No Mike Conley or Tony Allen for the Memphis Grizzles on Tuesday, January 27, equated to no problem, as they manhandled the Dallas Mavericks in an impressive 109-90 road victory.

Taking the court on the second night of a back-to-back following a 103-94 win at home over the Orlando Magic, the Grizzlies opted to sit starting point guard Mike Conly and defensive specialist Tony Allen. Beno Udrih and Courtney Lee would fill in their place and played adequately with a combined 21 points and seven assists.

The story of this game was just how dominantly Zach Randolph controlled the paint against the Mavs thin front court. Randolph scored 22 points on 10-of-15 shooting and hauled in 10 boards to rack up another double-double on the season. The Mavs had no answer for Z-Bo as he made circus shot after circus shot over the likes of Tyson Chandler and Dirk Nowitzki and hit seven shots in a row in the second half, as the Grizzlies extended their lead to 19 in the fourth quarter. Not only was Z-Bo excellent offensively, but he played great lockdown defense on Nowitzki and held him to just 11 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field.

The Grizzlies bench came up huge as well, as Nick Calathes was perhaps the biggest benefiter with the extra minutes with 27 coming off the bench and scoring 13 points and provided a spark for the Grizzlies each time he entered the game. Vince Carter went on to score 13 points himself, as he made his second return to the American Airlines Arena this season and a warm welcome back from the crowd.

There weren't many positives for the Mavs, as they uncharacteristically turned the ball over 14 times in the first half and frustration boiled over onto Monta Ellis in the second quarter, as he picked up a technical foul. After falling 54-44 at halftime, the closest the Mavericks would get to the lead would be seven early in the third quarter before Randolph swelled the lead back to 11 after a couple mid-range jumpers.

Chandler Parsons got off to a quick start in the first quarter, scoring 10 quick ones and ended up tied with Ellis for a team-high of 19 points. While the Mavs shot a solid 48.7 percent from the floor, they put up a poor 27 percent from downtown. The Grizzlies, on the other hand, shot 53 percent from the floor and a sizzling 47.6 percent from three-point land.

The Grizzlies got a little bit of payback on Dallas after losing at home on Martin Luther King Day, 103-95. Since that loss, the Grizzlies have now won four games in a row and eight of their last nine.

The Mavericks have now lost three in a row against all plus-.500 teams. They will have a quick turnaround, as they square off with the Houston Rockets Wednesday night as part of a back-to-back stint.

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About the author
Bryan Castillo
Mechanical Engineer graduate from Texas A&M University class of 2012. Favorite teams are the Dallas Mavericks, Cowboys, & Texas Rangers.