MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- The Brooklyn Nets relied on Joe Johnson early, Brook Lopez late and mixed in Andray Blatche to snap a two-game losing streak. Johnson scored 26 points, Lopez added 12 of his 20 in the fourth quarter, and the Nets beat the Memphis Grizzlies 97-88 on Saturday night. The Nets had dropped seven of eight, including a 114-95 loss at Houston on Friday night. "Im glad guys came out with the mindset and attitude that we had to leave here with a win," Johnson said. Johnson scored 16 points in the first quarter. Blatche took over through the middle stages, finishing with 21 points off the Nets bench and making all three shots from beyond the arc. The backup centre entered the game 1 for 7 from 3-point range this season. "It was just in the course of the game," Blatche said of his long-range success. "The shot presented itself, and I took it. Its all about playing the game. Dont think, just react." While the Nets snapped a two-game losing streak, Memphis dropped its fourth straight at home. Johnson hurt the Grizzlies early as Memphis failed to come out with energy, despite Brooklyn playing the second night of a back-to-back. "By and large, we eased into the game instead of coming out and playing with a lot of energy and hitting first," Memphis coach Dave Joerger said. "We stood around a lot and kind of got lulled into their game." Quincy Pondexter, who had not played in the Grizzlies two previous games, scored a career-high 22 points. Mike Conley had 16 points and 10 assists, while Tony Allen had 13 points. "I dont care about that," Pondexter said of the performance. "I just hate for our team to lose. . It would have felt better if we got the win." Both teams played without key forwards. Paul Pierce sat out with a bruised hand for the Nets, and the Grizzlies were without Zach Randolph, who had surgery on an ingrown toenail earlier Saturday. Not long after Memphis got within 75-74 in the fourth, Brooklyn began getting the ball deep in the post to Lopez, who worked over Grizzlies centre Kosta Koufos. Lopez had 11 of the Nets 13 points during the middle stages of the fourth. Lopez returned Friday night against Houston after missing seven games with a right foot sprain. "Weve got somebody at the end of the game who can close the game for us," Blatche said of Lopez. "Thats key. Thats been one of our downfalls, not finishing quarters. Now that hes back, we can feed him and play off him." The Nets used the offensive punch of Johnson and Blatche to carry a 48-37 lead into the break. Brooklyn then relied on its long-range shooting to open the second half. When Blatche and Mirza Teletovic connected on back-to-back shots outside the arc, the Nets had extended the advantage to 71-57. Pondexter scored the final five points of the third period, and continued the run in the fourth, his last 3-pointer cutting the Nets lead to 75-74 with 9:41 left That was as close as Memphis could get as Brooklyn, kick-started by two field goals from Teletovic, went on an 11-2 run to extend the lead back to double digits. "Those guys stayed together," Nets coach Jason Kidd said of his team. "No one hung their head. No one panicked. We got stops when we had to. (The Grizzlies) made their run, but we responded." NOTES: The Grizzlies are the only Western Conference team with a better record on the road (5-3), than at home (3-5). ... Pierce had missed one other game this season. It was the first game Randolph sat out, although he did leave in the middle of one game to get to the hospital in time for the birth of his son. ... Since Randolph joined the Grizzlies in the 2009-10 season, Saturday night marked the first regular-season game both he and Gasol were out of the Memphis lineup. ... Pondexters previous career high in scoring was 17 late last season against Sacramento. ... The Nets entered the game committing the third-highest fouls in the league - an average of 23.4 per game. Brooklyn was whistled for only 10 against Memphis. Spud Webb Jersey . Darren Collison and Blake Griffin scored 23 points apiece and the Clippers beat the Suns 112-108 Wednesday night, their fourth win in a row and 17th in the last 19 games. Jeremy Lin Jersey . Cammalleri suffered a concussion in the Flames 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday. The 31-year-old forward did not travel with the team to Carolina. https://www.thehawkslockerroom.com/Alex-...Edition-Jersey/. So