Sorry for the post delay. I intended to finish this post from home last night only to find my internet down when I got back.
The Lead: This was somewhat similar to last week’s home game against the Knicks, with the Grizzlies building a big lead in the middle of the game against a generally overmatched opponent only to get complacent — and then tight — as the lead evaporated in the fourth quarter. With the Bulls missing four key players — Derrick Rose, Kirk Hinrich, Joakim Noah, and Luol Deng — the Grizzlies led by as many as 25 and took an 18-point lead into the 4th quarter. But the team started that final quarter with an all-bench lineup of Marcus Williams, Ronnie Brewer, Sam Young, Darrell Arthur, and Hamed Haddadi, allowing the Bulls to slice into the lead and build momentum that continued for a while even after the Grizzlies began to get their starters back into the game, eventually holding on for the 104-97 win.
Beyond the outcome, the story of the night for the Grizzlies were a series of lineup and rotation changes: With Marc Gasol out with a strained neck (Gasol is listed as day-to-day), Hasheem Thabeet got his first NBA start and gave a decent performance. Thabeet played 28 minutes and matched career highs with 10 points (4-6 shooting) and 9 rebounds to go along with 2 blocks. He did a pretty good job contesting shots without getting into foul trouble and demonstrated that he can be a scoring threat even without a post game or a jumper provided he can — one, get better at catching the ball around the rim (he flubbed several passes, including a couple of alley-oops) and, two, become proficient at the line (2-5 last night).
The other change for the Grizzlies was the return of Ronnie Brewer, who had missed three weeks with a torn hamstring suffered in his Grizzlies debut. Brewer clearly didn’t have his legs fully under him and had bad moments (including a badly missed jumper when the Bulls were making their fourth-quarter run), but generally demonstrated the kind of player he can be for the Grizzlies: Not much of a scorer, but a nice all-around player. He defended and passed the ball well. He broke up a 2-on-1 Bulls break. He had a steal. Only 15 minutes, but a decent start on the road back.
