The Memphis Grizzlies saw that Zach Randolph wasn’t there to help them on Wednesday night, so they played harder.

The Minnesota Timberwolves saw that Zach Randolph wasn’t there to beat up on them again, so they took it easy.

Rudy Gay had 19 points and eight rebounds, lifting the Grizzlies to a 90-86 victory over the Timberwolves in their first game since learning Randolph would be out for six to eight weeks.

O.J. Mayo scored 11 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter and Mike Conley had 12 points and eight assists for Memphis, which is 2-1 since their burly leader injured his right knee.

“It’s a great sign,” Conley said. “It’s very promising when you lose a guy like Zach and have guys step up.”

Kevin Love had 27 points and 14 rebounds and Ricky Rubio added 12 points, 10 assists and four rebounds for the Timberwolves, who missed a chance for their first three-game winning streak since February 2010.

Love became the first player since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1975 to record 20 points and 12 rebounds in his team’s first six games.

But it wasn’t enough against the hard-nosed Grizzlies, who scored 23 points off 17 turnovers and held the Wolves to 40 percent shooting to grind out the kind of victory that would make Randolph proud.

“Having the big fella out we definitely have to raise our focus level up a little bit more and execute better offensively,” Mayo said. “Execute better defensively and try to give ourselves a chance to win every night.”

Memphis used a 13-0 run to take a 76-68 lead with 3:37 to go, then held on as the Wolves tried to rally.

Love, Luke Ridnour and Rubio hit 3s, the last from the Spaniard with 16.5 seconds to play to make it 84-83. But Conley and Mayo knocked down free throws to hold them off.

The Timberwolves, who were feeling pretty good about themselves coming off of wins over Dallas and San Antonio, missed 11 free throws and trailed by 18-3 before the game was eight minutes old.

“They were way too lax in their approach,” coach Rick Adelman said. “I told them, ‘You haven’t won anything. Don’t come out there thinking you just won the championship.’”

Tony Allen added 20 points for Memphis.

The Grizzlies found out earlier Wednesday that they will be missing Randolph, their emotional leader and best player, because of a torn MCL in his right knee. It was Randolph who instilled the swagger and toughness in this young team last year, carrying them to within one win of the Western Conference finals.

Memphis traded a second-round pick to Philadelphia and sent guard Xavier Henry to New Orleans as part of a three-team trade that landed them Philly big man Marreese Speights, but most of the onus will be put on Gay and Marc Gasol to fill the void.

Memphis trailed 68-63 with 7:45 to play, but ripped off a 13-0 run to take control. Mayo, who was a Timberwolf for about an hour on draft night in 2008 before being traded for Love, hit a 3-pointer, a three-point play and a free throw in the spurt for a 76-68 lead.

“I think our mindset has been family,” coach Lionel Hollins said. “When we go out there, one for all, all for one, playing together, playing for each other. We’re starting to grow in that area already. We were starting to grow before Zach got hurt and we’re starting to get that chemistry back that we had last year.”

The Timberwolves were sluggish for most of the night, but Rubio energized them at the start of the fourth quarter with a nice flurry. He ended the third with a stutter-step score on a drive, then opened the fourth with a 28-foot lob pass to Derrick Williams.

Rubio added a jumper from just inside the 3-point line and drew a charge on the other end as the Wolves took a 64-61 lead.

“We had the victory,” Rubio said, “and we let it go.”

NOTES: The Timberwolves played without JJ Barea (strained right hamstring) for the third time in four games. Adelman said they wanted to play it cautious and make sure he was full healthy before they brought him back. … Conley made his first start since spraining his ankle three games ago. … Wolves F Anthony Tolliver took a nasty fall under the basket in the fourth but was able to finish it out. … The Grizzlies outscored Minnesota 48-36 in the paint.

Rudy Gay had 19 points and eight rebounds, lifting the Grizzlies to a 90-86 victory over the Timberwolves in their first game since learning Randolph would be out for six to eight weeks.

O.J. Mayo scored 11 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter and Mike Conley had 12 points and eight assists for Memphis, which is 2-1 since their burly leader injured his right knee.

“It’s a great sign,” Conley said. “It’s very promising when you lose a guy like Zach and have guys step up.”

Kevin Love had 27 points and 14 rebounds and Ricky Rubio added 12 points, 10 assists and four rebounds for the Timberwolves, who missed a chance for their first three-game winning streak since February 2010.

Love became the first player since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1975 to record 20 points and 12 rebounds in his team’s first six games.

But it wasn’t enough against the hard-nosed Grizzlies, who scored 23 points off 17 turnovers and held the Wolves to 40 percent shooting to grind out the kind of victory that would make Randolph proud.

