The Lead: If the season had ended today, the 8th seed Grizzlies would face off with the #1 seed Spurs in a first-round playoff series. For that reason, there’s been a lot of talk about how the two-game-in-three-night set the two teams just played could be something of a playoff preview. If that were the case, then the results would bode well for the Grizzlies.
In San Antonio on Sunday night, the Grizzlies came back from a 20-point first-half deficit to hold a lead with about 90 seconds to play before finally fading. Tonight, the Grizzlies controlled the game in the first half and ran away with it in the second, leading by as much as 25 at one point. The Spurs biggest lead was 2.
Three games into the season series, the Spurs are up 2-1, but the Grizzlies have now outscored the Spurs 303-300, with both losses tightly contested games in San Antonio.
The Spurs didn’t have Tony Parker tonight, but Grizzlies haven’t had Rudy Gay for a single minute in three games against the Spurs this season and played the last 29 minutes tonight without starting center Marc Gasol.
“No Call” Marc Gasol lived up to the nickname I’ve given him, getting bumped hard by Tim Duncan on a lay-up attempt without drawing a whistle. Complaining about this no-call get Gasol a technical foul. In the second quarter, Gasol stepped out to try to block a George Hill, and got called for a foul, his animated reaction drawing a surprising second tech and an automatic ejection. Surrounding all of this was a Jason Williams tech in response to a no-call on a Darrell Arthur attempt, another no-call on Duncan, and a tick-tack offensive foul on Shane Battier. All of this put the home fans in a bad mood, and lead official Dick Bavetta and his crew were booed loudly exiting the floor at the end of the first half.
The Grizzlies took a nine-point lead into the half, but were coming out without Marc Gasol and without a viable big to defend Tim Duncan. Darrell Arthur drew the assignment, and did as well as you could have hoped, but the big difference was that the Grizzlies were able to use quick, aggressive team defense to force turnovers (six in the third quarter), get out on the break, and push their lead into double-digits. Playing from behind, the Spurs went away from their potential post advantage, played smaller, and started forcing more three-points, with little effectiveness (4-16 in the second half) — the Grizzlies’ quicker, non-Gasol lineups providing better floor coverage to defend against the three anyway.
