Just Tuesday morning the Grizzlies were at their lowest point since Zach Randolph’s knee injury in a 40-point blowout loss at Chicago. They had lost a season-high four games in a row with the most recent being a deplorably listless home loss to the San Antonio Spurs the night before.
As a testament to how this compressed, lockout-shortened season is even more volatile than most, just 72 hours later the Grizzlies find themselves back at the top of the Ferris wheel, coming off their two best wins of the season — a rousing home comeback against the West’s current second-place team, the Denver Nuggets, on Tuesday night. And then a blowout road win last night over an Atlanta Hawks team that was 16-6 overall and 8-1 on the road. It was the Grizzlies’ first road win this season against a team with a winning record. (And those two wins are bundled with promising news Tuesday that Zach Randolph is still on track for a return to the court this season.)
Tony Allen demonstrates the best way to not miss a lay-up:
The common denominator of both wins is the thing that provides the Grizzlies their identity even in the absence of Randolph: At their best, they will get into you defensively and convert turnovers into points.
