Warriors face one of the few teams to beat them

OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Golden State Warriors will seek to avenge one of their most lopsided losses of the season on Friday night when they close out a five-game homestand against the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Warriors have lost just five times this season, once in resounding fashion, 110-89 on Dec. 10 at Memphis.

The two-time defending Western Conference champions have had a chance to avenge just one other defeat this season, and they did so big-time, blasting the Los Angeles Lakers 149-106.

That came 19 days after the Lakers' 117-97 win over the Warriors.

This time, Golden State has had 27 days to stew over the loss at Memphis.

The last time they lost a regular-season game to the Grizzlies (105-98 on Dec. 16, 2014), the Warriors rebounded with a 23-point thumping in their next meeting.

Golden State hadn't lost to the Grizzlies again until last month's debacle. The Warriors swept last year's season series 4-0.

Speaking of 4-0, that's the record on their current homestand that the Warriors will take into Friday's game. All four wins have come by between eight and 10 points.

Golden State is coming off a tough 125-117 win over Portland in which Stephen Curry erupted for 35 points. It was his highest output since Nov. 7, and required his second-highest number of shots (25).

Curry, who had attempted more than 20 shots in just one of his previous 16 games, insisted afterward nobody had instructed him to shoot more.

"I'm not going to fall into the temptation of abandoning what makes us successful just to say I shot more," he said. "The way (the Trail Blazers) defended, I got a lot of shots out of the pick-and-roll."

The Grizzlies (22-16) have struggled defensively of late. They've lost four of six, allowing 112 or more points in each of the defeats.

On the other hand, they held Oklahoma City to 80 and Sacramento to 98 in their two wins during the mini-slump.

Grizzlies coach David Fizdale noted in the wake of Wednesday's 115-106 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers that he believes his team knows what it'll take to turn things around against the Warriors in the finale of a four-game trip.

"If you can't be up to play Golden State, then you are in the wrong business," the former Warriors assistant said. "I look at every game as an opportunity to turn it around. We obviously aren't defending at the levels we like. We gave up 116 (Tuesday against the Los Angeles Lakers) and 115 (against the Clippers). That's very uncharacteristic of us."

Memphis held Curry to 17 points on 4-of-14 shooting from the field and backcourt sidekick Klay Thompson to eight points also on 4-of-14 shooting in last month's meeting. Golden State shot just 44.2 percent in the game and the league leaders in assists at 31.2 per game were limited to 15.

The Warriors registered 31 assists in Wednesday's win over Portland. They are 24-1 when they've reached 30 this season.

No other team has 30 or more assists in a game more than six times this season.