CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- On the first day of workouts, new Memphis Grizzlies coach David Fizdale approached point guard Mike Conley and told him he wanted him to be more aggressive scoring the ball this season.Thats all Conley needed to hear.The 10-year NBA veteran continued his high level of play Monday night, scoring 31 points as the Memphis Grizzlies got off to a fast start and defeated the Charlotte Hornets 105-90 for their fifth straight win.Conley came in averaging a career-high 18.3 points per game. He had five 3-pointers and shot 11 of 21 from the field, including a long 3 with 4 minutes left that thwarted Charlottes fourth-quarter rally and sent the crowd streaming toward the exits.He wanted me to be much more aggressive, Conley said of Fizdale. I believe Im one of the better point guards in the league and he does, too. Hes given me the opportunity to go out there and show it.Marc Gasol was dominant in the first half and finished with 13 points, nine assists and eight rebounds.The Grizzlies controlled the tempo from the start, jumping out to a 16-4 lead. They pushed their advantage to 24 at halftime, shooting 58 percent from the field, including 10 of 16 from 3-point range.It started with our defense, Fizdale said. Our guys are really taking pride in trying to build a championship defense. We all know the saying. Theyre really digging in and really taking it to heart that we have to get stops. We also said our defense will travel. And it traveled tonight and it led to being unselfish on the offensive end.The Hornets simply had no early answer for Gasol, who controlled the game with his shooting and passing.Gasol had 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting in the first half along with seven assists and six rebounds. He repeatedly got Roy Hibbert off his feet with pump fakes near the top of the key, drove the lane and either scored or set up teammates with easy shots.We didnt have the readiness we need to play against a good team and they jumped on us, Hornets coach Steve Clifford said. Frankly that is two games in a row that we didnt play like the same team that got to 8-3. Thats part of learning and evolving into the team I think we can be. Its a long season and everyone is going to have nights like this.TIP-INSGrizzlies: Tony Allen was listed as questionable with a groin injury, but looked just fine and finished with 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting.Hornets: Cody Zeller missed his second straight game with a shoulder injury. Zeller is day to day but is still having trouble lifting his arm. ... Hornets owner Michael Jordan, who will receive the Presidential Medal of Honor on Tuesday, sat courtside.FRANK THE TANK HURTFrank Kaminsky turned in perhaps his best game as a pro for Charlotte, tying a career high with 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting. But his night ended badly when he left with less than 3 minutes to play with a sprained left ankle. Clifford said he wasnt sure the extent of the injury.STREAK IS OVERKemba Walker had 17 points for the Hornets, snapping a string of 11 straight games with 20 or more.NEW ORLEANS HANGOVERCharlottes Nic Batum and Marvin Williams were a combined 2 of 13 from the field, and the Hornets missed 11 of 31 free throws in losing their second straight game. Batum suggested the Hornets were still dwelling on coughing up a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter and losing to New Orleans last weekend.We had no energy, Batum said. We didnt get into this game. It might be a hangover from New Orleans because it was a tough one for us. I think we thought about that game too much tonight.GRITTY GRIZZLIESFizdale wasnt thrilled with his teams defense in the second half -- and he let the players know it.We got casual, Fizdale said. We got cool. I said, `Guys, were from Memphis. Theres nothing cool about us. Were gritty. We couldnt lose that edge. They knew exactly what I meant and we got our bearings back.UP NEXTGrizzlies: They look to make it six straight wins when they visit the 76ers in Philadelphia on Wednesday night.Hornets: Things arent going to get any easier for the Hornets, who host the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night. Juuse Saros Jersey . -- The Magic have their first victory of the new year. Pekka Rinne Predators Jersey . The news was first reported on Gonzalezs Twitter account and confirmed by the Rockies. Gonzalez has a six-week window before position players have their first workout at spring training in Arizona. http://www.authenticpredatorspro.com/Dan-hamhuis-predators-jersey/ . -- An ugly goal by Nick Bonino helped the Anaheim Ducks overcome the defensive-minded Phoenix Coyotes on a night when their ragged power play continued to struggle. Matt Irwin Predators Jersey . Vokoun departed practice on Saturday morning after discovering swelling in his thigh. He was taken to a local hospital where the clot was revealed. The club announced the surgery following a 5-3 exhibition loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Calle Jarnkrok Jersey . Zvonareva, who won the tournament in 2009 and 10, couldnt handle her opponents big