Portland, OR (SportsNetwork.com) - Don't look now, Western Conference, but the Memphis Grizzlies are slowly hitting their stride.
Zach Randolph scored 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and Mike Conley added 19 points and seven assists in the Grizzlies' 98-81 wire-to-wire drubbing of the Portland Trail Blazers at the Moda Center.
Memphis has won eight of its last nine and improved to 6-1 since welcoming back the injured Marc Gasol, who had 15 points and eight boards in the win.
"We moved the basketball, we screened hard, we cut hard and it all looks good when the ball goes in," said Grizzlies head coach Dave Joerger. "We made a lot of shots."
Two days after scoring a season-low 88 points in a lopsided loss at Golden State, the Blazers made just 34.5 percent of their shots in losing for the fourth time in six games.
"We just didn't have it for whatever reason," said Portland guard Wes Matthews. "No excuse, we just didn't play well enough. They came out with a sense of urgency that we didn't match."
LaMarcus Aldridge paced Portland with 27 points and 16 rebounds and Damian Lillard added 16 points in the setback.
The Grizzlies jumped on top early, scoring the game's first 10 points in the opening 2:20 -- six coming from Randolph.
The Blazers pulled within two late in the first quarter, but seven consecutive Memphis points, capped by Kosta Koufos' putback just before the buzzer, gave the visitors a 31-22 lead.
Courtney Lee drained a 3-pointer late in the second that had the Grizzlies on top by 18 points, and Memphis wound up setting a season high with 61 first- half points on 60 percent shooting.
The Blazers had 46 at the break and were even worse in a 12-point third quarter that saw them shoot 19 percent (4-of-21) from the field.
Randolph showed off his passing skills in the final minute of the one-sided quarter as he fed a driving Nick Calathes for an easy layup and an 81-58 Memphis cushion heading to the fourth.
To sum up the Blazers' struggles, they did not make a 3-pointer until the opening minute of the final stanza and finished 4-of-24 from behind the arc.
The closest it got in the fourth was 13.
Game Notes
Randolph moved past Pau Gasol for the most double-doubles in franchise history with 190 ... Memphis has won three straight in Portland ... The Grizzlies wound up making 51.8 percent of their shots ... Portland's bench was outscored, 25-6, by Memphis' reserves ... Portland had a five-game winning streak snapped.
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