Washington, D.C—
The Wizards haven’t had much luck at home and they looked at finding a way to get to that lucky seven tonight against the Grizzlies, but Tayshaun Prince had other ideas has his late run led the Grizzlies to a 110-104 victory over the Wizards.
The problem again for the Wizards tonight was they found themselves digging out of a hole late in the game, much of where they have been in the fourth quarter this season and tonight was certainly no different.
“I think that’s something we find ourselves doing a lot, getting down and digging in the last five minutes of games, and I feel like we can’t do that,” said Washington’s Trevor Ariza, who scored 15 points. “We gotta play hard throughout the whole game and compete throughout and not wait for the last five minutes to play.”
The Grizzlies had this game in total control after a 17-2 run over the final 3:30 minutes of the third quarter. Mike Conley, who has been a Wizards killer in the previous match-up had 20 points, seven assists and was responsible for starting the spurt with a left-handed driving layup. Zach Randolph and Tony Allen converted three-point plays, and Prince hit a 3-point shot as the lead grew to 79-64 entering the fourth.
Washington would battle back and keep it close when Otto Porter hit a three pointer with 1:16 remaining closing the gap to 102-98 and then they had one more shot with 0:21 remaining by John Wall at 104-101, but it was not enough at Marc Gasol closed out the game for the Grizzlies with two free throws with 0:08 remaining.
“We knew this was going to be a tough game coming in,” John Wall said. “You definitely wanted to win to keep the streak going, but don’t let one game stop you from getting on a roll. I think we’re on the right path. Got to keep going this way.”