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Grizzlies-Clippers Preview

Nov 7, 2009 - 7:45 AM By MATT BEARDMORE STATS Writer

Memphis (1-5) at Los Angeles (2-4), 10:30 p.m. EDT

With so much focus on Allen Iverson's criticisms of his new team, somewhat lost among the four-time scoring champion's complaints is the Memphis Grizzlies' four-game losing streak.

The Grizzlies look to snap that skid Saturday night when they visit a Los Angeles Clippers team looking for its first three-game winning streak since December.

After signing a one-year deal with the Grizzlies in September and working his way back from a torn right hamstring, Iverson made his season debut in Monday's 127-116 overtime loss at Sacramento. The 10-time All-Star came off the bench for just the 10th time in his career and finished with 11 points.

"Go look at my resume and that will show you that I'm not a sixth man," Iverson said after that defeat. "I don't think it has anything to do with me being selfish. It's just who I am."

Iverson didn't back off his comments prior to Friday's game against the Los Angeles Lakers. "Do I say all the right things all the time? I doubt it," he said. "But the ultimate goal is to win games. That's the only thing it's about."

Memphis (1-5), though, fell to 0-4 on its trip with a 114-98 loss to the defending champions.

Coming off the bench for the third straight game, Iverson scored eight points in 22 minutes.

Rudy Gay had 22 points and Zach Randolph posted his third straight double-double with 21 points and 15 rebounds.

Gay averaged 28.7 points and shot 59.6 percent as the Grizzlies won two of three against the Clippers last season, including a 118-95 victory at Staples Center on March 4 in which he scored a season-high 35.

Randolph, who did not play in that game for Los Angeles due to the death of his father, faces his former Clippers teammates for the first time since getting traded to the Grizzlies in the offseason for Quentin Richardson.

Randolph averaged 20.9 points and 9.4 boards in 39 games for the Clippers in 2008-09. He was suspended twice during his five-month stay in Los Angeles - two games for punching Phoenix's Louis Amundson in February and two more in April after a drunk driving arrest.

While Memphis is hoping to avoid a winless five-game trip, Los Angeles (2-4) is looking for its first three-game winning streak since Dec. 12-16.

The Clippers followed a 93-90 win over Minnesota with 118-90 victory at Golden State on Friday night.

Baron Davis and Eric Gordon scored 25 points apiece and Chris Kaman added 22 as Los Angeles shot a season-best 57.9 percent from the field.

"I'm getting better at feeling out his game," Kaman said of Davis, who signed with the Clippers last offseason. "I didn't get to do a lot of that last year."

Kaman, who has scored 20 or more points in a career-best five straight contests, missed all three games versus Memphis last season with a foot injury.

He'll be matched up with Grizzlies second-year center Marc Gasol, who is averaging 16.3 points and 11.7 boards.

Gasol had 20 points, eight rebounds and a career-high 10 assists in the March 4 victory at Staples Center.