- LARRY KUZNIEWSKI
- Tony Allen was a difference-maker down the stretch as the Grizzlies evened the series 1-1.
With six seconds left in a decided game, Tony Allen stole the ball and did what you’re not supposed to do, streaking down the floor for a needless exclamation dunk, then soaking in the boos it provoked. Seconds later, according to the Twitter feed of Commercial Appeal beat writer Ron Tillery, Allen walked by the scorer’s table and yelled, “First team, all defense [expletive].”
Was Allen taunting his opponent or the fans in Oklahoma City? I doubt it. More likely, his target was some mix of the basketball gods, himself, and his coach. He was letting out some frustration and reasserting something that seemed to have been forgotten. And he did it with his game before he did it with words.
In Game 1 of this series, Allen — by acclamation one of the two or three best perimeter defenders in the league — played only 21 minutes in a game in which his team gave up 60 of 93 points to two wing players in Kevin Durant and Kevin Martin. He sat for most of a fourth quarter in which his team gave up 29 points and watched a nine-point lead evaporate as Durant made a series of big plays down the stretch.
Afterward, his coach, Lionel Hollins, explained that Allen was too short to guard Durant now. Using other defenders on the Thunder’s brilliant star, the Grizzlies had surrendered 35-15-6 on 13-26 shooting.
