Randolph entered a no-contest plea during a court appearance Wednesday and was immediately sentenced to 150 hours of community service, said Frank Mateljan, a spokesman for the Los Angeles city attorney’s office.

The two-time All-Star may petition the court for the charges to be vacated if he stays out of trouble for a year, Mateljan said.

Randolph initially had been arrested in August on suspicion of possessing marijuana with intent to sell, a felony, but Los Angeles city prosecutors instead charged him with misdemeanor drug possession. Court documents said the 36-year-old Randolph possessed ”more than 28.5 grams of marijuana or more than four grams of concentrated cannabis or both.” Randolph also was accused of resisting arrest and obstructing a Los Angeles police officer in the discharge of his or her duties.

Randolph was arrested Aug. 9 at the Nickerson Gardens housing project in Watts after officers observed a crowd of people drinking, smoking marijuana, blasting music and blocking streets, police have said. The officers observed three people, including Randolph, run off but immediately stopped one of the men, police said. Randolph and another man ran inside a home and were arrested after a crowd of bystanders formed and attempted to block the officers, police said.

After the arrests, the crowd grew and people began throwing bottles and rocks, police said. Five police cars and one sheriff’s vehicle ended up with smashed windows and slashed tires, but no officers were injured.

Randolph’s attorney did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on Wednesday, but he has previously said the charges against his client were ”false and misleading.”

Randolph, a 16-year NBA veteran, spent eight seasons with the Memphis Grizzlies before signing with the Kings in July.

Randolph played for Michigan State and was drafted in 2001 by the Portland Trail Blazers. Randolph also played for the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Clippers.

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For more AP NBA coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/NBAbasketball

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Randolph had 13 of his 27 points in the first quarter and finished with 11 rebounds, and the Grizzlies beat the Los Angeles Clippers 94-82 on Thursday night to pull within 2-1 in this first-round series.

“Zach was huge,” Memphis coach Lionel Hollins said. “He got started quickly. He had 18 at halftime, and that got us going and everyone else just flowed into that. I thought our defense, for the most part, was solid.”

Randolph hadn’t scored more than 13 in each of the first two games and had only 12 rebounds combined in Los Angeles. On Thursday, he looked much more like the All-Star who had 45 double-doubles this season, and he had six offensive rebounds after leading the NBA with 310 in the regular season.

The man known as “Z-Bo” was the last of the Grizzlies off the court in pregame warm-ups, and he had his shot working early.

“I definitely wanted to come out and be aggressive,” Randolph said. “They’ve been double-teaming, triple-teaming me. So just go fast, you know, hit a couple jump shots and open it up. Most definitely, I wanted to come out and be aggressive.”

The Grizzlies snapped the Clippers’ nine-game winning streak by outrebounding and dominating on second-chance points, the same things Los Angeles did so well on its home court to start the series in beating Memphis at its own style.

Game 4 is Saturday in Memphis.

Marc Gasol accepted his trophy as the NBA’s defensive player of the year before tipoff, then scored 16 points. Quincy Pondexter and Tony Allen had 13 each. Mike Conley was 1-of-9 but had 10 assists and no turnovers on a night when he was so sick he sipped on soda and didn’t talk much.

Pondexter said Gasol anchored the Grizzlies on the defensive end to help them return to “Grizzlies basketball,” and called Randolph and Gasol two of the best big men in the NBA.

“They are really great,” Pondexter said. “Marc is the best center in my eyes. Zach has the ability to play like the best power forward in the league. When those two guys are doing what they do, it’s hard to stop us.”

Blake Griffin scored 16 points for the Clippers. Matt Barnes had 12, Chauncey Billups 11, and Jamal Crawford and Caron Butler 10. Chris Paul had eight points on 4-of-11 shooting and added six assists.

“We didn’t make any adjustments,” Hollins said of defending Paul. “We just played better.”

Paul wasn’t happy with himself after he had five of the Clippers’ 18 turnovers. He also didn’t get to the free throw line.

“It’s uncharacteristic of us. You know I mean especially me,” Paul said. “I had five turnovers tonight, and our turnovers led to 17 of their points. They got offensive rebounds, things we hadn’t let them do in Game 1 and Game 2. We just got to be better.”

