The Grizzlies return from their recent 1-3 West Coast road trip to host the Phoenix Suns tonight at FedExForum. I’ll be there and — provided there are no technical difficulties — will be tweeting from courtside as usual. But this time on a new feed. I’ve started a new Twitter feed — @FlyerGrizBlog — which will be used solely for Grizzlies and NBA content. Three things I’m thinking about in advance of tonight’s game:
1. Revenge Game: The Grizzlies host the Suns a mere three days after losing to them in a 123-118 double-overtime game that has to be one of the most frustrating losses in franchise history.
After Mike Conley hit a runner to break a 94-94 tie and the Grizzlies got a defensive stop at the other end, Phoenix was forced to foul O.J. Mayo with less than three seconds left in the game. Mayo hit both free throws to put the Grizzlies up 98-94, which seemed to seal the victory. What followed was about the most tragicomic couple of seconds of basketball you could ever see.
After a Phoenix timeout, Suns guard Jason Richardson heaved in a desperation three-pointer, cutting the Grizzlies lead to 98-97 with just over a second left on the clock. At that point, the Grizzlies seemingly could end the game with a clean in-bounds pass. Rudy Gay cleverly bounced the in-bounds pass off the back of the Suns Grant Hill and stepped in to claim the ball himself. At this point, two things went wrong: First, the clock didn’t seem to start on time. It should have started as soon as the ball touched Hill, but instead seemed to start after Gay touched the ball. The second problem was that instead of movingly rapidly away from Suns defenders, Gay sauntered casually — strutted really — after claiming the ball, thinking the game over. But officials huddled, decided that Steve Nash had fouled Gay before time expired and put .4 seconds — just enough time for the Suns to attempt a final shot — back on the clock. This would mean that the ball bounced off Hill, into Gay’s hands, and Nash came over to foul all in .7 seconds. Did the Grizzlies get robbed? Yes. But if so, they assisted the thieves.