groundstrokes in only her third event back after 17 months out with a shoulder injury. Zvonareva made her comeback in January in Shenzhen and played in the Australian Open but lost her first matches at both tournaments. Australia 141 for 1 (S Marsh 64*, Smith 61*) trail Sri Lanka 355 (Chandimal 132, De Silva 129, Starc 5-63, Lyon 3-110) by 214 runs Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAs a sign of what was to come, the first hour of this Test was less accurate than a horoscope. When Sri Lanka collapsed to 26 for 5, nobody would have predicted they would go on to the highest total of the series. Nor, for that matter, that Australia would then bat as well as they have at any time on this tour. But that was the case, for after those first five wickets tumbled in roughly an hour, the next 11 hours of the Test have brought only five more.On the second day, Dinesh Chandimal scored the seventh century of his Test career, an innings of immense patience that pushed - sometimes at the pace of a boulder up a hill - Sri Lanka to 355. Australia, in reply, had moved to 141 for 1 at the close of play. Only once in this series had an Australian scored a fifty, but now two did so in a session. Steven Smith was on 61 and Shaun Marsh was on 64, and their unbroken 120-run stand was comfortably Australias best of the series.There still remained plenty of work for Australias batsmen, particularly considering their allrounders begin at No.5, but at least they had started impressively. Marsh, included for the first time in this series at the expense of opener Joe Burns, looked relatively comfortable against Sri Lankas spinners. He used his feet well, worked the ball through leg and punished through off when given width. And, importantly, he often picked the turn out of the hand.There were nervous moments for Marsh, balls that turned past the bat, a big lbw review late in the day that showed the ball pitching outside leg, an edge that flew just past Kaushal Silva at silly point. Smith had luck too, when he defended Rangana Herath, and Silva at silly point hurled himself onto the pitch to drop a hard chance. Smith was on 30, and went on to complete an 88-ball fifty, along the way becoming the youngest Australian to reach 4000 runs in Tests.Smith used his feet and was strong through cover, even lifting a six over extra cover off Herath. Sri Lanka relied heavily on their spinners, Suranga Lakmal coming on as third change for just four overs of pace. Dilruwan Perera had taken the new ball and lobbed up a full toss first delivery of the innings, which David Warner dispatched for six. But on 11, Warner danced down the pitch to Dhananjaya de Silva and under-edged a catch behind.Sri Lanka had started the day at 214 for 5 and added a further 141 runs for thhe loss of their final five wickets.dddddddddddd Or, to be more accurate, four wickets, for Herath retired hurt on 33 when he was struck in the groin by Josh Hazlewood. Heraths batting has frustrated the Australians throughout this campaign, and by the time he gingerly walked off, Herath had made more runs in the entire series than any Australian but Smith.On the subject of records embarrassing to Australia, Chandimal occupied the crease for 356 deliveries during his innings, nearly 100 balls more (at that stage) than any Australian had survived in the whole series. His century came up from 281 deliveries. Having walked to the crease on the first morning at 24 for 4, Chandimal had to show some fight. He did that, his patience an example to the Australians of what could be achieved on a dry pitch.Chandimal and de Silva had rescued Sri Lanka from their extremely precarious first-morning position with a 211-run partnership, the highest sixth-wicket partnership in Test history from a score of five down for fewer than 50. De Silva moved on to 129 before he was drawn forward by Lyons length, and, deceived by the dip, inside-edged a catch to bat-pad.After de Silvas departure, Chandimal carried on in his patient method and eventually brought up his century with a single worked behind square leg off Lyon. It was a fitting way for Chandimal to register his milestone, for the nudged and nurdled ones and twos had been such a key feature of his innings. At times, though, he was more expansive, as when he reverse-swept Lyon for a six.When Chandimal did provide a chance to the Australians, on 100, they failed to take it, Smith grassing an edge at slip off Jon Holland. Smith took three catches for the innings, but spilled two: at slip, he also put down Herath. Chandimal continued to accumulate while the tail-enders kept him company. Dilruwan Perera made a quick 16 before he holed out to long-off from the bowling of Holland.Herath then joined Chandimal and frustrated the Australians with three boundaries during a 73-run partnership that ended only when Herath retired hurt. Chandimal eventually was caught behind for 132, Peter Nevill taking a sharp chance off Mitchell Starc, and the innings wrapped up with Lakmal caught at gully. That wicket also went to Starc, who finished with 5 for 63. Remarkably, it was his third five-for of the series. A little more help, and it could have been a contest. ' ' '