Marc Gasol beat the Clippers with a late 3 and an incredible dance

The Los Angeles Clippers entered Wednesday night’s home game against the Memphis Grizzlies on a run strong enough to win plaudits as the best team in the West and perhaps the best in the NBA. A 10-1 record and a point differential better than what the Golden State Warriors put up in their 11-0 start last season, as well as the league’s top defensive efficiency ranking, were strong pieces of evidence in their favor. If nothing else, the Clippers had shown that they deserve to be talked about alongside the league’s other true championship contenders.

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The Clippers didn’t lose that status during the Grizzlies’ 111-107 win at Staples Center, but this terrific game at least suggested that it’s too early in the season to install them as favorites. L.A. fought back from a 15-point halftime deficit and nearly pulled out a very impressive win, but excellent performances from longtime Memphis stars tilted the result late. The West remains highly competitive.

Of course, one or two bounces in the favor of the Clippers may have changed the tenor of this recap significantly. Down 61-46 at the half and 97-90 with 6:52 remaining in regulation, the Clippers managed to take a 107-105 lead with 1:02 left after a Chris Paul lay-up. Grizzlies wing James Ennis split a pair of free throws with 26 seconds on the clock to cut the lead to a single point, but the Clippers appeared in position to control the final few possessions and close out their eighth-straight win.

Then everything went terribly wrong. A trapped Jamal Crawford fired a pass into the hands of Marc Gasol out of a timeout, setting up a potential go-ahead possession at the other end. Gasol came up big again with this go-ahead 3-pointer from the corner:

Expect his celebration dance to pop up in your social media feeds for a while:

Gasol’s post-triple strut evoked UFC superstar Conor McGregor’s strut around the Octagon — fitting, as the Grizzlies watched McGregor’s latest victory over Eddie Alvarez during a team dinner on Saturday night.

Gasol confirmed the shoutout after the game:

Gasol’s bucket left the Clippers with 14 seconds to tie or take the lead, but a Mike Conley steal ended any real hope of a comeback. He made a pair of free throws to cement the result.

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It was a fine finish to an excellent game for Conley, who made 7-of-9 from long range to match a career-high for 3-pointers set in a home loss to the Clippers just 12 days prior. His very efficient 30 points (9-of-12 FG) and eight assists led the Grizzlies on a night that displayed many of the new facets first-year head coach David Fizdale was hired to bring to the team’s attack. Memphis shot 48.8 percent from the field and 15-of-26 from long range in a very impressive performance against a defense that had looked near-impenetrable to start the season.

The Clippers played well enough not to inspire real concern, but their defensive lapses were problematic on a night when Paul (nine points on 3-of-11 shooting) most definitely did not play his best game. Blake Griffin was quite good with 25 points, but it was J.J. Redick who kept the Clippers close late. He shot 7-of-12 on 3s for 29 points and made all three of his attempts in a two-minute stretch of the fourth quarter to draw the Clippers close when the game easily could have slipped away.

Again, there’s no real reason to fear that the Clippers have fallen into a hole — they played a solid, tough team and looked good enough to tough out a victory when they had plenty of reasons to fold. Nevertheless, the Warriors are now just a half-game back of the top of the conference after what had looked like a dream start for Doc Rivers’s team. This loss shouldn’t worry anyone too much, but it will take a lot for the Clippers to establish themselves as the best team in the West. The competition is, and will continue to be, fierce.

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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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