Larry Kuzniewski
In an ugly game that ended up being exciting because it was close, the Grizzlies ground out a tough win over the rebound-happy Nuggets last night at FedExForum, 91-84. The Grizzlies shot 36%, got outrebounded 59-43, trailed for large periods of time (and played an especially heinous third quarter), and still managed to gut out a win, based largely on defensive intensity and the inability of the Nuggets’ young bigs to do anything to stop Zach Randolph from scoring.
All in all, it was closer than it should have been, hard to watch, and the Grizzlies won it by keeping another opponent from scoring 90 points. Maybe the old ways of playing aren’t quite dead yet.
Five Thoughts
★ Tony Allen played the best game he’s played all year, especially in the first half. He was everywhere. On defense, he hounded every Denver guard into bad shots and turnovers, and he finished the game with three steals that really felt like six or seven in the moment. He was relentless—the way he has to be to play his best basketball. Allen’s 38 minutes were probably too many, and it probably only happened that way because both Mike Conley and Courtney Lee were out with injuries, but he made them all count.
In a season where he’s looked really out of sorts most of the time, it was uplifting to see Allen out there performing at his best, and a reminder of what he can bring to this team when he’s dialed in, and how much that force for chaos can disrupt everything opponents try to do.
★ Zach Randolph scored 24 points in 28 minutes, single-handedly outscoring the Denver bench, who combined for 23. It’s the second game in a row where Randolph has come in as a sub and demolished the interior of the opponent, and these last two games have been a real model for how to use Z-Bo if you’re going to bring him off the bench: choose your matchups, play him fewer minutes, and if he’s able to get going, play him at a higher than normal usage rate while still spotting him his rest. It works. I’m sure he’s not excited about coming off the bench, but he’s had some really great games that way, and I’m sure putting up 20+ points in a win goes a long way towards soothing whatever ego damage he’s incurred.
★ Elliot Williams, former Tiger, is in town on a 10-day deal to bolster the wing rotation while Conley and Lee are both out. He looked good in his almost-10 minutes Friday night, especially on the defensive end. I know the Griz are interested in evaluating him for future purposes, not just filling a rotation spot with somebody (thought that is definitely part of it), so if Williams plays like this for the rest of his time here, I’d expect him to get another 10-day.
Asked about how Williams played after the game, Joerger said he didn’t really know him and talked about how he was a high character guy, instead of commenting on the fact that he clearly played pretty well, which I thought was strange. I’m not sure what that was about, but his avoidance/non-answer of a question about how Williams looked on the court was odd enough that I nmade a note of it.
★ The real news of the day came before the game, when the Grizzlies released a statement that Jordan Adams is going to have to have knee surgery after all, and he’ll have it early next week, with no timetable for recovery. My understanding is that it’s probably an arthroscopic procedure for cartilage damage, and it won’t necessarily rule Adams out for the remainder of the year, but considering that the Grizzlies are desperate for young wing talent and Adams was supposed to be back playing by preseason, it felt more like a gut punch. Who knows what happens next there. But hopes of seeing Adams insert himself into the rotation and blossom this season are now dashed, and that’s alwaus a bummer.
★ The Grizzlies are now in a 6-game home stand that lasts until the MLK Day game against the Pelicans, and most of these games are very winnable. If they’re going to start building momentum and getting things together, it’s going to be now, except now the injury bug is getting to them even harder than it was already. These games against Houston, Detroit, New York, and New Orleans (I expect the Boston game to be a tough one) are all there for the taking, if the Griz can put together some motivation and intensity. If they have to do that on the backs of Tony Allen and Zach Randolph instead of Marc Gasol and the injured Conley, it seems like that’s what they’re going to do. It’s going to be an interesting 10-day stretch.
Tweet of the Night
Sigh.
Is this a scheduled tweet? https://t.co/U7qJFOfszl
— Justin Strawn (@JustinStrawnMWN) January 9, 2016
Larry Kuzniewski
Up Next
Like I said, this is an important home stand. I’m not sure Sunday’s 5pm game against the Boston Celtics is one the Grizzlies should pencil in as a win—the Celtics are very good, and the Grizzlies don’t play well against very good teams this season—but the rest of this home stand, in which they play every other day, is very wnnable, and they should be able to string together some wins. That could have a really good effect on their overall morale and certainly on their record. Going to be an interesting week and a half.
