Spurs vs. Grizzlies preview: Southwest Division showdown set for Friday
The Grizzlies can’t seem to beat the Spurs but the Spurs can’t seem to win on the road. Something’s gotta give, right?
San Antonio has lost seven of their previous nine road games and eight of their ten losses on the season have been away from the AT&T Center. Perhaps the thought of the Grizzlies being only 1.5 games back for the division lead with a win will be enough of a motivating factor though.
Memphis managed to force the Spurs into overtime in their only other meeting this season back on Dec. 1 but ultimately came up short, 99-95. Much of their downfall came with allowing Tim Duncan and Tony Parker to combine for 57 points so they'll have to do a better job of containing those two this go around.
The Grizzlies did do a very respectable job frustrating the other third of San Antonio’s big three in that meeting though. While Manu Ginobili saved his line a bit with an impressive six steals, Memphis still held him to a mere 10 points on 4-of-15 shooting to go along with a game-high six turnovers.
But it’s not as if defense has ever been an issue for a Grizzlies team limiting opponents to an NBA-best 89.1 points per game. Memphis struggled mightily from the floor in their last meeting with the Spurs, shooting 36.4% overall and 26.7% beyond the arc all while coughing up an inexcusable 19 turnovers.
Luckily, they will get two shots at the Spurs over the next week as the Grizzlies are set to visit San Antonio five days after they met Friday at 8:00 p.m. ET.
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