Jamal Crawford/Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Clippers, NBA.com
Even though the Clippers had won the first two games of this road trip, those victories came against a mediocre Orlando team and a Miami team that not only no longer has LeBron James, but was missing guard Dwyane Wade to injury.
Since Memphis has been so good at the outset of this season, you had to know the Clippers would be in much deeper waters when they took on the Grizzlies on Sunday afternoon at FedExForum in Memphis. Surely, they were as Memphis rolled to a 107-91 victory behind the fine effort of post Marc Gasol. He scored 30 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked two shots.
Memphis out-rebounded the Clippers 52-32.
Jamal Crawford scored 19 points for the Clippers (7-5). He explained.
“The first two games, we didn’t take the ball out of the net as much. I think our defense was a little bit better,” Crawford said. “But tonight we didn’t move the ball as well. We didn’t really push the pace, and we’ve got to do better.”
The Grizzlies shot 49.1 percent from the field. In victories over Orlando (114-90) on Wednesday and Miami (110-93) on Thursday, the Clippers held the Magic and Heat to respective shooting percentages of 39.5 and 44.8.
Of course, it’s always tougher to play solid defense against the team with the best record in the NBA, and Memphis is that at 12-2. The Grizzlies top the Western Conference standings with a one-game lead over Golden State (10-2). The Clippers are tied for ninth with New Orleans.