Larry Kuzniewski
Zach Randolph had a vintage Z-Bo game last night.
One can never be sure what one will get when he or she turns up at the Grindhouse for a game these days: sometimes it’s the Grizzlies who can beat anyone in the league at any time and place, and sometimes it’s the Grizzlies who can’t score more than 80 points and can’t keep their opponent from scoring more than 95. It’s almost like someone wrote about that yesterday.
Last night, the Grizzlies were out for blood against a Pelicans team that had just beaten the Golden State Warriors the night before, and they got it, to the tune of a 36-point home win over a divisional rival (and the current 8th seed in the Western Conference). At one point the Grizzlies were up by 40, only the second time in franchise history that the Grizzlies have led a game by 40 or more points. It was an absolute beatdown of a tired-but-good New Orleans team that just couldn’t get any traction at any point to make a run.
In the opening minutes, it looked like The Quincy Pondexter Revenge Game was a real possibility—last night was Pondexter’s first game played in Memphis since being traded to the Pelicans—when Pondexter scored 8 points in the first 5 minutes of the game. (His made 3’s included some kind of new 3-point celebration I haven’t seen before that vaguely resembled starting a lawnmower.) After a Grizzlies timeout, though, the World Famous Memphis Grizzlies Defense kicked in—and stayed in for the rest of the night. Pondexter, having scored those 8 points in the first 5 minutes, finished with 11.
The rest of the Pelicans didn’t fare much better. As a team they were only able to score 12 points in the second quarter, and 19 in the final two. The first quarter was the only one in which the Griz gave up 20 or more points. It looked for a bit like Zach Randolph might get himself a triple-double, but he ended up sitting the entire fourth quarter (along with Marc Gasol and Courtney Lee) and finished with “just” 15 points, 13 rebounds, and 6 assists. Randolph was in vintage form, taking the ball right at Anthony Davis’ chest and forcing him to try to use strength to defend Randolph—which is probably the only way he can’t effectively guard Z-Bo—and playing the brand of bully ball that has made him the rock of this franchise since 2009. Mean mugs were mugged. Three pointers were attempted. Randolph even borrowed Marc Gasol’s self-butt-slap after one particularly tough basket. (Though, to be fair, he said after the game, “Marc got that from me.”)
[jump]
It’s been a while since the Grizzlies have stomped on a visiting team like that. Certainly the fact that the Pelicans were on a SEGABABA had something to do with it, but the Griz have been in plenty of those situations before and didn’t beat a playoff team by 40 points. Last night showed an aggression and a dedication to defense and ball movement that has been rare at FedExForum since MLK Day or so. It was a good thing to see headed into the final four games of the regular season, with the standings as tight as they are.
One other thing of note from last night: the last seven or eight minutes of the game were pure garbage time—the main goal at that point was to not blow a 38-point lead—so we got a sneak peek at what might be a very intriguing second unit next year: Jordan Adams, Jarnell Stokes, and JaMychal Green all got extended minutes. Adams looked very good—he plays with a fluidity and a confidence uncommon for rookie players, even with his limited minutes. He knows where he’s supposed to be and knows where the ball will be, and he also isn’t afraid of driving into a crowd of opponents to draw an inevitable foul. Stokes, in what should be a surprise to no one, was a beast on the boards on both ends, even though his matchup against That Tall White Dude That Plays For New Orleans (also known as “Jeff Withey”) proved how non-tall Stokes actually is. As for JaMychal Green, well, his game is still a work in progress, but Stokes and Green together is a pretty mean frontcourt if you’re looking to out-tough somebody. Add Jon Leuer hitting outside shots as the 3, and Nick Calathes distributing, and that’s a pretty interesting unit, especially with another summer of conditioning work and another training camp and preseason together under their belts. It’s worth keeping an eye on. Isn’t it a weird feeling for the Grizzlies to have young players worth getting excited about?
Tweet of the Night
No exegesis necessary:
This pretty much sums up what Grizzlies are doing to the Pelicans tonight pic.twitter.com/cqAFFe9eHZ
— Eli Savoie (@Eli560) April 9, 2015
Larry Kuzniewski
Vince Carter played well last night, continuing his trend of looking not-quite-dead-yet lately.
Up Next
There are four games left in the regular season. The Grizzlies are currently the 2nd seed in the West.
Last night finished up division play for the Griz, clinching a better division record (and thus the tiebreaker, since they tied the season series) against the Spurs. Given that the Spurs beat Houston tonight, and the two teams play again on Friday night, the Grizzlies likely have clinched the tiebreaker with them, as well, especially since it’s unlikely that they’ll finish with a worse Western Conference record than the Rockets.
Now. What that means is that Memphis might hold on to the 2 seed and face Dallas in the first round. If San Antonio starts resting guys, though, and the Griz drop a couple of games (they play both the Clippers and the Warriors in the next five days) it’s possible that they could play just well enough to hang on to the 3rd seed they’ve currently got and have to play San Antonio first. The Clippers are also on a roll, currently 5th but with aspirations to leapfrog 4th-place Portland and grab home court.
What makes sense to me is for the Griz to evaluate where they are after the Clippers game on Saturday night. If they win both games of their road back-to-back at Utah and L.A., it makes sense to keep going and try to win out and lock in the 2nd seed. If they lose one or both of them, though, it probably makes sense to shut down all of their best players for the rest of the regular season and try to maneuver into that 4/5 matchup with Portland (assuming the Spurs are still the 6, which might not be the case). That, of course, assumes that the Rockets, who are now without starting PF Donatas Motiejunas for the rest of the year, don’t fall off any more and slip down to the 6th spot.
I think the Grizzlies would take care of business in a series against Dallas, Portland, or Houston. San Antonio is beating the crap out of everybody in their path right now, and show no signs that that somehow wouldn’t be the case in the playoffs, and I personally want no part of that. I don’t want to watch it, I don’t want to write about it, I don’t want to experience it, I don’t even want to think about it. No thanks. Been there, done that. That’s not the punctuation mark I want to put on this season.
All that is to say: we’re not going to know anything until Monday or so. By then, the Griz could be a 5 or 6 seed, or they could be locked in to the 2. It’s insane that the Western Conference is so tough that the 5th seed could be a 55-win team, and that the playoff picture won’t be set in stone until the last regular season game ends, while in the East, the 6, 7, and 8 seeds are all currently under .500. It sure keeps things interesting.
