Beyond the Arc is getting off to a slow start this season, what with training camp out of town and tons of activity on my other beats. But that will start to change with tomorrow’s first home preseason game
- Joe Murphy
- Hamed Haddadi: Iranian Rodman
The Grizzlies lost their preseason debut tonight, falling 101-92 to the Washington Wizards in Richmond, Virginia. They played without Allen Iverson, who missed the game (and will miss tomorrow night’s home game against the Thunder) with a minor hamstring injury.
There’s only so much you can learn from a first preseason game, and even less from just the box score, but to deploy my all-time favorite movie quote, that’s what I got.
A few observations:
Free-throw discrepancy: If this box score is to be believed, the starters (Mike Conley, O.J. Mayo, Rudy Gay, Zach Randolph, and Marc Gasol) combined for 1 free-throw attempt in 109 minutes, while the bench combined for 23 free-throw attempts in 131 minutes. Not sure what to make of that, but it doesn’t speak well for the starters’ aggressiveness.
Mike Conley was efficient: 12 points (5-8 from the floor, 2-3 from three-point range) with 5 assists, a steal, and only one turnover in 21 minutes. Any sign of carryover from his strong spring is a positive.
