The Memphis Grizzlies followed up their victory over the league-leading Golden State Warriors with a 117-116 triumph over reigning NBA champions San Antonio in a triple-overtime thriller on Wednesday.
Zach Randolph scored all six of the Grizzlies’ points in the third overtime, finishing with 21 points and 21 rebounds.
The Grizzlies’ Spanish center Marc Gasol added 26 points and nine rebounds, delivering a three-pointer as time expired in regulation to force the first overtime.
Vince Carter made five three-pointers en route to 18 points, while Mike Conley added 14 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds for the Grizzlies, who beat the short-handed Spurs, despite squandering a 23-point lead.
Memphis have won six in a row to improve to 21-4 on the season. On Tuesday they snapped the Golden State Warriors’ winning streak at 16 games.
“It feels good to finally beat them,” said Randolph, whose Grizzlies had lost nine straight to the Spurs, including playoff clashes.
Danny Green connected on seven of 13 three-point attempts, finishing with 25 points and seven rebounds for San Antonio, who dropped their second straight.
Tim Duncan had 23 points, 16 rebounds and three blocked shots. His fadeaway jump-shot bounced off the rim, before falling in to knot the score at 111-111 as time expired in the second overtime.
However, Duncan made just five of his 15 free-throw attempts as the Spurs finished 13 of 27 from the foul line.
The Spurs were without veteran French point guard Tony Parker, who missed another game with a strained left hamstring, and Kawhi Leonard, who suffered a left-hand injury late in the loss at Portland on Monday.
Manu Ginobili scored 21 points for the Spurs, but missed a jump-shot at the end of the first overtime and came up short on a three-point attempt in the waning seconds of the final overtime.
HAWKS 127, CAVALIERS 98
In Cleveland, Ohio, Shelvin Mack scored a career-high 24 points as the Atlanta Hawks routed the Cleveland Cavaliers 127-98 on Wednesday for their 11th victory in 12 games.
Mack, a reserve guard who came in averaging 3.8 points, made all six of his three-pointers as the Hawks went 16 for 28 from behind the arc.
Trailing 50-38 midway through the second quarter, Atlanta outscored Cleveland 89-48 the rest of the way and sent the Cavaliers to their largest loss of the season.
The Hawks, playing without leading scorer Jeff Teague, avenged a 127-94 loss in Cleveland on Nov. 15, when the Cavaliers made their first 11 shots from three-point range.
LeBron James scored 21 points, but did not play in the fourth quarter. The Cavaliers have lost three of four since winning eight straight.
Al Horford scored 20 points for Atlanta, who had seven players in double figures and shot 64.5 percent from the field.
Additional reporting by AP
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