- LARRY KUZNIEWSKI
- Mike Conley broke out of his December slump in a big way against the Celtics.
If ever there was a game that backed up my now oft-stated assertion that as Mike Conley goes, so go the Griz, it was last night in Boston, where the Grizzlies got a double-digit road win despite Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol combining for 11 points on 4-15 shooting.
But Conley combined a season-high 23 points (on 8-15 shooting) with nine assists and only one turnover, all while playing 44 minutes due to a first-quarter Jerryd Bayless ankle sprain. The team also got good games from Rudy Gay (19-6-5, though Paul Pierce lit him up early on), Tony Allen (15-5, on 6-8 shooting), and reserve bigs Marreese Speights and Darrell Arthur (a combined 20-9 on 8-13 shooting).
Mitigating the good vibes: The Celtics are really struggling right now. They’ed gone 2-7 in their previous nine games, with six of those seven losses in double figures. And, offensively, though the Grizzlies’ performance looks good at a glance, there were again problems down the stretch. After scoring 25 points in each of the first three quarters, the Grizzlies managed only 18 in the fourth, with much of that padded by late free-throws. The Grizzlies had more shot-clock violations (2) than made field goals (1) in the game’s final nine minutes. They seemed to be playing tight and too conservatively; running down the clock and getting tough, contested, often forced shots as a result.
