The Lead: The Grizzlies struggled early tonight, trailing the Sacramento Kings for much of the first quarter before ending the period down 28-23. But over the next three quarters, the Grizzlies put on perhaps their most dominating display since an early home win over the Minnesota Timberwolves — outscoring the Kings 97-64 over the final three quarters.
Along the way, there were so many interesting in-game storylines and subplots that putting them in list form is about the only way to keep up:
*Shane Battier made his first appearance since Thursday’s trade back to the place where his NBA career began.
*Former University of Memphis star Rodney Carney made his debut in a Grizzlies uniform.
*Marc Gasol got in a little tiff with coach Lionel Hollins and took it out on the Kings in his most swaggering performance maybe ever.
*Hamed Haddadi took the departed Hasheem Thabeet’s back-up center role and responded with his first career double-double off the bench.
*Jason Williams got comfortable and loose, showing the first flashbacks of the “old” J-Will we’ve seen since he rejoined the team.
*O.J. Mayo, in his first game since his awkward near-trade to the Indiana Pacers, fought hard through his shooting slump and busted out with a big fourth quarter.
That all of this occurred with Rudy Gay on the bench in street clothes, Zach Randolph delivering a ho-hum 23-12, Sam Young and Darrell Arthur continuing their breakout seasons, Tony Allen howling in approval at teammates’ plays, Greivis Vasquez providing good spot minutes, and Mike Conley having a quietly effective night underscores how a team that, a year ago, was perhaps the most shallow in the NBA, has suddenly become impressively deep. The necessary caveat is that this blowout game came against a bad team playing without its best player (former UofM Tiger Tyreke Evans), and playing its fourth game in five nights — all on the road — on the second night of a back-to-back. The Kings were primed to get knocked around tonight, but the Grizzlies sure looked good obliging them.
