Monday 3-Pointer: A win over the Bucks, Vince Carter, and the Wild West

Larry Kuzniewski

Grizzlies 96, Bucks 83

Saturday night was a good win for the Grizzlies: a sign of progress upward and out of their recent slump. The Grizzlies handled the Milwaukee Bucks, 96-83—and this isn’t the Bucks of last year. Under new head coach Jason Kidd, and led by Giannis Antetokounmpo and a breakout-year Khris Middleton, this year’s model from Milwaukee plays stout defense, knows how to score, is one of the longest teams in the league at the wing spots, and even after trading Brandon Knight and buying out Larry Sanders are still a pesky team on the interior.

Mike Conley missed the game, still recuperating from the ankle sprain he suffered at Boston last week, so Beno Udrih got the start. Michael Carter-Williams was a late scratch—so late that his name was listed on the official starting lineup sheets—so we were all deprived of the MCW/Nick Calathes battle of our dreams (I was looking forward to that one, actually, once I knew Conley was a no-go). In the end, Udrih had a good night and so did Calathes, both matched up against Tyler Ennis¹ (who, from the looks of it, definitely has a future in the NBA).

The real story of the Bucks game, though, was Tony Allen. Jeff Green started, but quickly got into trouble against Giannis Antetokounmpo (which seems reasonable; the Greek Freak is just that in terms of size and athleticism and nascent, burgeoning basketball dominance). Allen came in and completely shut him down, and then proceeded to shut down the rest of the Bucks through sheer force of will (Allen was spectacularly hyped for Saturday night’s game, more so than we’ve seen him in a while, even in good games).

I mean, this is just ridiculous:

Bucks offensive rating with Tony Allen on the bench tonight: 108.2. Bucks offensive rating with Tony Allen on the floor tonight: 80.2

— CBS Sports NBA (@CBSSportsNBA) March 15, 2015

And that doesn’t even touch on the great game that Courtney Lee had (17 points on 6/10 shooting, including 2/3 from 3-point range, the type of scoring output—even if it was mostly runners and pull-ups from midrange—that he hasn’t had in a while), or the fact that Zach Randolph found himself being guarded by Ersan Ilyasova and was so offended he tried to crush Ilyasova into a fine powder on multiple 3rd-quarter possessions, or that OJ Mayo now has huge hair and hasn’t lost all the Bad Season Weight he put on last year yet. It was a good night to be at the Grindhouse, and a good night for the team as a whole, to batten down the hatches and get a win against a good team with Conley on the bench in a suit.

The Return of the Vince

Larry Kuzniewski

This is a hilarious facial expression.

Lost in the concern of last week (and I have to say those concerns are still valid even though the Grizzlies have a win under their belt since then) was something of a minor miracle for the Grizzlies, and something that bodes well for their playoff run: Vince Carter returned to action, and he kinda looks like Vince Carter from Dallas last year.

Carter first returned against the Lakers at home, but he started to look like “Vince Carter” on last week’s Eastern Conference road trip, and Saturday against Milwaukee—my first chance to see him in person since that Lakers game in which he only played six minutes—he looked better all around. His shot looks more fluid. He looks like he can move more comfortably. He looks like he feels better.

Dave Joerger has said that his goal for Carter is to play him enough minutes between now and then that he’s in peak condition by the end of the regular season. If that pans out, and this version of VC—not the hobbled, laboring, shot-chucking, unguarded version we saw before he went down with the tendon injury—is the one the Griz take into the postseason, that changes things.

A Carter who is a serious outside threat, and who can defend decently well, instantly makes the Grizzlies’ bench—already formidable when operating at the peak of its powers—that much more dangerous. He’s already proven in the limited time since his return that he can hit shots, though he’s done that before and then tailed off to oblivion. It’s going to be a critical month for Carter. He’s got to establish that (1) he can play well enough to earn minutes in the wing rotation and (2) he can shoot well enough that other teams have to guard him. That latter part only comes if the former part comes first.

I’m hopeful for his return. Watching him run around ineffectively was pretty sad—he already looks better than he did, say, at the beginning of January. The acquisition of Carter was a huge deal this offseason, and for it to work out, he’s got to contribute in the playoffs. We’re on the road towards that now, and that’s encouraging, even if it’s still tentative.

Larry Kuzniewski

The Wild, Wild West

It’s that time of year: time to start paying close attention to the Western Conference playoff seeding.

As of this morning, the standings look like this:

1. Warriors
2. Grizzlies, 6.5 games back
3. Trail Blazers, 7.5 games back
4. Rockets, 8.5 games back
5. Spurs, 11 games back
6. Clippers, 11 games back
7. Mavericks, 11 games back
8. Thunder, 15.5 games back

Currently on the outside: the Pelicans, 16.5 games back, and the Suns, who are 18.5 games back.

As you can see, the Spurs, Clippers, and Mavs are all bunched up in the 5-7 spots with barely any separation. It’s going to be a really tight race there. I don’t see the Spurs falling back down to 7th now that they’re healthy again, but it could happen.

If the playoffs started today, the Grizzlies would play Dallas in the first round, which would be the first time the Griz have played a team other than OKC/SAS/LAC in the playoffs since 2006, when, of course, they played the Mavericks. Time is a flat circle.