The game was a continuation of the roughness in Los Angeles with a flagrant foul, three technicals and a lot of whoofing along with a bear hug by Randolph after Barnes’ flagrant foul.

The Clippers had beaten the Grizzlies three straight in Memphis, including a Game 7 win in the first round last year. They also had won six of the previous seven in the series overall.

Memphis outrebounded the Clippers 45-33, including 17-5 on the offensive boards. That gave the Grizzlies a 22-4 edge in second-chance points, which was similar to what the Clippers did to Memphis in Game 1, when they held a 25-5 advantage. The Grizzlies also outscored Los Angeles 40-26 in the paint and led by as much as 16.

“That’s what they do,” Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said. “We have been able to contain it pretty well for the first couple of games, but we just didn’t do a good enough job. We’ve got to find a way to get everybody in there.”

The Clippers last led 10-8 in the first quarter before the Grizzlies took control with Randolph hitting four of his first five shots and all five free throws for 13 points in the quarter.

They tried to make a run late in the third and into the fourth as they have so often to beat Memphis in this series. They got as close as 74-69 with 8:39 left on a pair of free throws by Barnes.

“He came out aggressive, and that’s what they needed,” Griffin said of Randolph.

Memphis answered with a 7-2 spurt to push the lead back to double digits on a reverse layup by Pondexter off an assist from Randolph. During the run, Paul stole the ball from Grizzlies guard Jerryd Bayless and passed to Eric Bledsoe for a 3 he missed. Gasol got the rebound.

The Grizzlies outscored the Clippers 23-20 in the first quarter and 24-19 in the second, taking a 47-39 lead into halftime. They hadn’t led by more than six in Los Angeles and were up by seven in the first quarter back on their own court. They pushed that to 12 in the second quarter.

Memphis’ lead grew to 14 a couple times in the third, the last at 68-54 on a pair of free throws by Pondexter with 1:22 left.

That’s when the Clippers went on a 10-2 run featuring back-to-back 3s by Crawford and then Lamar Odom. Ronny Turiaf dunked to pull the Clippers to 70-64 with 11:04 to go.

Pondexter then scored five points for Memphis as he got the rebound after he missed his second free throw attempt and put it back while being fouled by Barnes.

Pondexter added the free throw, pushing Memphis’ lead back up to double digits with 10:16 remaining.

Game notes

Randolph wound up part of a double-foul situation for a third straight game in this series with Griffin late in the game. … The Clippers hadn’t lost in Memphis since Game 5 last year in the playoffs and won 24 road games during the regular season. … The Grizzlies went 28-of-38 at the free throw line compared to 21-of-23 for the Clippers. …The Clippers’ 82 points were two shy of a franchise low in the postseason. … Pondexter had only five total points in the first two games of the series. … Paul had averaged 23.5 points in the first two games of the series.

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In a matchup of Western Conference contenders that had a playoff feel to it, Gasol tipped in Zach Randolph’s miss with less than a second left in overtime Wednesday night to give Memphis a 90-89 win over the Thunder.

Gasol was so excited about the winning basket that he dropped a not-suitable-for-television expletive in the live postgame interview.

“I saw Zach going baseline and just went for the rebound and got lucky with the tip,” Gasol said. “It’s an emotional game. It’s a team that we like playing against, and a team that knows us very well. It was a gritty game.”

The excitement carried over into the Grizzlies locker room where whoops and hollers could be heard in the hallway.

Gasol would have never had a chance at the winning tip if not for Jerryd Bayless connecting on a 3-pointer from the top of the key for Memphis with 3.7 seconds left in regulation to send the teams into overtime tied at 83. Bayless scored 10 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter.

After Gasol’s tip put the Grizzlies ahead with 0.9 seconds left, Russell Westbrook’s desperation shot from past halfcourt was off the mark and Memphis walked away with its 16th victory in 19 games.

“We win in a variety of ways. It’s never pretty,” said Mike Conley, who led the Grizzlies with a season-high 24 points. “That’s that grit-and-grind motto right there. We just find a way to win however it is. (This) was one of those wins.”

Randolph added 15 points and 18 rebounds, giving him 7,001 career rebounds, while Gasol had 14 points and 15 rebounds.

