An awful lot went wrong for the Grizzlies in San Antonio last night.
The Spurs threw more double-teams and team-defense attention at slowing down the Grizzlies’ inside game, and it worked. In game one, Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol combined for 49 points on 19-25 shooting. Last night, the pair scored 23 points on abysmal 7-23 shooting. Gasol — who did have 17 rebounds in 44 minutes — had several shots rim out. Randolph — having one of his worst games of the season — was limited in part by foul trouble.
Despite the focus the Spurs put on the Grizzlies’ inside game, the team’s ongoing struggles with perimeter passing and spot-up shooting became more pronounced. The Grizzlies had a hard time getting good outside looks and a worse time hitting them. As a team, the Grizzlies shot 3-14 from three-point range, with primary shooters O.J. Mayo and Shane Battier following up their 5-6 long-range performance in Game 1 with a combined 1-9 last night. (If you’re looking for one definitive difference-maker, that’s probably it.)
Meanwhile, the Spurs got back their best perimeter player, Manu Ginobili, who was effective despite wearing a heavy sleeve on his injured right arm: Ginobili had a team high 17 points, with 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 steals, and used his crafty, jerky, flop-heavy style to get to the free-throw line 13 times.
