Larry Kuzniewski
Anyone who says they expected last night’s game between the Grizzlies and Rockets to be a blowout is probably lying. Coming into yesterday, the Griz and Rockets were the two best teams in the Western Conference, with the Rockets having the league’s best defense and an offense built around James Harden and Dwight Howard—and they were also a team on the verge of embracing their own hateability, with an ugly 69–65 win over the depleted Oklahoma City Thunder highlighting some of their more heel-turn qualities.
It was supposed to be a close one, gut-it-out game against a tough opponent. Some folks—even including some in the organization—wondered if the Grizzlies’ lackluster performances in wins thus far meant that they’d be exposed against a superior team. At any rate, it wasn’t expected to be like this, with rookies playing and a Memphis-area basketball player reunion happening on the floor in garbage time. The Grizzlies don’t blow people out, remember?
It started early, but it started with a problem: Tony Allen had two quick fouls in the first two or three minutes, and followed that up by getting a technical foul from the bench. (This technical foul happened while the Rockets were out on a fast break, which marked the first of many times Kevin McHale would become infuriated during Monday night’s game).
At that point, the Grizzlies were trailing Houston 7–11 and it looked like Houston’s usual plan (that is, Dwight dunking stuff, wings and guards shooting 3’s, and James Harden shooting free throws) was working. Quincy Pondexter subbed in for Allen at the 9:12 mark, making the Grizzlies’ lineup on the floor Mike Conley, Courtney Lee, Pondexter, Zach Randolph, and Marc Gasol.
From there, it was on. The Grizzlies got on a run, and by the end of the first quarter they were up 34–18, the crowd was into it, the Rockets were already looking tired (they were, after all, on the second night of a back-to-back) and you could see the confidence in every move the Griz players made, the sureness, the self-awareness. With Lee and Pondexter both hitting shots, Houston’s defense—which has been legitimately good this season so far—couldn’t cope, leaving Dwight Howard alone under the basket to guard Gasol or Randolph (Donatas Motiejunas gets a little trophy for participation) in the absence of Terrence Jones, who was out with a peroneal nerve contusion. I don’t know what that is, but it sounds bad, and the Griz were fortunate that Jones, who always gives Z-Bo fits, wasn’t on the court.
[jump]
Interesting, though, that leaving Tayshaun Prince out of the starting lineup even though Trevor Ariza is a very tall guy just like Rudy Gay and Josh Smith (though maybe not as big) and then having Tony Allen get into foul trouble and have to sit led to the biggest offensive start and the most complete offensive game from the Grizzlies all season long. It’s not a coincidence. With three guys on the floor who can shoot—and, struggles aside, defenses still have to respect Pondexter’s jumpshot, especially once he’s made a couple—this Griz team becomes a different animal entirely. Last night was a glimpse at what the Grizzlies would look like if they had consistent floor spacing, and room to operate on offense.
The numbers so far line up with what we’ve seen, small sample size or no. In the 80 minutes across 6 games that Allen and Prince have played together, the Grizzlies’ defense is great (allowing 86.7 points per 100 possessions) but their offense goes into the toilet, scoring only 88.4 per 100. That’s terrible. For reference, the Philadelphia 76ers have the worst offensive rating in the league, and it’s .1 lower than that.
You can claim “small sample size” all you want, and you’d be right—for this season. But we’ve got evidence going back to 2012–13 now, and especially the Spurs’ dismantling of the Grizzlies in the Western Conference Finals. Tayshaun Prince and Tony Allen should not ever be on the floor at the same time as wings. It just shouldn’t happen. This team is too good for that, and needs that spacing too badly. If you enjoy watching Z-Bo try to work while being triple-teamed, I’m sorry.
Allen’s offensive struggles are well-known, of course. It’s not news to anyone that he’s not the best shooter around. Which is why it’s important to surround him with people who are, and maybe even to limit his minutes to the extent possible so that other, more scoring-oriented players can do their thing. The Grizzlies’ success in the postseason depends on being able to stretch out opponents’ defenses, and if that means playing Lee and Pondexter at the wings (or, preferably, Lee and Vince Carter) then so be it. Last night’s offensive explosion was not a fluke, and shouldn’t be treated as one. This team can score when there’s room to operate.
Larry Kuzniewski
One of the chief Grizzlies doing the operating is Courtney Lee, who seems to be much more comfortable on the court this season than last. Joining the team late in the year like he did, last season was a “getting used to each other” period. Now Lee is comfortable, he’s playing well, and he’s got a swagger that we haven’t seen from him before. He knows he can score, and he knows how to do it, and his contributions have been vital to the Grizzlies’ early success.
When the season started, I said that out of the trio of Lee, Pondexter, and Allen, the Grizzlies really only needed two (especially since Jordan Adams is waiting in the wings, and will potentially need to start getting some minutes later in the year). I said that Lee was the most likely to become trade bait because of his bigger contract and his lackluster play in last year’s playoffs. I was wrong, and I’m happy to admit it: Lee has become a critical part of the Grizzlies’ offensive attack, while still remaining a force to be reckoned with on defense. He’s shooting well above his career averages, so there’s bound to be a return to Earth at some point, but even a career-average Courtney Lee is abundantly helpful to the Grizzlies. Again, floor spacing is the key. We saw what happened last night when the Grizzlies have the shooters cooking against what was the league’s top-rated defense.
Courtney Lee has played his way into Griz fans’ hearts already this season—the now-protested buzzer beater against Sacramento sealed that deal if it hadn’t already been done—but now he’s playing his way into something even better: a key role in the championship hopes of this Griz team.
