Surveying the Griz landscape, one week in:
Z-Bo Might Go: Good news out of Grizzlies practice today, as an MRI on Zach Randolph’s injured tailbone came back negative, revealing no fracture and confirming the original diagnosis of a bruise. Randolph is being called a gametime decision for tomorrow night against the Los Angeles Lakers and even if he doesn’t suit up tomorrow night, he’s expected to return to the lineup sometime on the team’s four-game West Coast trip. Additionally, rookie Xavier Henry, who missed Saturday’s game with a neck strain, has been cleared to play. Marc Gasol continues to nurse his sore ankle, but you’d imagine he’ll play.
Road Trip Preview (Part One): A road test against the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers isn’t likely to result in a win, but should be a very interesting game regardless. With Andrew Bynum out for the Lakers, Pau Gasol is starting at center, and was just named Western Conference Player of the Week after putting up a 25-10-5 in the first week. He’ll match-up directly against little brother Marc and should see much more time checking each other than they would if Bynum were playing.
Perhaps more interesting is seeing what the Grizzlies do with their guard rotation against the Lakers. New signee Tony Allen guarded Kobe Bryant very well in the Finals this past summer and with O.J. Mayo giving up several inches to Kobe, should be called upon to check the Laker star for a good chunk of tonight’s game. But with Mayo in a groove right now, you’d think the team would want to keep him on the floor too. Given that the Laker point guards — Derek Fisher and Steve Blake — aren’t exactly dynamic pressure defenders and given how little Acie Law has given the Grizzlies in the back-up point guard role, this would be the perfect match-up to test out a Mayo-Allen backcourt when Mike Conley goes to the bench. (Which may not be for long, as this is also potentially a very good match-up for Conley.) Another possibility is to go small, with Rudy Gay matching up with Lamar Odom at the power forward spot and Allen and Mayo manning the wings. Mayo would be guarding Ron Artest in this alignment, and though Artest would have a considerable size/strength advantage, that might actually work in the Grizzlies favor, baiting the Lakers to give more touches and shots to Artest at the expense of Kobe and Pau. I’ll be interested to see if the Grizzlies use either of these lineups or if they stick to a more conventional rotation.
