MEMPHIS — Rudy Gay scored 26 points and Zach Randolph had 17 points and 13 rebounds to help the Memphis Grizzlies win their fourth consecutive game, 92-82 over the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night.
Marc Gasol added 11 points and 11 rebounds for Memphis. Tony Allen finished with 10 points, but his biggest contribution was on the defensive end, holding former Grizzly O.J. Mayo, the Mavericks’ leading scorer, to 10 points on 3-of-11 shooting.
Mike Conley had 11 assists to become the franchise leader with 2,079. He surpassed Jason Williams, who had 2,069, with 7:54 left in the first quarter on an alley-oop pass to Gay.
Shawn Marion and Vince Carter led the Mavericks with 14 points each, and Marion also had 11 rebounds. Dominique Jones had 13 points and seven assists, and Brandan Wright added 12 points.
Dallas never led, and Memphis built a 17-point advantage in the third quarter.
The Mavericks suffered through 24 turnovers that led to 29 Memphis points, and the Grizzlies’ 17 offensive rebounds contributed to a 22-9 advantage in second-chance points.
Allen lived up his reputation as one of the NBA’s best defenders for the second consecutive game. He held the Bucks’ Monta Ellis to a single field goal late in the game Wednesday night in a victory over Milwaukee.
Memphis, which led by a dozen in the first half, dealt with a Dallas rally that cut the Grizzlies’ advantage to 40-39 at intermission. Gay had 10 for Memphis, while Carter had nine points for Dallas.
Mayo, who entered the game averaging 20.2 points, missed all four of his shots in the half as Allen clamped on the defense. Mayo managed only a free throw in the closing seconds of the half.
Neither team shot particularly well, with Dallas connecting on 34 percent while Memphis was shooting at a 38 percent clip. Memphis missed all five of its shots from beyond the arc, and Dallas was stymied by 13 turnovers.
Both teams finished shooting just better than 40 percent.
Sports, Pages 25 on 12/22/2012