Note: I’ll have a season-ending column in this week’s print edition of the Flyer and will have a playoff-series preview and other end-of-regular-season/beginning-of-playoffs content up later in the week.
The Lead: The Grizzlies ended their home regular-season slate in style, with a win against division and playoff-seeding rival New Orleans that was so thorough and decisive that the entire Grizzlies starting five sat for the entire fourth quarter. The win, in which the team shot better than 60% and every Grizzlies player scored, with seven players notching between 8 and 18 points, sent a large crowd home happy and set the stage for a playoff run, though the seeding and opponent is still very much in doubt.
Are the Grizzlies ready? I asked Tony Allen, who has more significant playoff experience than anyone on the team. He smiled and shrugged. “It’s here,” Allen said. “There’s no looking back or nothing. It’s here. You got to get prepared for it.”
When the time comes, the spotlight may be brightest on Lionel Hollins, who will be making his first post-season appearance as a head coach, and point guard Mike Conley, who will not only be running the team but will be doing so for probably 40 minutes a night given that his two back-ups — discounting an injured Jason Williams — are both rookies.
Conley said after the game that he was glad to get some extra rest tonight and would welcome reduced minutes in the team’s final two games if it made sense, but that knew he’d be carrying a heavy burden in the post-season.
