The mood around the Oracle Arena before the game was pure jubilation as Stephen Curry received his newly won MVP Award from NBA commissioner Adam Silver. Curry remarked “there was still work to be done” but he would suffer from a rare off night at home. He would finish with 19 points on 7-of-19 shooting in Golden State’s 97-90 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday night. That evened up the series at 1.

Curry and Klay Thompson each struggled to get anything going from beyond the arc as they combined to shoot just 3-of-17 from three-point land. The team’s combined 23.1% three-point percentage was their worst since Christmas Day when they shot just 21.4% in a loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.

Golden State also had 20 turnovers on the night which was the most since their game on April 13th with these Memphis Grizzlies when they committed 21. Thompson led the team with five turnovers in a night that he would like to forget.

Memphis on the other hand was able to deal with Marc Gasol’s very early foul trouble. Gasol would pick up two fouls in the first six minutes of the game. The Grizzlies did not panic nor change from their gameplan as they continued to pound the ball in the paint. Zach Randolph and Kosta Koufos combined for six points to push Memphis out to an early 24-13 lead.

Golden State would always seem to cut the lead to within two points but they could never capitalize on the basket that would tie or give them the lead. Turnovers were huge on those possessions. It looked as though Golden State had some momentum going into the half as they forced Memphis to call a timeout with 1:24 remaining in the second quarter and the score 41-39 Memphis.

Memphis capitalized on their shots in the final 1:24 while Golden State couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. A late 9-0 run pushed the Grizzlies’ halftime lead to 50-39.

The Grizzlies continued to make shots at critical times to halt any Golden State momentum in the third quarter. It started early when Mike Conley sunk a three-pointer to quiet the crowd after Andrew Bogut’s consecutive put backs. It continued with a big Courtney Lee shot to end a 7-1 Warriors run at the 4:11 mark. Lee would again kill the momentum with a nice bucket as time expired in the third quarter after his own great hustle play. Memphis led 73-63 going into the final stanza.

The fourth quarter was more of the same as Golden State could not hit any momentum inducing shots. Curry and Thompson started hitting shots but they could not hit the big ones when they counted. Memphis slowed the pace way down with Zach Randolph playing in the post against Andrew Bogut or Draymond Green. Randolph would only score six points in the quarter but the time he ate off the clock with his post play was invaluable.

The dagger would come with 2:13 remaining in the game. Draymond Green had just missed three chances down low on tip-ins with the Warriors down seven. Mike Conley sank a three-pointer from the sidelines to extend the lead to 10 and put the game on ice.

Game 3 returns to Memphis on Saturday evening with the series tied at 1. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 pm ET, make sure to follow along live with VAVEL USA.