SAN ANTONIO -- Any time the San Antonio Spurs and Memphis Grizzlies square off, be it the regular season or in the playoffs, there are plenty of fireworks.

It took until the second half of the Spurs' 96-82 win over the Grizzlies on Monday in Game 2 of a Western Conference first-round playoff series at the AT&T Center for the teams to step back into character, and there is no turning back now.

Kawhi Leonard poured in a career-playoff-high 37 points, and five Spurs scored in double figures as San Antonio, the West's second seed, took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Action moves to Memphis for Game 3 on Thursday and Game 4 on Saturday.

The Spurs built a 26-point lead in the first half and had to fight off a comeback from never-say-die Memphis, which cut San Antonio's advantage to four points early in the fourth quarter but could never get over the hump.

"Our offense went in the toilet because of their great defense," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. "They got into us. They did a great job, and we stopped moving the ball. We turned it over, and against the Grizzlies when you turn it over, you are in trouble. I thought we did a good job of withstanding that run and coming back with good defense in the fourth."

Tony Parker added 15 points for San Antonio. Danny Green scored 12, LaMarcus Aldridge pumped in 11 points and Pau Gasol contributed 10 points off the bench. Leonard also took 11 rebounds and converted all 19 of his free-throw attempts, which was four more than Memphis took as a team.

Mike Conley led the Grizzlies, the West's seventh seed, with 24 points. Zach Randolph added 18 points and 10 rebounds off the bench, and Marc Gasol and Vince Carter hit for 12 points each.

"It was a poorly officiated basketball game," Memphis coach David Fizdale said. "Zach Randolph, the most rugged guy in the game, has zero free throws but somehow Kawhi Leonard had 19 free throws. I'm not a numbers guy, but that doesn't seem to add up.

"Overall, 35 times we shot the ball in the paint and we had 15 free throws for the game. They shot 18 times in the paint and shot 32 free throws. Kawhi shot more free throws than our whole team -- explain it to me."

Fizdale added, "We don't get the respect that these guys deserve, but I'm not going to let them treat us that way. I know Pop's got pedigree and I'm a young rookie, but they are not going to rook us. That's unacceptable, that's unprofessional. My guys dug in that game and earned the right to be in that game, and (the refs) did not even give us a chance."

The Spurs took charge in the opening quarter, leading by as many as 13 points, including at the end of the period, when a put-back layup by Pau Gasol gave San Antonio a 29-16 advantage. Every Spurs starter scored in the first 12 minutes and San Antonio went 12 of 12 from the free-throw line. Memphis hit just 6 of 25 shots in the quarter (24 percent) and took only three free throws.

San Antonio kept pouring it on in the second quarter and the Grizzlies had no answer, growing more frustrated with every empty possession.

Carter got a technical foul going face to face to heatedly debate with Spurs reserve guard Kyle Anderson. Late in the period, Conley, trapped by stifling defense by San Antonio's Manu Ginobili along the sideline in front of the Grizzlies' bench, called timeout, flipped the ball behind his back into the court and strode right off the floor and into a chair.

San Antonio owned a 56-37 lead at the half with Leonard pacing all scorers with 18 points. The Spurs went to the charity stripe 23 times in the first two quarters, making 22, them, while Memphis was just 5 of 6 on free throws, a 17-point difference in a 19-point game.

Conley led Memphis with 14 points in the half, one more than he had total in the first game of the series. Marc Gasol, who had 25 points in the first half in the series opener on Saturday, scored only three points in the first half Monday on 1-of-8 shooting.

The Grizzlies are nothing if not gritty and they battled to within 11 points at the 6:08 mark of the third quarter by outscoring San Antonio 13-5 in the first six minutes of the period. Memphis' increased physicality and aggressiveness was enough to allow it to head to the fourth quarter down just 75-65, well within striking distance.

"In the second quarter we kind of fell into their energy and weren't playing as physical," Leonard said. "That carried over to the third -- Memphis just pushed the pace; that team just grinds it out. We just tried to stay aggressive and positive."

Memphis scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to crawl to within 75-71 but the Spurs responded with a Leonard jumper and a Parker 3-pointer to create a little breathing room.

"We fought and brought it down and then they hit some shots and we had some iffy possessions," Conley said. "They took advantage of it, and that's what San Antonio does, make something out of every little mistake. That's when we need to be the most locked in, and in that last four or five minutes, we lost it a little bit."

NOTES: Spurs F/C Pau Gasol played 476 games for the Grizzlies from 2001-08, winning the 2001-02 NBA Rookie of the Year Award and becoming the franchise's first-ever All-Star (2006). Gasol is also fourth in franchise history for points scored (8,966), holding the franchise record until he was passed by Mike Conley (and later Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph) earlier this season. ... Grizzlies F JaMychal Green split his rookie season (2014-15) between San Antonio and Memphis. He averaged 2.0 points and 1.5 rebounds in four games with San Antonio following a successful stint with the NBA Development League's Austin Spurs. ... This series marks the seventh time Memphis is meeting a postseason opponent that won at least 60 games during the regular season. The Grizzlies won two of the previous four such series.