The Blake Show: It’s taken nearly five months, but tonight Grizzlies fans finally get their first of two up-close looks at Blake Griffin, the power-dunking Los Angeles Clipper who is enjoying one of the most productive and most exciting rookie seasons in the sport’s history. Griffin is averaging 23 points, 12 rebounds on 4 assists on 51% shooting on the season. And he’s doing it like this:
Crucial Game/Standings Watch: With their last-possession home loss to the Knicks Wednesday and their season-worst domination at the hands of the Miami Heat Sunday, the Grizzlies have lost back-to-back games for the first time since early February, when they followed an overtime road loss to Houston with a more thorough defeat to the Lakers. A loss tonight would be the first full-fledged losing streak since a three-game slide in mid-December.
The Grizzlies have been fortunate not to lose ground the past few days, with Portland ahead of them and Phoenix, Utah, and Houston behind them all also on two-game losing streaks. But you can’t expect that to last. And the Grizzlies particularly need to reassert their home dominance after losing two of their past three on the FedExForum court. With a rough road schedule looming — Knicks, Celtics, Bulls — the Grizzlies can’t afford many slip-ups at home the rest of the way.