Kevin Durant led the Thunder with 32 points, including 15 in the third quarter to help Oklahoma City take its first lead. Westbrook scored 20 on 7-of-25 shooting from the field. Kevin Martin added 17 points, but no other Thunder player had more than seven.

“It was just one of those games, probably 10 of them a year, where nobody deserves to lose the game, but we were on the bad side of that,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said.

Oklahoma City, coming off a 114-110 loss to Denver on Tuesday, scored the first two points in overtime on a pair of free throws from Thabo Sefolosha. Memphis then scored five straight, including three from Gasol. The other points came on a tip-in by Tony Allen with 2:42 left. Officials initially ruled basket interference on Allen, but gave him the points after a replay review showed the ball was outside the cylinder.

The Thunder answered the Memphis push with a 6-footer in the lane from Durant and a layup by Westbrook with 13.6 seconds left for an 89-88 lead.

That set the stage for Gasol’s final tip-in when Randolph missed a 7-footer.

“I don’t think it was anything defensively,” Westbrook said of the final play. “They got a tip-in and, unfortunately, it was (less than a second) on the clock.”

“We had chances to win, to fight back, the whole game,” Durant said, later adding: “They hit a big shot. Two big shots.”

The teams have been rivals since the second round of the Western Conference playoffs two seasons ago, when the Thunder dispatched Memphis in seven games, including a triple-overtime win at FedExForum.

“It reminded me a lot of the triple-overtime game,” Conley said of the intensity. “Guys were hitting big shots back and forth, having different guys step up. The intensity, the crowd, all of that. It had the same kind of atmosphere. It came down to the end, and we got the win.”

The game featured physical play, disputed calls and technicals. Westbrook got a technical early for griping; Randolph got one late in the fourth when he thought he was fouled under the Memphis basket.

The physical play was coupled with defensive pressure that resulted in low shooting percentages. The Thunder ended the night at a season-low 35.7 percent from the field, while Memphis managed to shoot only slightly better at 36 percent. Oklahoma City, which entered the game as one of the NBA’s best 3-point shooting teams at 38.3 percent, managed only 2-of-18 shooting from outside the arc.

“Both teams played extremely hard and physical, and you can tell,” Brooks said. “It was hard to get baskets; it was hard to get on offense.”

There were four ties and 14 lead changes in the game.

The Grizzlies maintained their hold on third place in the Western Conference standings and pulled within three games of the Thunder for second.

Once Oklahoma City caught Memphis behind Durant’s shooting late in the third quarter, the teams exchanged leads throughout the fourth, eventually leaving them deadlocked at the end of regulation.

“It is a good matchup,” Westbrook said of the rivalry. “It was physical. It’s intense. It was a playoff atmosphere. Unfortunately, we couldn’t win.”

Memphis shot well early to build a 10-point lead in the first half before carrying a 44-38 lead into halftime.

Durant and Martin had 10 points apiece at the break. Randolph had 12 for Memphis.

The defensive intensity continued through the early stages of the third period as the teams were a combined 4 of 22 through the first 6 minutes.

But the Thunder kept cutting into the lead as Durant took over offensively, scoring 15 in the quarter, including 13 straight points for the Thunder, eventually giving Oklahoma City its first lead at 57-56 late in the third.

Two free throws from Gasol gave Memphis the lead back at 58-57 entering the fourth.

“I knew when we were not making shots early in the game, we would keep fighting, playing aggressive and give ourselves a chance to win,” Brooks said. “That’s what we’ve done for a lot of years now, and that is not going to change.”

Game notes

Thunder F Serge Ibaka played after taking some stitches in his head against Denver on Tuesday night. … Memphis F Darrell Arthur missed his ninth straight game with neck and back soreness. … The Grizzlies won the season series 2-1. … Oklahoma City scored 15 points in the first quarter, a season low for the opening period. . Memphis has lost only once in five overtime games. The Thunder dropped to 4-2. . Oklahoma City had a season-low nine assists. The Grizzlies matched their season low with 11 assists.

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Reserves Jamal Crawford and Matt Barnes each scored 16 points, and the Clippers easily routed the Grizzlies 99-73 Monday night with Paul missing his first game this season because of a bruised right kneecap.

“Missing the best point guard in the world in Chris Paul, we all had to play collectively and step it up, and I thought we did a good job of that,” Crawford said.

