Rudy Gay scored 26 points to lead the Memphis Grizzlies to a 92-82 victory over the Dallas Mavericks 92-82 Friday.
Memphis' Tony Allen did not allow his former teammate O.J. Mayo to score freely with the Maverick restricted to just 10 points in the game.
"I treat it as a regular opponent as if he was a Kobe or a LeBron or what have you," Allen said about guarding Mayo. "I just treated it regular and studied him. ... I sat here quiet.
"Didn't really talk to my teammates before the game. I was just focused at doing the task at hand because he'd been on fire."
Zach Randolph added 17 points and 13 rebounds for the Grizzlies, while Marc Gasol had 11 points and 11 rebounds. Allen finished with 10 points and three steals.
For the Mavericks, the top scorers Shawn Marion and Vince Carter had 14 points apiece, while Dominique Jones finished with 13 points and seven assists.
Memphis coach Lionel Hollins instructed Allen to stop Mayo from scoring big in the game. Mayo played for the Grizzlies for four years before joining Dallas.
"I told Tony: 'You're going to guard him whenever he is in the game,'" the Associated Press quoted Hollins as saying. "O.J. is a big catalyst of that team. He's their leading scorer.
"They go around him to get in the flow, which allows the other guys to get in the flow. They had some other people score, but it wasn't the same as when he is playing."
The Grizzlies outscored Dallas 25-16 in the first quarter. In the second, the Mavericks scored 23, whereas the Grizzlies could add only 15, but Memphis were still leading by one point at the end of first half.
The Grizzlies outscored Dallas by 11 points in the third quarter and entered the fourth quarter with a 12-point lead.
The Mavericks played better in the fourth quarter and scored 25 points against the Grizzlies' 23, but lost the game by 10 points.
"I was very pleased," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. "We were undermanned, coming off of a late night back-to-back. The guys really hung in and gave what they could give.
"I was really happy with how everybody fought. There's not much consolation when you lose, but the effort was good."
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