- LARRY KUZNIEWSKI
- Zach Randolph and the Grizzlies celebrate at center court, up 2-1, halfway to a series win.
The Lead: First the goal was to get a playoff win, the first in franchise history. That was accomplished last Sunday, when the Grizzlies stole one from the Manu Ginobili-less Spurs in Game 1 down in San Antonio.
Next the goal was to give Memphis its first home playoff win. That happened tonight, happened in such an unlikely way, happened with a Zach Randolph three-pointer at the end of a broken play with under a minute to go. Randolph’s heave put the Grizzlies up five with 42 seconds left and sent 18,119 towel-waving fans into an even deeper level of frenzy than they’d been in all night. Randolph then stoked the fans even more by standing at center court, waving his hands.
Three possessions later, the Spurs had a chance to force overtime, but the Grizzlies bottled up Ginobili along the sideline and the clock expired. The Spurs failed to get either a timeout or a shot up.
Now the goal is to win the series. And, if most Grizzlies fans are being honest with themselves, it feels like a realistic goal for the first time. The Grizzlies will take a 2-1 series lead into Monday’s Game 4. And the volume on that game just got turned way up.
