Obviously, Cavaliers coach Mike Brown wasn’t in the Memphis Grizzlies locker room at halftime, but he thought he had a pretty good read on Zach Randolph’s game plan for the second half.
“In the second half, he came out and said, ‘You know what? I’m going to get the ball, whether it’s in a post-up situation or off the glass, I’m going to get it and I’m going to do what I do,’ and he did it time after time after time,” Brown said.
In fact, Randolph scored 13 of his 23 points in the third quarter, keying a 17-0 run that broke open a close game as the Grizzlies ended the Cavs two-game winning streak with a 110-96 victory on Saturday night at Fed Ex Forum. The game started an hour later than normal because the University of Memphis beat Louisville, 72-66, earlier Saturday in the same building.
Randolph, who also finished with 14 rebounds, hurt the Cavs offensively and defensively, swiping the ball from Spencer Hawes with 3:27 left and finding former Ohio State star Mike Conley for a 3-pointer as the shot clock was about to expire. Another 3-pointer a minute later by Conley, who finished with 22 points, pretty much put an end to any Cavs comeback as Memphis closed out the game on a 15-2 run after the Cavs had closed to 95-94 with four minutes left. Marc Gasol finished with 22 points and eight rebounds as the Grizzlies improved to 33-25 and moved within a game of idle Phoenix for the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference playoff race.
“We just couldn’t withstand that one-two punch with Marc and ZBo,” said Kyrie Irving, who had 28 points for the Cavs, still without Anderson Varejao (back), Dion Waiters (knee) and C.J. Miles (ankle). Tristan Thompson added 18 points and eight rebounds for the Cavs, 24-37, now four games behind the idle Atlanta Hawks for the No. 8 spot in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
Brown started Hawes and Thompson, substituted Tyler Zeller and then used the two 7-footers down the stretch, to no avail. After holding Randolph to six points in the first half, he had his way in the second.
“We were just trying to make it as difficult as possible for him,” Zeller said. “I think he came out much more motivated in the second half. He’s a great player, so you have to give him some credit. But we also have got to do better.”
Thanks to Randolph and Gasol, the Grizzlies beat the Cavs in the paint, 50-38, on second-chance points, 12-9, and on the boards, 36-33. Whereas the Cavs shot 61.4 percent in the first half, when they made 27-of-44 shots, that fell off to 34.3 percent in the second half (12 of 35).
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