- LARRY KUZNIEWSKI
- The Grizzlies celebrate after pulling even with the Clippers.
The giant video board in the moments before an NBA game tips has as reliable a function as the dance team, mascot, or national anthem: Make the home team look good. Show the great dunks, deep threes, game-winning shots, chest bumps, high-fives.
Not Wednesday night at FedExForum. The Grizzlies and their fans had spent two days trying to forget the unimaginable collapse at the end of Game 1. But just before Game 2 tipped, the big board went off the usual script: It highlighted failure. Rudy Gay’s missed shot. The Clippers running to center court to celebrate. And then one Memphian after another looking into the camera saying, “I believe.”
That kind of cornball defiance drove last spring’s playoff run for the then-upstart Grizzlies. But opening a series at home as a favorite, christened far and wide as “the team no one wants to play,” it’s hard to feel like the underdog, even against a glamor team from Los Angeles.
So while the Grizzlies and their fans would most certainly prefer to have a Game 1 victory instead, the humbling loss seemed to help the team get that defiant, hungry feeling back.
