The Lead: Okay, so the real lead to this game has become O.J. Mayo missing the game with so-called “bronchitis” after catching the bad end of an apparently brief fight with Tony Allen on the team plane coming back from Los Angeles. This story was first reported by CBSSports.com’s Gary Parrish. As I understand it, Mayo suffered a black eye and other aftereffects that would have been very evident had he been at the game. The team is still, apparently, claiming “bronchitis” as the explanation for Mayo’s absence, but I don’t know any reasonable person who believes that.
Obviously, this is a subject for further exploration, but I don’t want to lose track of what was probably the most entertaining home game I’ve seen this season (remember, I missed the Miami game). So for the rest of this belated post (thanks, Comcast!), I’m going to stick to the game.
The Grizzlies followed up their surprising 104-85 road win against the Los Angeles Lakers by beating a Thunder team that’s firmly established in the playoff picture, giving the team consecutive wins against quality teams for the first time this season.
But, beyond that, this was simply, as Lionel Hollins noted afterward, “a great NBA basketball game.”
The Grizzlies were playing short-handed on the wings with Xavier Henry and O.J. Mayo still out, which allowed current (and, presumably, ongoing) starter Tony Allen a longer leash that he might have otherwise had, and despite some early struggles, he made the most of it. (More on that in a minute.) Meanwhile, the Grizzlies top scorers — Rudy Gay and Zach Randolph (58 combined points) — were matching the Thunder’s destructive duo of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook (56 points) bucket for bucket.
The home team went up early, first 7-0, then 15-5, but missed free-throws and turnovers stalled the Griz offense and the Thunder responded with feathery Durant jumpers, explosive Westbrook drives, and a big contribution off the bench from James Harden. Ultimately, the game was knotted 89-89 with seven minutes the play and it came down to who could make the big plays. From then on, Allen hit two wildly unlikely threes, Mike Conley set Randolph up inside with a crisp entry pass, Rudy Gay isolated on Durant and drove down the middle of the floor for a dunk, and Randolph hit 8-9 free throws to ice it. A great team win overall.
“It was a good, hard battle,” Hollins said. “I don’t know if we’re learning. I hope so.”