The matchup between two of the best teams in the West wasn’t close after the first quarter. While Paul watched from the bench, the Grizzlies were without their leading scorer: Gay was excused for his grandmother’s funeral in Baltimore.

This also was the Clippers’ first trip to Memphis since they won Game 7 of their opening-round playoff series last May. All they did was match their largest margin of victory on the road this season while holding the Grizzles to a season-low in points and their worst field goal shooting percentage on their home court in franchise history.

“That’s why I said before the game that they’re the best team in the West, maybe the best team in the league right now,” Memphis coach Lionel Hollins said of the Clippers.

Eric Bledsoe, starting for Paul, had 14 points, and Blake Griffin scored 10. Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro was able to give nine players at least 17 minutes each before heading to Houston for the second half of a back-to-back Tuesday night.

“We want to be the best team we can, and that’s our goal as the season moves on,” Del Negro said. “I thought we were lacking a lot, but I thought we played well.”

Zach Randolph had 15 for Memphis, which lost its second straight blowout, after losing 104-83 at Dallas on Saturday night. Wayne Ellington added 11 in a rare start in place of Gay, and Darrell Arthur had 10 as the Grizzlies shot just 30.3 percent (27 of 89), a franchise-low at home. Randolph said they really missed Gay’s ability to drive and relieve pressure.

“They clogged up the paint on us, make us shoot from outside, make us pass the ball up because they’re doubling as soon as we catch it,” Randolph said. “They’re coming from every direction, and that makes us pass out to the perimeter.”

The Clippers had a 40-36 scoring edge in the paint as DeAndre Jordan and Griffin helped limit Randolph to 5-of-16 shooting and Marc Gasol to 4 of 13.

“That’s where most of their points were coming from since Rudy wasn’t playing,” Bledsoe said. “I think DJ and Blake, in taking Zach Randolph out of the game, that kind of stopped their offensive game.”

Both teams were coming off losses, but the Clippers responded much better to being without their point guard on the first night of back-to-back road games. The Clippers scored the first five points of the game and went on a 17-2 run in grabbing a 32-19 lead. When Memphis pulled to 36-30, the Clippers answered with a 17-4 spurt and led 53-34 at halftime.

Los Angeles got a big boost from its bench, which outscored Memphis 28-4 in the first half and finished with a 54-26 edge. The Clippers’ advantage was so big Griffin played only 25 minutes. The Grizzlies knew how good the Clippers have been on the bench and had their production written on the board in their locker room.

Memphis couldn’t match the Clippers’ intensity, and Hollins pointed out his Grizzlies couldn’t hit teammates for layups on the fast break or down in the post.

“That whole game summed up just that we weren’t competing on a high level,” Hollins said. “They came in here and wanted to show us, and they did.”

The Grizzlies brought back rookie Tony Wroten from Reno in the NBA D-League for depth. Hollins even joked before the game that he was unsure who he’d be subbing in since he started Ellington and Quincy Pondexter was out with an injured knee.

Memphis had its lowest scoring half this season in what was just part of an ugly night all around. The Grizzlies passed 20 points only in the fourth quarter (21) and were so sloppy that at one point in the first half Mike Conley stole the ball off Griffin’s pass only to hit Tony Allen in the face with a pass on the other end.

The Clippers didn’t ease up in the second half either, opening the third quarter with a 15-6 run. They pushed their lead to 16 points, 68-42, on a pair of free throws by Bledsoe with 4:03 left in the third, and Ryan Hollins’ alley-oop dunk with 2:41 gave the Clippers their biggest lead of the night, 95-68.

Game notes

After missing this game, Paul is day to day. … The Clippers also won by 26 Dec. 15 at Milwaukee. … The Clippers are 22-6 when their reserves outscore the opponent’s bench. … The Clippers now are 23-2 when leading after the first quarter. They came in second-best in the NBA in that category. … The Clippers’ largest road victory was by 28 on Nov. 6, 2009, at Golden State. … The Grizzlies’ previous low first half was 37 points Dec. 29 against Denver, and they had just 36 against Atlanta on Dec. 8 in the second half. … Memphis scored 80 twice previously this season, winning Dec. 17 against Chicago the last time.

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