MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- The Houston Rockets are used to making a lot of 3-pointers, a lot of difficult shots. But Friday night at FedExForum, it was the defensive-minded Memphis Grizzlies who put on the shooting clinic.

When it was over and the Rockets had lost 115-109, scoring machine James Harden had been limited to 16 points and a season-low three free throw attempts to go along with a career-tying 17 assists plus nine turnovers.

The Rockets were left shaking their heads.

Rockets forward Ryan Anderson had put up a season-high 31 points and won the individual 3-point shooting by going 8 of 14. It wasn't enough.

"It's easy for us to score, normally," Anderson said. "With them, they're scrappy. ... We know we can play better. We know we can beat them. We're confident of that in the future."

But the immediate past was still tough to take. Point guard Mike Conley led the way for Memphis with 24 points and five assists. Memphis (20-12) shot 50.6 percent from the floor and made 13 of 25 3-pointers for 52 percent.

Houston (22-9) shot 42.7 percent from the field and was 20 of 52 from 3-point range for 38.5 percent.

"We weren't trying to match them shot for shot from three, that's for sure," Conley said.

But it kind of felt that way to the Rockets.

"That guy, something (James) Ennis, hit three or four 3s and Z-Bo (Zach Randolph) hit that shot off the backboard (to beat the shot clock)," said Rockets guard Patrick Beverly (13 points). "You can't really draw it up like that."

Randolph's shot was the last basket in a 10-0 run to start the fourth quarter. It hiked the Grizzlies' lead to 87-78.

"They made the run, but we gave them the points," Harden said. "We fought back, we didn't give up, but you can't allow that to happen."

The Grizzlies led 103-92 with 3:22 left in the game, but the Rockets pulled within three points with 12.3 seconds left when Anderson hit his eighth 3-pointer of the night.

A free throw from Conley and a basket from Memphis center Marc Gasol (16 points, five rebounds, four assists, and two blocks) completed the scoring.

Memphis got 16 points, five rebounds and four assists off the bench from Randolph, 14 points from Vince Carter and 13 points from Ennis.

Overall, the Memphis bench outscored the Houston bench 55-26.

Guard Eric Gordon provided 17 points for the Rockets. Houston starting center Montrezl Harrell added 16 points and eight rebounds.

Carter said Tony Allen (nine points, four rebounds and two steals), Ennis and Andrew Harrison (five points, six assists) defended Harden as well as they could, and did a "wonderful job of not sticking their hands in there and getting greedy. They stuck with the concept."

Late in the fourth quarter, Conley and Beverly went for a loose ball on the floor and the replay showed Beverly reaching across Conley's neck to try and get the ball. Beverly got a technical foul and some passionate booing. He called it a "basketball play, nothing intentional."

Conley said, "I'm happy it happened. It got our crowd going. It got us going. And we got a free throw out of it."

NOTES: Memphis C Marc Gasol tied a career high with 38 points on Wednesday in a 98-86 victory at Detroit, making 14 of 17 shots from the field. Going into Friday's game, Gasol had made 46 3-pointers on 106 attempts after making just 12 in his first eight NBA seasons (569 games). ... While Houston PG James Harden entered Friday's game as the league's fifth-leading scorer (27.8 points), he led the NBA with 11.7 assists per game. "From day one, he's embraced the point guard role," Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni said. "He's done everything humanly possible to make us a good team." ... Memphis is 8-0 this season when playing on the second night of a back-to-back. ... Coming into Friday's game, the Rockets' bench was averaging 37.5 points per game. Last season, the bench ranked 24th in the NBA with 32.7 points per game.