Speaking of shooters who were cooking, Quincy Pondexter finally broke out of his slump last night, scoring 13 points including 3 made three-pointers. Pondexter played most of the game the way Griz watchers want him to play every game: hanging out in the corners waiting for open shots, playing very solid defense against James Harden without getting in foul trouble, moving the ball well (QPon had 4 assists) and generally helping the team accomplish what needed to be accomplished.
His final shooting numbers (35% on 5 of 14 from the field and 3–8 from 3) reflect the things that still give me pause about Pondexter. I’ll go on and preface this with “this happened in garbage time,” but that doesn’t make it less concerning. Once the Grizzlies were up big, in the fourth quarter, Pondexter decided it would be time to try to do more. He started handling the ball more, jacking up bad shots instead of passing it around well—presumably because Jordan Adams and Jarnell Stokes were on the floor by that point and he either (1) didn’t want them to screw up or (2) didn’t care whether they got the ball—and just generally playing like the Bad Quincy we got last season.
It’s that attitude with Pondexter that gave me pause even as he had a great game last night and was a major part of the Grizzlies’ success. Is he self-aware enough to play within his limitations and always be his most effective, or was he just doing that because of who he was on the floor with? Will he always be able to genuflect to the starters, as it were, and keep a level head, or will Bad Quincy come out down the road some time when the Griz aren’t nursing a 30-something-point lead over a division rival?
The real question is “Which QPon is the real one?” and so far the answer is “yes,” which is unsatisfying. If last night was the game it takes for Pondexter to get going, and he needed to chuck all those bad shots in the 4th quarter just to get them out of his system, then fine, but I didn’t like the way he flipped a switch and turned into a black hole on offense (and not even an effective one). Time will tell how Pondexter is really going to perform this season, but last night was both a good sign and a weird one.
Another good sign was this: Marc Gasol still mostly owns Dwight Howard in head-to-head matchups. Howard’s post game has improved over the years, but he still doesn’t seem to be able to finish away from the rim. His post moves get him a shot and then he just kind of hucks the ball at the rim like he’s throwing a big rock into a lake; there’s no real shooting motion there. Gasol, Koufos, and even known non-good defender Z-Bo gave Howard all kinds of trouble last night, and his 15 and 9 was a better stat line than he looked like he was getting.
Gasol had some moments of passivity last night that were frustrating, especially given the 32-point-scoring Marc we saw to open the season, but overall his solid game last night seemed like a bit of a rebound from getting worked by DeMarcus Cousins last week and the struggles he and Randolph both had with Detroit’s big frontline. He’s not playing as hot as he was in the first five games—somewhere around Phoenix the fuel ran out in that stove—but he’s coming back around after a week or so of pretty markedly bad play, and that’s only going to make the Grizzlies even better as they continue to run the gauntlet over the next two or three weeks.
Larry Kuzniewski
And, of course, last night saw Jarnell Stokes and Jordan Adams get their first real-life NBA baskets—Adams’ was a free throw, and Stokes’ was a nifty little shot over Tiger-turned-Jayhawk-turned-Rocket Tarik Black. I asked Jarnell after the game how many times he’d faced off against Tarik Black before (both went to high school in Memphis, of course) and whether that made it any less nerve-wracking. He said no. Tiger legend Joey Dorsey—who is on a new two-year deal with the Rockets—was also on the court in garbage time, making it a weird Memphis-area basketball reunion of sorts, and Stokes said that made it even crazier, because of how much he looked up to Dorsey. I guess even once you’re in the NBA, heroes are still heroes. It was a nice (though strange) moment seeing that many Memphis-related guys on the court at once.
As for how they did, well, they’re rookies, and they were both visibly nervous. Stokes played better than Adams, but part of that was probably the familiarity with Tarik Black, and part of that was probably just nerves. They both looked pretty good, even though both were pretty obviously terrified. I guess I would’ve been, too. That will pass with time.
Overall, last night was a statement game, no two ways about it. The Rockets have been playing really well to start the season, but they’ve got some pretty major issues on the offensive end, especially with turnovers. They had the best defense in the league, but they turned the ball over so much that that defense never had a chance to actually get set because the Griz were running the back straight back at them every chance they got. It was a masterful dismantling of a team we saw last night. The Grizzlies found the Rockets’ biggest weakness, found it quickly, and clubbed them over the head with it. A Grindhouse Monday night if there ever was one.
Tweet of the Night
Given the way the game was going last night, Grizzlies Twitter was in near-playoff form. I had a hard time picking a tweet of the night, so here are two that I couldn’t choose between.
After a particularly nasty Jon Leuer slam dunk that nearly tore the roof off FedExForum:
Tarik black just learned about Tennessee Dirk the hard way
— hot wing jack (@hotwingjack) November 18, 2014
And, after the game, Tony Allen taught us the true meaning of #BabyGNG:
I love coming home and little fella be wide awake babyGNG 💪🙏 pic.twitter.com/kFiGY85ZW6
— Tony Allen (@aa000G9) November 18, 2014
Up Next
Tomorrow night, the Grizzlies play the Raptors in Toronto. Toronto is currently 8–2 and atop the Eastern Conference standings. Toronto is always a tough place for the Grizzlies to play, it seems like, but especially now since the Raptors are such a good team this year. DeMar DeRozan will be a challenge for Tony Allen, and Kyle Lowry has never stopped trying to hang 700 points on Mike Conley every time they play each other. I guess I’d still be mad, too.
