Curry and Green held without a field goal; Grizzlies defeat Warriors

Curry and Green held without a field goal; Grizzlies defeat Warriors

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — By the time Jake LaRavia hit a 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter to give the Grizzlies a stunning 123-66 lead on Thursday night, Stephen Curry and Draymond Green’s nights were long over.

The Golden State Warriors had a night so brutal and humiliating that their two stars didn’t even realize they hadn’t made a field goal in a game together for the first time in their careers as Memphis cruised to a 144-93 victory – its biggest in the NBA this season – at the FedEx Forum.

The Grizzlies, winners of 11 of their last 13 games, overwhelmed Curry with just two points and 0-for-7 shooting, including 0-for-6 from 3-point range. It was Curry’s most field goal attempts and most minutes (24) without scoring in his 16-year career.

Green went scoreless and missed all four of his shots in 19 minutes.

“Damn, this is happening,” Green said after being told that he and Curry had failed to make a field goal for the first time in a game together. “Oh shit. That’s crazy…they did a good job. Give them some credit.”

Frustrated by foul trouble, the 13-year veteran was a shocking minus-42 and Curry was a minus-41.

“First time for anything, right?” Curry said. “I never thought that would be a situation or an outcome of the game. From the first moment they kind of slapped us in the mouth. We had no answer.”

“…That was kind of embarrassing.”

Golden State (14-12) has now lost nine of its last 11 games after a 12-3 start. Three of those losses came by a margin of four points or less after the Warriors struggled to score down the stretch. But in this case they seemed overwhelmed almost from the start.

The Grizzlies took a 13-2 lead and extended it. The Warriors trailed by 31 points at halftime and then by 46 when coach Steve Kerr shut down his starters with 5:09 left in the third quarter.

Memphis made a franchise record 27 3-pointers and defensively overwhelmed Golden State.

“It was a humbling evening all around,” Kerr said. “I mean, they brought it to us. They were great. We just couldn’t get anything going.”

“…You lose at 51. That’s humiliating. So what I know about this team is that this is the second time we’ve been eliminated. We got eliminated at the start of the season in Cleveland, so I know who we are. “I know what our team is about. I know we will bounce back and regroup. But we have a lot of work that needs to be done to be carried out.

Despite the massive loss, the Warriors’ locker room was not vandalized. Kerr, Curry and Green all said they remained confident the team was good enough to bounce back.

“I expect us to respond,” Green said of the Warriors’ next game at Minnesota on Saturday.

Newly signed Dennis Schroder started in his debut on Thursday, with Kerr moving Jonathan Kuminga to the second unit after the power forward started the last six games. Kerr opted to start Green and Kevon Looney to set a more defensive tone from the start, but that didn’t happen.

Schroder shot just 2-for-12 and finished the game with five points and five assists. But as Green pointed out, Schröder was not responsible for this loss.

It was the Warriors’ third 50-point loss under Kerr and second this calendar year (140-88 in Boston on March 3).

“That was a difficult question too,” Curry said. “(But) I like the atmosphere (in the team) better at the moment.

“We will continue to say it because I really believe it – we are better than what we have played so far. We are better than what we showed tonight. The mood is much better. It’s nice to say it, but you have to do something about it, and I feel like we can just wait it out.

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