what happens? Stevenson lands a huge left to Dawsons temple only 76 seconds into the opening round and walks away with the championship belt. "I said Id knock him out," said Stevenson (21-1). John Collins Jersey .C. - Canadian ice dancing, it seems, is in good hands. Jabari Parker Hawks Jersey . Lineup news, Fantasy tips and more in Scott Cullen’s Statistically Speaking. HEROES Blake Comeau – The Penguins winger had a hat trick in a 4-3 overtime win against Toronto.BALTIMORE -- If one was to judge Chris Davis season solely by comparing his current numbers to last years figures, it would appear as if the Baltimore Orioles slugger is performing miserably. That would be far from the truth. In spite of his embarrassing .189 batting average, Davis has been a significant contributor to the AL East leaders. Davis hit his fourth career grand slam, and the Orioles got a dominating pitching performance from Miguel Gonzalez in a 9-1 victory over the skidding Minnesota Twins on Friday night. Baltimores fourth win in five games was marred by an injury to first baseman Steve Pearce, who left with a right abdominal strain. The severity of the injury will be determined by an MRI on Saturday morning, and the Orioles can only hope for the best after losing third baseman Manny Machado for the season earlier this month. "Im just hoping its a day or two thing," Pearce said. "Im not feeling any pain or anything, just discomfort." If Pearce is sidelined for a spell, Davis will do his best to make sure theres no reduction in the teams offensive output. He has 14 hits in August, seven of them home runs, and has accounted for 24 of Baltimores major-league leading 172 home runs. Davis batted .286 with 53 homers and 138 RBIs in 2013. Hes tailed off considerably this year, but the Orioles wouldnt be where they are without him. "Hes got a chance to end up with 25-30 home runs and 80 RBIs. Who knows?" manager Buck Showalter said. "We know what he can do in bunches. Im real proud of the way hes continued to fight through it. A lot of people could have or would have given in, but he hasnt." Delmon Young also homered for the Orioles, who built an 8-0 lead in the fifth inning against rookie Trevor May (0-4). It was the fifth loss in six games for the Twins. Their lone bright spot was a home run by Trevor Plouffe, the 10,000th in franchise history. The Twins contributed 7,214 of those homers after the Washington Senators hit 2,7786 from 1901-1960.dddddddddddd. "It would have been better in a victory, obviously, but for me its a cool thing," Plouffe said. "I was at the right place at the right time. The one man largely responsible for most of those, Harmon Killebrew, he was a great man. He was great to me when he was around, and I think this is more like his thing than mine." Gonzalez (7-7) allowed one run and four hits over seven innings, striking out six and walking one. With the exception of Plouffe, he permitted only one runner to get past first base. Making his fifth career start, May retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced before losing control in the fourth inning. The right-hander gave up a single and hit two batters with pitches before walking J.J. Hardy to force in a run. Davis then drove a 3-1 pitch into the right-field seats, the first homer allowed by May in his brief career. "There have been games where Ive had a rough couple of first at bats and Ive come up late and hit a home run or had a big hit," Davis said. "I think thats the way you kind of have to approach it when youre not swinging the bat the way you want to all the time." In the fifth, Young hit a two-run drive that glanced off the glove of left fielder Jordan Schafer into the glove of a fan in the front row of the seats. That ended Mays night. He finished with eight strikeouts, one more than he had in his first five big league appearances combined. STREAKS Twins: The Twins ended their run of six straight games without a home run. Orioles: Pearces career-high 11-game hitting streak ended. He grounded out in his only at-bat before leaving the game. UP NEXT Twins: Kyle Gibson (11-10) makes his 36th career start, first against the Orioles, on Saturday night. In his last outing, the right-hander yielded five runs in 4 2-3 innings against Detroit. Orioles: Chris Tillman (11-5) starts for Baltimore. The right-hander is 0-3 with a 6.06 ERA in four career starts against the Twins. ' ' '