“Having the big fella out we definitely have to raise our focus level up a little bit more and execute better offensively,” Mayo said. “Execute better defensively and try to give ourselves a chance to win every night.”

Memphis used a 13-0 run to take a 76-68 lead with 3:37 to go, then held on as the Wolves tried to rally.

Love, Luke Ridnour and Rubio hit 3s, the last from the Spaniard with 16.5 seconds to play to make it 84-83. But Conley and Mayo knocked down free throws to hold them off.

The Timberwolves, who were feeling pretty good about themselves coming off of wins over Dallas and San Antonio, missed 11 free throws and trailed by 18-3 before the game was eight minutes old.

“They were way too lax in their approach,” coach Rick Adelman said. “I told them, ‘You haven’t won anything. Don’t come out there thinking you just won the championship.’”

Tony Allen added 20 points for Memphis.

The Grizzlies found out earlier Wednesday that they will be missing Randolph, their emotional leader and best player, because of a torn MCL in his right knee. It was Randolph who instilled the swagger and toughness in this young team last year, carrying them to within one win of the Western Conference finals.

Memphis traded a second-round pick to Philadelphia and sent guard Xavier Henry to New Orleans as part of a three-team trade that landed them Philly big man Marreese Speights, but most of the onus will be put on Gay and Marc Gasol to fill the void.

Memphis trailed 68-63 with 7:45 to play, but ripped off a 13-0 run to take control. Mayo, who was a Timberwolf for about an hour on draft night in 2008 before being traded for Love, hit a 3-pointer, a three-point play and a free throw in the spurt for a 76-68 lead.

“I think our mindset has been family,” coach Lionel Hollins said. “When we go out there, one for all, all for one, playing together, playing for each other. We’re starting to grow in that area already. We were starting to grow before Zach got hurt and we’re starting to get that chemistry back that we had last year.”

The Timberwolves were sluggish for most of the night, but Rubio energized them at the start of the fourth quarter with a nice flurry. He ended the third with a stutter-step score on a drive, then opened the fourth with a 28-foot lob pass to Derrick Williams.

Rubio added a jumper from just inside the 3-point line and drew a charge on the other end as the Wolves took a 64-61 lead.

“We had the victory,” Rubio said, “and we let it go.”

NOTES: The Timberwolves played without JJ Barea (strained right hamstring) for the third time in four games. Adelman said they wanted to play it cautious and make sure he was full healthy before they brought him back. … Conley made his first start since spraining his ankle three games ago. … Wolves F Anthony Tolliver took a nasty fall under the basket in the fourth but was able to finish it out. … The Grizzlies outscored Minnesota 48-36 in the paint.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Randolph is expected to miss six to eight weeks after tearing a ligament in his right knee, the team announced Wednesday.

“That’s life,” coach Lionel Hollins said. “You have to go and play. He’s not going to be here. We can’t worry about what ifs and what we should do to get him back. This is where we are.”

The 6-foot-9, 255-pound Randolph tore his right MCL in the first quarter of the Grizzlies’ 104-64 loss at Chicago on Sunday. Randolph had an MRI on Tuesday, and the team learned of the prognosis Wednesday afternoon before they played at Minnesota.

It’s a crushing blow to the Grizzlies, who had never made it out of the first round of the playoffs in their nine seasons before last year’s remarkable run, the deepest a No. 8 seed has ever gone.

Randolph scored at least 30 points and grabbed at least 10 rebounds four times in the playoffs last season, and he also provided some toughness on defense.

The 29-year-old Randolph led the Grizzlies in scoring through the first four games of the season with an average of 14.8 points and had pulled down 7.5 rebounds per game. More importantly, they lose their emotional core and the player whose maturity and evolving game elevated one of the league’s moribund franchises to a contender in the powerful West.

He was injured when he knocked knees with guard O.J. Mayo, and the Grizzlies are 1-1 since he went down, with a 40-point loss to Chicago and a victory over Sacramento on Tuesday night in which the team still managed to score 72 points in the paint.

“The way we play and attack, hopefully we’ll continue that way,” Hollins said.

An 11-year NBA veteran, Randolph was selected to the 2010-11 All-NBA third team after leading Memphis to the semifinals and averaging 20.1 points and a career-high and franchise-record 12.2 rebounds during the regular season.

He teamed with emerging star center Marc Gasol to give the Grizzlies one of the most formidable front courts in the league, a bruising tandem that dominated the boards and racked up the points in the paint.

“It doesn’t matter what happens, we’ve got to (move on),” Gasol said. “Our reality is that he’s not here. The truth is he’s not here and we’ve got to play and we’ve got to win.”

