With a win tonight, the Grizzlies secured their first winning season since 2005-2006 and moved a big step closer to clinching a playoff spot. I’m breaking up the usual post-game template with a few thoughts on the night’s action:
“It Was a Tale of Two Halves”: If any Grizzlies game this season warranted that deliciously awful hoops-writer cliché, this may have been it.
The Grizzlies and their fans were both pretty listless in the first half — not swarming defensively and thus not generating turnovers and getting in transition. The Grizzlies were also not hitting the offensive boards and not asserting their inside game enough against a Warriors team without inside defenders to combat Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol.
The Grizzlies coasted through the first quarter, content with a single-digit lead, but then Warriors reserve Vladimir Radmanovic came off the bench slinging three-pointers, scoring 11 points in a five-minute stretch to get the Warriors a two-point lead that they pushed to 53-48 at the end of the second quarter. Lionel Hollins watched his team incredulously from the sideline.
Tony Allen Happened: When the Warriors scored the first five points of the third quarter to take a 10-point lead, things were looking bad for the Grizzlies. But then, as has been the case in many games this season, Tony Allen happened.
