The Grizzlies came in to Tuesday night’s game against the Warriors basically in crisis. They’d lost three straight, had fired coach Taylor Jenkins and were barreling toward the NBA Play-In Tournament.
There was still reason for optimism, though, because a win would’ve put Memphis a game and half above Golden State for fifth place in the Western Conference.
Then Steph Curry stepped foot in FedExForum.
The Warriors’ superstar put together a masterclass, scoring 52 points on 12-of-20 shooting from 3-point range while grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out eight assists, helping the Warriors earn a critical 134-125 win.
“I mean, the guy’s 37 years old,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “It’s incredible. Fifty-two points with people draped all over him all game long. The conditioning, the skill, the audacity, the belief, it’s incredible to watch Steph at work.
How Steph Curry scored 52 points against the Grizzlies, and where Memphis goes now
Portrait of Jonah DylanJonah Dylan
Memphis Commercial Appeal
The Grizzlies came in to Tuesday night’s game against the Warriors basically in crisis. They’d lost three straight, had fired coach Taylor Jenkins and were barreling toward the NBA Play-In Tournament.
There was still reason for optimism, though, because a win would’ve put Memphis a game and half above Golden State for fifth place in the Western Conference.
Then Steph Curry stepped foot in FedExForum.
The Warriors’ superstar put together a masterclass, scoring 52 points on 12-of-20 shooting from 3-point range while grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out eight assists, helping the Warriors earn a critical 134-125 win.
“I mean, the guy’s 37 years old,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “It’s incredible. Fifty-two points with people draped all over him all game long. The conditioning, the skill, the audacity, the belief, it’s incredible to watch Steph at work.”
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It was a remarkable performance because last time the Warriors were at FedExForum, Curry scored just two points and did not make a field goal. He scored 50 more on Tuesday, lifting the Warriors to fifth in the Western Conference and securing the tiebreaker with Memphis.
The Grizzlies tried their typical defensive approach, with Jaylen Wells picking up 94 feet from the basket. But Curry found ways around it time and again.
“They just try to take the ball out of your hands,” Curry said. “Last time we were here, shot attempts were way down just because they were top blocking pretty much at 94 feet, just trying to keep the ball out of our hands. And you’re not able to get a rhythm…tonight, we were just trying to get the ball in your hands as much as possible and then let chaos kind of flow from there.”
Curry briefly looked like he could be on his way to breaking Klay Thompson’s record of 14 made 3-pointers in a game, but he settled for 12 after missing a few in the fourth quarter.
If the Grizzlies see the Warriors in the playoff, they’ll have to come up with a new defensive game plan for Curry.
“Once he gets into that zone, it’s very difficult to get him,” Grizzlies coach Tuomas Iisalo said. “I mean, we’re talking about the best shooter — and certainty the best movement shooter — of all time.”
