Kevin Lipe assesses the Grizzlies’ up-and-down victory against the Suns, Thursday.
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Month: January 2014
- Larry Kuzniewski
- Mike Miller (shown here with different hair) had a solid performance last night along with the rest of the Grizzlies’ bench.
At some point during the third quarter of last night’s game, in which the Grizzlies were outscored 32-16 and saw a 53-41 halftime lead turn into a 73-69 deficit, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who thought, “Well, there goes this game.” Everything was going wrong for the Grizzlies: the guys on the floor were barely registering a pulse, they probably shouldn’t have been on the floor together to begin with, and nothing they tried did anything to slow the Suns’ assault.
It was the same place the Grizzlies have been numerous times this season: a strong opening effort, torpedoed by a terrible quarter, never to be recovered.
But that’s not what happened last night. Last night, partly because Dave Joerger stuck with the lineups that were working instead of the miserable starting lineup, and partly because they refused to lose and re-found the rhythm they’d been in in the second quarter.
For that reason, I think last night’s win ranks among one of the best of the season. The Suns have been playing very well as of late, and the Grizzlies hardly ever win in Phoenix. On the first game of a road back-to-back, it would’ve been easy for the Grizzlies to throw in the towel when the Suns came charging back on a huge run in the third quarter, but that wasn’t how it went. They fought back, the bench came up big, and the Grizzlies won.
Three Things I Liked
• The bench was magnificent last night, no two ways about it. Ed Davis, James Johnson, and Jerryd Bayless played very well in long stretches of the second and fourth quarters. When Joerger decided to stick with the guys who were playing well—and Ed Davis, especially, appears to be a matchup nightmare for Phoenix—the Grizzlies were unstoppable, putting up two 30-point quarters in the second and fourth. The Grizzlies’ bench outscored the Suns’ bench 54-15. A great showing from the reserves.
• Beating the Suns last night means that the Grizzlies won the tougher of the two games of this road back-to-back. Denver is a team that is reeling at the moment—Andre Miller’s suspension for “conduct detrimental to the team” is only the latest in a long line of bad turns for their season—and the Grizzlies handled them fairly easily when they played last week. Now the pressure is off tonight, and hopefully that means the Grizzlies will play within themselves and not take the night off.
• Mike Miller returned from the dead. After a season of rough games punctuated by bright spots, it’s good to see Miller effective, even if he was 0-1 from three. 11 points on 4-7 shooting, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists, which really helped the Grizzlies in their effort to climb back on top.
Three Things I Didn’t Like
• Tony Allen was pretty bad. He ended up only playing 12:38, most of that in the first half. He wasn’t doing much on offense, not even his usual timely cuts to the basket, and on defense, the Suns managed to get off 11 three pointers in the first half (of which only two went in, but that would change in the third quarter). I said something in the Bulls recap about Allen’s lackluster play, but last night was probably the worst he’s been. I’d love to know what’s going on there, because Allen is an important piece of the Grizzlies’ puzzle, and they need him to be playing well. If he’s not going to perform up to his usual standards, that four-year deal is going to turn sour in a hurry.
• Rotations are still an issue. Joerger continues to play the starting lineup to start the third quarter of games, and ride them much longer than he has to. The trend is for the starters to play at least the first half of the third quarter, which sometimes enables the Grizzlies to make a run, and sometimes sinks them. And, speaking of the starters…
• …the starting lineup, without Marc Gasol, just isn’t working. The starters weren’t good this season even with Gasol, at least not until the “4-0 West Coast road trip” we keep talking about like it was some sort of beautiful dream we all had together that dissipated when we woke up to our injured-Gasol reality. It’s hard to pinpoint where the problem is. Certainly a lack of production at the wing spots (Tony Allen and Tayshaun Prince) plays into it. The differences in the way that Gasol and Kosta Koufos play is also a factor. But whatever the reason, the starters are a problem for the Grizzlies, and I understand Joerger not wanting to bench a veteran guy like Prince, but… something has to give. I think it’s got to be the starting lineup.
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New Whole Foods Store to Open Soon
Susan Ellis reports that the new (and larger) Whole Foods store in East Memphis will open January 14th.
A press release was sent out this morning announcing that the grand opening of the new Whole Foods East Memphis store, at 5014 Poplar, has been set for Tuesday, January 14th at 9 a.m.
Some of the details about the new store included in the release:
• in-store smoked barbecue and beer venue
• a scratch bakery
• a growler station with 5 beers on tap
The old grocery space will close for good on Sunday, January 12th at 6 p.m.
The grand opening festivities start at 8 a.m. on Tuesday and include giveaways and live music.
Full release below:
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Whole Foods Market® announces grand opening in Memphis Tuesday, January 14
5022 Poplar Avenue location to close Sunday, January 12 at 6 p.m.MEMPHIS, TN (January 3, 2014) Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ: WFM) announces it will open the doors at its brand new store on Tuesday, January 14, at 9 a.m. The new store, located at 5014 Poplar Avenue opens next-door to the current Poplar Avenue location, which closes for good Sunday, January 12 at 6 p.m. The new 42,000 square-foot store features an organic salad bar, in-store smoked barbecue and beer venue, fresh-made gelato, a scratch bakery, natural body care and nutritional supplements, and a growler station with 5 beers on tap.
