The good news is the Warriors scored 135 points last night in Memphis against the Grizzlies. Bet you can't see where this one is going. Yup. The bad news is that they gave up 144 points.

As the score indicates, the game was a track meet. It was also a tug-of-war match, with exciting bursts of alternating runs all night. Back and forth the entire game, both teams made runs, then got run, then made more runs. This was not the usual NBA game where one team jumps out to an early lead only to blow it in the fourth quarter and lose, with everything in between just dead air. Tonight there were 18 lead changes and 10 ties. Maybe it was the ball.

But in the end, the Warriors shooting abandoned them at the critical point in the game and the Griz made the final, close-out run.

Inconsistency is a maddening and fatal side-effect of the up-tempo game, whose prolific numbers are just a siren's call. Ask Peyton Manning. If you can't control the game, then you're left to suffer the vagaries of fate.

No doubt about it, this was an exciting, fan-friendly game in which the Dubs gave it all they had. But up-tempo small-ball is not the right strategy for long-term and consistent success, and last night's stand-in for the NBA All-Star game was yet more confirmation: you can't win in this league just by scoring -- you must rebound and play D (man D, not zone D).

Matt Barnes is playing head and shoulders above everybody else right now, but the Warriors need defense and rebounding more than they need points. Photo from Warriors official web site.

The Dubs looked good against the Griz last night, shooting 47.5 percent from the field. However, they allowed the Drizzlies to outshoot (55.8%) and outrebound (50-42) them. We don't care how many points you score, that's not going to get it done.