Memphis Grizzlies cruise past Detroit Pistons
The Memphis Grizzlies took advantage of a tired Detroit Pistons squad as they hammered out a dominating 105-84 victory for their second-straight win on Wednesday at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.
Zach Randolph scored 21 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, while high-flying forward Rudy g*y added 17 points and six rebounds for the Grizzlies. Memphis unleashed a huge third-quarter blast
to bury the Pistons, who absorbed a heart-breaking 88-84 defeat against the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday 23 November.
Trailing by three points, 50-47, at the half, Memphis had a huge 33-18 run as they slowly pulled away and led by as much as 25 points, behind an impressive game from the bench players, who
combined for 41 points in the game.
“We just needed to get out there, and try to grind and wear them down in the second half,” said Memphis head coach Lionel Hollins. “We got the win, and we had 41 points off the bench. I think
it played out the way that I hoped it would play out.”
Michael Conley also had a decent game as the third-year guard scored 14 points and dished out seven assists to go with three steals, while Darrell Arthur racked up 14 points and six rebounds
for the Grizzlies, who improved their record to 6-9.
“In the second half, we were going to wear them down a little bit, try to pick them up full court, push the ball every chance we got, and take advantage of the opportunities,” said Conley,
who shot 6-for-10 from the field.
Rodney Stuckey, on the other hand, led the Pistons with his 17 points; Richard Hamilton had 12 points and five rebounds, while Charlie Villanueva added 11 points, but the Pistons did not
have enough gas left in their tank in the second half after coming off a gruelling duel against the Mavericks on Tuesday 23 November.
“We had eight quarters and played well in six of them,” said Pistons coach John Kuester. “The last two quarters, we didn't have the competitive edge I know you need to have on the road. You
have to be so mentally tough to play in this situation, and we weren't as mentally tough as I know we could have been.”
Detroit, who were outscored in the second half by 24 points, 58-34, absorbed their tenth loss in their first 15 games this season. The Pistons are also now 0-4 in second game of back-to-back
assignments this season.
“It's not going well,” said Pistons centre Ben Wallace, who finished with only two points and six rebounds. “We're just not winning as much as we are losing. We are just not doing the things
I know we are capable of doing. They just outplayed us. They executed, got stops, and scored when they needed to. We didn't.”
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