“We really look forward to opening our doors and bringing Memphis a brand new store nearly twice the size of our current location,” said Jeff Turngren, Store Team Leader for Whole Foods Market, Memphis. “We are expanding our offerings in all departments, and bringing in new products and new experiences for all our customers.”
Whole Foods Market will host grand opening festivities beginning at 8 a.m. Tuesday, January 14. From 8 — 8:30 a.m. there will be live music, free coffee and a gift card raffle with cards ranging from $5 -$500. A bread-breaking ceremony, similar to a ribbon-cutting, starts at 8:40am.
The new store will also host WEVL’s Rhythm & Brews, a fun night of barbecue, beer and live music on Thursday, January 16, from 5-8 p.m. Tickets are $5 and includes beer sampling and barbecue. All proceeds go to WEVL 89.9.
Whole Foods Market adds approximately 60 additional jobs to the Memphis market and has been named by FORTUNE® magazine as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” in the U.S. for 16 consecutive years — every year since the List’s inception. All current team members and leadership will be moving to the new store. Demolition of the old location will begin soon after the move to create more parking spaces and outdoor seating.
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It’s a Roaster; It’s a Bowl …
Chris Davis writes about his favorite kitchen Christmas gift — a steam roaster that goes from oven to table.
There are few things I dread like the awkward post-holiday period when I sit and stare at the weird kitchen gadgets that have been wrapped up and dropped on my doorstep like orphans by friends and family members who claim to love me. Deep down inside I sincerely want to want the pancake shooter, and the avocado toaster, and the grow-your-own-lobster kit. But, fact is, I don’t. My entire kitchen design philosophy is built around the idea that unnecessary crap should be targeted and eliminated with extreme prejudice, and as a result, most kitchen gadgets, even perfectly good ones, only make my face twitch.
Now, I’m not completely invulnerable to a good gimmick. For example, I was quite smitten by these Lékué silicone steam roasters when I first stumbled across the company website a few years ago.
I didn’t buy one though. They weren’t available in the states at the time and even though the elegant stove-to-place-serving creations seemed like a great idea, I couldn’t justify the expense. Besides, nothing that seems so nifty ever is, right?
Well, guess what showed up under the tree this year?
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Four of them. Two chocolate brown, one green, and a beige. And as it turns out, they’re even niftier than I’d imagined.
For my first meal I roasted lamb chops with garlic and rosemary over a bed of spinach with turnips and multicolored organic carrots. Everything went from the cutting board directly into the Lékué bowl/roaster/things which roll up into perfect cooking envelopes.
After roasting at 450-degrees for 25 minutes I took the roasters out of the oven and took them directly to the table where they transform back from envelopes to bowls. The chops were perfect as were the vegetables. The garlic head was the best part. You can squeeze some garlic-y goodness out in the pan drippings or rub onto toast.
I’ve since made spicy carnitas and turnip greens for tacos and a fantastic pesto-coated pork chop with green beans and potatoes. Everything has been a hit. And since I’m cooking in the place setting, cleanup is nominal. Best of all, when the gift-giver asks how my Lekue roasters are working out, there won’t be any white lies or strained silences.
Folk-singers Yancy & Yancy play the Center for Southern Folklore, Friday.
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TEP Starts Business Awareness Project
The Tennessee Equality Project is launching a campaign that will allow businesses to show their support of equal rights for LGBT persons. Bianca Phillips reports.
Last month, the Flyer reported on Mayor A C Wharton’s Clean and Green initiative, though which he vowed to cut energy usage in city-owned buildings by 20 percent by retrofitting many of the 600 city-owned buildings to run more efficiently, installing solar panels on some buildings, and other energy-cutting measures.
Now Memphis Bioworks has launched Memphis Civic Solar, a crowd-sourced funding campaign to raise money for solar panels to be installed in 30 municipal buildings. Combined, the panels will produce 1.5 megawatts of solar energy. Bioworks is using an IOBY page, the same tactic used to crowd-source funds for the Hampline bike lane in Binghampton, to raise the money.
Once complete, Memphis Civic Solar will be one of the largest municipal solar projects in the country. Funds raised though the campaign, which has a goal of $49,000, will make up about one percent of the total estimated cost for obtaining and installing the panels.
Business owners across Tennessee who want to show customers that they support equal rights will soon be able to do so with Tennessee Equality Project Foundation’s “Equality Means Business” window stickers.
The stickers are intended to show that a business does not discriminate in hiring and treatment of workers regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Business owners can also add their names to TEP’s list of businesses that support equality on the organization’s public Facebook page.
The “Equality Means Business” campaign kicked off on December 30th in honor of TEP’s 10th anniversary.
Honorary co-chairs for the initiative are entrepreneurs Martha Boggs in Knoxville and Randy Rayburn in Nashville and graphic designer Ray Rico (Ray Rico Freelance) in Memphis.
According to the Human Rights Campaign, 61 percent of Fortune 500 companies have non-discrimination policies that include sexual orientation and gender identity.
Business owners who would like a window sticker should email TEP’s executive director Chris Sanders.