OAKLAND, Calif. -- A masked man didn't steal Stephen Curry's hardware Tuesday night, but he sure wrestled away the NBA Most Valuable Player's best weapon.

There is a new hero in the Memphis Grizzlies-Golden State Warriors playoff series, and his name is "One-Eyed Charlie."

Returning from a 10-day absence caused by a facial fracture, point guard Mike Conley stunned the top-seeded Warriors with 22 points and harassed Curry into a 2-for-11 nightmare from behind the 3-point arc on the other end, propelling the Grizzlies to a 97-90 win in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals.

"I'm a little tired. Other than that, it's all good," Conley said after teaming with Grizzlies defensive ace Tony Allen to throttle Golden State's All-Star backcourt of Curry and Klay Thompson.

"This is what we look forward to," Conley continued, "to play at the highest level against the best team and the best players. And that's what we have an opportunity right now here playing against Golden State, the best team in the league. MVP. All-Stars across the board ...

"You want that challenge. I hated that I had to miss Game 1, but I think I made the right decision. I was able to do all right tonight."

Led by Conley and Allen, the Memphis defense held high-flying Golden State to 41.9 percent shooting while evening the best-of-7 series at 1-1 following the opening games at the home site of the Warriors, where the top-seeded club won 21 in a row before Tuesday's defeat.

The scene shifts to Memphis for Games 3 and 4, with the Grizzlies now possessing the home-court advantage.

"It's been a dream season. It's not always going to work that way," said Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who was attempting to become just the third coach in NBA history to win his first six playoff games. "It's the playoffs, and this is kind of how it works. You get outplayed by a really good team, and then you're going to lose whether you're at home or on the road. It's 1-1, and we move on."

On a night when Curry received the MVP trophy for his regular-season brilliance, Conley decided during warmups to play for the first time since Game 3 of the first round. He proceeded to hit eight of 12 shots en route to a team-high 22 points.

Conley, wearing a facemask, limited Curry to 7-for-19 shooting overall. Curry finished with 19 points, six assists and five rebounds.

"I'm obviously disappointed, but you realize you're probably not going to go 16-0 in the playoffs," Curry said. "We'll be all right."

The Warriors, who shot 46.4 percent on 3-pointers in a series-opening, 101-86 win Sunday, misfired on 20 of 26 from long distance in the rematch.

Allen had a big hand in that, the swingman hounding Thompson into a 1-for-6 night from beyond the arc. Golden State's shooting guard finished with 13 points on 6-for-15 shooting from the floor.

"We did a good job, I thought, chasing them around and trying to make stuff tough," Grizzlies coach Dave Joerger said. "Make stuff tough for Steph. Try saying that 10 times fast."

Grizzlies center Marc Gasol played a key role in a stretch that Kerr labeled one of the night's most critical.

A bold coaching decision by Joerger paid off handsomely in the final three minutes of the second quarter and led to a 50-39 Grizzlies advantage at the half.

The Warriors, down by as many as 11 earlier, held the momentum when they clawed within 41-39 on a hoop by power forward Draymond Green with 1:31 left.

Gasol, who moments earlier was reinserted into the game despite having three fouls, countered with a jumper and a defensive effort that held Golden State scoreless the rest of the half as the Grizzlies scored the final nine points of the period to establish an 11-point edge.

"We sort of lost control again," Kerr said of the lead-up to halftime. "Then all of a sudden we're scrambling again."

The Warriors fought an uphill battle the rest of the game. Thompson, who missed eight of his first 10 shots, finally got two in a row to go midway through the final period, helping Golden State inch within 83-76.

However, Conley banked in a 15-footer from straight away and Allen turned his fourth steal of the game into a dunk, allowing Memphis to increase the margin to double digits again at 87-76 with 5:34 to go.

The Warriors were never closer than seven again.

Joerger gave Conley a lion's share of the credit.

"You never have an expectation that he's going to come out and go back to being who he was two weeks ago right away the first night out," he said. "But he gave us an extra element."

Power forward Zach Randolph scored 20 points, and Gasol and Lee added 15 apiece for the Grizzlies, who eliminated the No. 1 seed in the West in two of the past four seasons.

The Grizzlies shot 45.1 percent in the game and nearly matched Golden State's 3-point production (making five to the Warriors' six) despite 11 fewer attempts (26-15). Conley accounted for three of the Grizzlies' 3-pointers in six attempts.

Green contributed 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Warriors, who began the game as the lone unbeaten team (5-0) in the NBA playoffs.

NOTES: The teams split a pair in Memphis during the regular season. ... The home loss was just the Warriors' third of the season in 46 games. ... The Grizzlies trailed only once in the game -- at 4-2 in the second minute of the game. The Golden State lead lasted all of 20 seconds. ... NBA commissioner Adam Silver was on hand to present the Most Valuable Player trophy to Warriors PG Stephen Curry in a pregame ceremony. Curry earned the distinction of having averaged the fewest minutes per game (32.7) ever for an MVP.