Now, with forward Darrell Arthur already out for the season with an Achilles injury, the Grizzlies will likely have to turn to Dante Cunningham and the newly acquired Marreese Speights, who came over in a trade from Philadelphia on Wednesday to fill in up front. The Grizzlies sent guard Xavier Henry to New Orleans and a second-round pick to Philadelphia as part of the three-team trade.

The 6-10 Speights has averaged 7.2 points and 3.7 rebounds in four seasons.

“We weren’t trying to get Speights to replace Zach,” Hollins said. “We’ve been trying to get a big man since we started training camp. We were really thin in the front-court area.”

Randolph’s injury will put more of the onus on Rudy Gay, who is still trying to find his game after missing the final three months of last season with a shoulder injury. Gay leads the team with 15.2 points per game, but he had made 6 of 23 shots in two games before breaking out against Sacramento on Tuesday with 23 points on 10 of 16 shooting.

“This is a great opportunity for guys who haven’t played,” Hollins said. “This is a great opportunity for a team to show their character, show what their made of, show their mental toughness because I don’t think you can have success or growth without some kind of adversity.”

___

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Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

New Orleans — Philadelphia, Memphis and New Orleans have agreed on a multi-player trade.

The 76ers are sending Marreese Speights to Memphis, the Grizzlies will move Xavier Henry to New Orleans and the Grizzlies and Hornets each will send a second-round draft pick to Philadelphia.

The 6-foot-6 Henry, in his second NBA season out of Kansas University, has averaged 4.3 points and 1.0 rebound in 38 games with Memphis.

“We are delighted to welcome Xavier to our team and the New Orleans community,” Hornets general manager Dell Demps said in a release Wednesday. “We hope Xavier will develop into a good basketball player that will contribute to the success of the New Orleans Hornets this season and into the future.”

Henry became the first player in Kansas history to leave for the NBA after his freshman season.

The 6-10 Speights is in his fourth NBA season out of Florida and has averaged 7.2 points and 3.7 rebounds.

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MINNEAPOLIS — Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace no longer has to force himself to forget the euphoria that came with last season in order to focus on the future.

Circumstances have taken care of that.

News that star forward Zach Randolph could miss two months with a torn MCL accelerated Wallace’s efforts to improve the Grizzlies’ frontcourt depth. So the Grizzlies acquired 6-10 power forward/center Marreese Speights from Philadelphia on Wednesday in a three-team trade that sent second-year guard Xavier Henry to New Orleans.

To complete the transaction, Memphis gave Philadelphia its 2012 second-round draft pick. New Orleans also sent a 2013 second-round pick to Philadelphia.

The Griz were reluctant to part with Henry, the 12th-overall pick in 2010, but they decided the move might keep the Grizzlies positioned to make another playoff run.

“In a perfect world we wouldn’t have wanted to (deal Henry),” Wallace said. “But we’re not in a perfect world. Our team last year showed we can handle an injury on the perimeter. Where we’re most vulnerable is at power forward and center. We’re down two key players and scorers.”

Randolph went down a couple of weeks after his backup, Darrell Arthur, was ruled out for the season with an Achilles injury. The Griz had been pursuing Speights since Arthur was hurt during training camp.

Griz brass began this season believing they needed more frontcourt depth with only Randolph, Arthur and center Marc Gasol under contract. The hope now is that Speights can use his athleticism, rebounding and scoring ability to help compensate for the Grizzlies’ sudden void in frontcourt scoring.

“He has a lot of talent,” Gasol said. “He has a soft touch and a nice little hook. He can play. He’s big, and I think he can help us.”

Speights is in his fourth season after the Sixers selected him out of Florida with the 16th pick in 2007. But Speights has never averaged more than 16.4 minutes in the NBA. He has not played this season.

“He’ll space the floor,” Griz forward Rudy Gay said. “He’s athletic but he limits his game because he shoots too many jumpers. He’s big and physical. He can score down low.”

Griz coach Lionel Hollins said he isn’t sure how he’ll use Speights. Whilethe big man is versatile, with the ability to play power forward and center, critics question Speights’ motivation.

Speights is expected to be in uniform Friday when the Griz play at Utah.

“Marreese is a guy that’s talented. He’s had some moments in the NBA,” Wallace said. “He fell out of the rotation in Philadelphia. But we’re hoping this can be a perfect marriage. We need him, and he needs us.”

The Griz took on more salary to acquire Speights, who will earn $2.7 million this season. He’ll be a restricted free agent this summer. Henry will make $2.1 million, and New Orleans must now decide whether to pick up his third-year rookie option by Jan. 25.

Henry has not played this season because of an ankle sprain. His rookie campaign was curtailed by knee soreness.