tip-in by center Rudy Gobert with 27 seconds left to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 94-92.
Point guard George Hill returned from a three-game absence because of a concussion to lead the Jazz with 19 points. Gobert added 12 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks.
"Good teams find ways to win when things aren't going their way," Hill said after the game. "It's always hard to get wins on the road. Right now a win is a win. No matter how ugly it is, we'll take it."
Hill, who played 33 minutes in the game, had logged just 36 minutes in the team's previous 18 games because of injuries. Saturday's game was the first in which Utah had all 15 players healthy.
Gordon Hayward leads the Jazz with 22.2 points per game. Gobert is No. 5 in the NBA in rebounding, averaging 12.2 per game, and has double-digit rebounds in his past 23 games, a franchise record.
