Buddy Hield had a team-high 18 points and 10 teammates scored at least eight apiece as the Golden State Warriors edged the Memphis Grizzlies 123-118 in an NBA Cup game Friday night in San Francisco.
Moses Moody chipped in 14 points, Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins and Stephen Curry 13 each and Brandin Podziemski 11 for the Warriors, who improved to 2-0 in the five-team West Group C of the in-season tournament.
On a night when Desmond Bane returned from an oblique injury but star Ja Morant remained sidelined, the Grizzlies’ Jaren Jackson Jr. was the game’s leading scorer with 32 points.
A tight game early on saw the Grizzlies, playing on the West Coast for the third time in six nights, led by as many as five before the Warriors gradually pulled away.
Golden State led just 55-48 at halftime and 74-67 with about five minutes remaining in the third quarter, but then Curry, Podziemski and Hield buried 3-pointers in a 19-11 period-ending burst that opened a 15-point advantage.
The Grizzlies, who were making their season NBA Cup debut, got no closer than the final score, which was the result of a 20-6 Memphis flurry.
Golden State used 12 players and got at least one hoop from all of them en route to its third consecutive win..
Hield hit four 3-pointers while Green, Curry and Moody drilled three apiece, helping Golden State outscore the visitors 57-21 from beyond the arc.
Green also found time for seven assists and eight rebounds, while Curry also collected eight rebounds and padded his stats with five assists and four steals.
Bane, who hadn’t played since Oct. 30, had 18 points in 27 minutes off the bench. He made just one of his four 3-point attempts as Memphis shot 7-for-42 (16.7 percent) from beyond the arc. The Grizzlies lost their second straight game after three consecutive wins.
Rookie Zach Edey had 14 points and nine rebounds off the bench for Memphis, while Jaylen Wells went for 16 points and Marcus Smart nine to complement six assists, five rebounds and two blocks.
–Field Level Media