Grizzlies pick apart Blazers

Published 12:00 am Saturday, November 29, 2014

The cerebral cunning and pick-and-roll magic of Mike Conley and Marc Gasol sparked the Memphis Grizzlies to a 112-99 victory Friday at Moda Center and sealed the Trail Blazers’ first loss in 10 games.

“I thought they got the ball in the paint a little too much, and that is their strength,” Blazers coach Terry Stotts said of Memphis. “We can shore up the penetration on the pick-and-roll.”

Gasol scored only six first-half points, but found his stride after intermission, finishing with 26 points, seven rebounds and nine assists. Meanwhile, Conley scored 21 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and delivered nine assists.

“We’ve pretty much seen any kind of defense that you can throw at us, so we have pretty much countered everything,” the 7-1 Gasol said of his on-court relationship with 6-1 point guard Conley.

The win pushed Memphis’ record to 14-2 — best in the NBA Western Conference.

Portland slipped to 12-4.

Blazers guard Wesley Matthews didn’t lose his scorching shooting touch in defeat. The Marquette alumnus hit 7 of 11 3-pointers and accumulated 24 points. In his last two games, Matthews has scored 52 points and made 13 of 20 from behind the arc.

Still, the Blazers made just 28.6 percent of their 3-point tries Friday because the rest of the Portland team was 1 of 16.

“We got good looks. It’s not like we got forced ones and difficult ones,” Matthews said. “If you put us in the gym right now, we could knock down those 3-pointers left-handed.”

Forward LaMarcus Aldridge had 19 points on 7-of-19 shooting, plus 10 rebounds, and guard Damian Lillard had 20 points and nine assists (but was 1 of 6 on 3s).

Portland established dominance and executed its most prolific stretch in the opening minutes. The Blazers nailed their first six of seven shots, stormed to a 17-6 early lead and forced Memphis coach David Joerger to call a timeout.

During the stretch, forward Aldridge shut down Gasol, holding him to two points on 1-of-3 shooting, with two turnovers.

But Memphis responded, tightening its defense while scoring on four straight possessions. Then Gasol corralled a rebound and rifled a pass to Conley down the court for an easy layup to cut the Blazers’ lead to six.

The Grizzlies went on to score 16 fastbreak points.

“They really aren’t a transition team per se, but they are efficient when they get there,” Stotts said.

On the other end, the Blazers hit a rough patch, missing nine shots in a row in the final 3:33 minutes of the first quarter. Portland led 25-23 entering the second quarter.

Early in the period, Grizzlies guard Beno Udrih swished a 17-footer to tie the game at 25 and set the tone for a 12-minute bench explosion. After failing to score in the opening quarter, the Grizzlies reserves managed 23 points before halftime, eight from Udrih.

The teams treaded water for most of the second quarter, but Memphis made three straight shots to end the first half up 52-43.

In the third quarter, Gasol scored 14 points and Conley dished out five assists, torturing the Blazers with the pick-and-roll. Matthews nailed a pair of 3-pointers, including one sparked by a pick-and-pop with Lillard, cutting the Grizzlies’ lead to seven. But Memphis responded immediately and entered the final quarter up 83-70.

The Blazers were far from dead to rights, though. Lillard split the teeth of the defense and heaved a pass to a wide-open Matthews, who knocked down a 3. On the next possession, Lillard found Chris Kaman for an easy layup to trim the Blazers’ deficit to four.

But Portland couldn’t inch closer.

Gasol converted three of four free throws and assisted Allen to push the Grizzlies’ advantage to nine. Portland didn’t answer and lost its second home game of the season, while Memphis improved to 6-2 on the road.

Portland shot 40.2 percent from the field, while Memphis hit 54.6 percent.

Stotts gave the Grizzlies credit for holding Portland below 100 points for the fourth time this season, but said Portland could have played much better.

“We take 3s when they’re there, and some of them didn’t go. I thought L.A. and Chris got into the lane and had some shots in the paint,” Stotts said. “Give them credit for it, but I thought we missed some shots, too.”

In addition to Gasol and Conley, starters Courtney Lee, Tony Allen and Zach Randolph all reached double figures in scoring for the Grizzlies. Udrih was the lone Memphis bench player to score at least 10 points. He finished with 10.

Joerger relished the elite conference showdown and complimented the Blazers.

They’re really good, and we like coming up here. We like playing them,” Joerger said. “It’s just good competition. It’s a great atmosphere, and guys are very professional to each other.”

The Blazers hope to forge a new winning streak against the Minnesota Timberwolves at home on Sunday.