Ellis' 39 Points Sparks Warriors Past Grizzlies
OAKLAND (AP) -- Monta Ellis scored 17 of his 39 points in the fourth quarter, Dorell Wright made a career-high seven 3-pointers and the Golden State Warriors overcame a sloppy offensive night to beat the Memphis Grizzlies 115-109 on Wednesday.
Ellis sat out the final 37 seconds of the third quarter and was on the bench for the first 4:48 of the fourth when Memphis pulled within 94-89 on Hasheem Thabeet's free throw. He returned and scored five straight points, made a key steal off Memphis center Marc Gasol, then scored Golden State's final five points on free throws.
Wright had 25 points and six rebounds, and David Lee added 15 points and 16 rebounds for the Warriors (3-1), who committed a season-high 20 turnovers.
Rudy Gay scored a season-high 35 points and had seven rebounds for Memphis, which lost its third straight at Oracle Arena. Mike Conley added 18 points and a career-high 13 assists.
The Warriors played their second straight game without guard Stephen Curry, who has a right ankle sprain. Curry originally hurt the ankle in Golden State's final preseason game, then aggravated it in consecutive home games against Houston and the Los Angeles Clippers. He is listed as day to day.
"A lot of the swelling went down and now it's just a matter of trying to continue the rehab and strengthening of it," coach Keith Smart said. "We're going to give him some more time off before rushing into it. We have to err on the side of caution right now just because we're talking about playing the long haul and getting ourselves ready for the long push later on."
That opened the door for Ellis, who repeatedly attacked the Grizzlies inside. He shot just 12 of 26 but went 14 of 19 from the free throw line.
Memphis was also short-handed. Zach Randolph, the team's leading rebounder last season, sat out his fourth straight game with a lower back contusion.
Coming off a 108-83 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday, Golden State got another outstanding night from Wright. Wright, who signed a three-year deal with the Warriors in the offseason after six years with Miami, came within one point of his career best and one 3-pointer of matching Jason Richardson's franchise record.
The Grizzlies fell behind by 18 points midway through the third quarter but pulled within 110-106 on Gay's 3-pointer with 55 seconds remaining. After Ellis made three straight free throws, Gay made another 3-pointer to make it 113-109 with 29.9 seconds left, but Memphis couldn't get any closer.
Golden State made five 3-pointers in the second quarter and led by as much as 12. Wright had three of the 3s, including one with 3.4 seconds left that gave the Warriors a 64-52 lead at halftime.
Wright's seventh 3-pointer pushed Golden State's advantage to 82-66 midway through the third quarter before the Grizzlies made their best run of the night.
Conley scored five straight points, while O.J. Mayo and Gay later added 3-pointers as part of a 17-6 run that cut the Warriors' lead to 88-83.
Mayo finished with 23 points, while Darrell Arthur and Gasol added 10 points apiece for Memphis.
Reggie Williams had 16 points and a career-high eight assists for Golden State.
Notes: Golden State also played without F Brandan Wright, who had the stomach flu. ... The game drew just 16,607 fans, the lowest of the season at Oracle Arena.
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