Larry Kuzniewski
Last night Memphis suffered a marked increase in Gasol-on-Gasol violence.
The Grizzlies had played 5 games in 8 nights, including six overtime periods spread across three games, and it finally caught up to them last night at home against the Chicago Bulls. In Tony Allen’s absence, the perimeter defense struggled to keep Jimmy Butler from essentially scoring at will, and Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph, and Mike Conley all had rough shooting nights. Nobody played with much energy, and guys were getting good looks that didn’t fall because there were dead legs and tired arms behind them.
Given that the last three games the Grizzlies played were against the Warriors, Spurs, and Bulls, and that they’d already won the two against the other best teams in the Western Conference, last night’s loss against the Eastern Conference Bulls doesn’t sting quite so badly. It doesn’t have as much of an effect on the playoff standings, and even on such a bad night, the Griz were still competitive. I don’t think there’s too much on the team level to be upset about from last night’s loss—that’s just the way the NBA schedule works sometimes.
Game Notes
➭ Not strictly Grizzlies related, but Jimmy Butler was really good last night, and I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if he gets a max deal from somebody. In the absence of the ill Derrick Rose, Butler stepped in and scored 31 points on 11 of 21 shooting, he had 10 rebounds, and also had two steals. He’s a really good young player, who has developed into something special under Tom Thibodeau, and last night he carved the Grizzlies up six ways to Sunday. I’m not sure whether having Tony Allen in the game would’ve mattered that much, to be honest. Butler was just on last night.
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➭ While we’re talking about Bulls players, Nikola Mirotic played a huge role in the Bulls’ victory last night. He’s basically the worst possible player for Zach Randolph to have to guard: very mobile, unconscious from three, forcing Randolph to sprint out to challenge shots. As Randolph ages, this has probably been the main area in which he has noticeably, irrefutably declined. He was never a great defensive player, but he was good enough. As he gets older, “stretchy” players have given him more and more fits on defense, and last night Mirotic was basically Kryptonite.
Larry Kuzniewski
Beno Udrih suffered a finger injury late in last night’s game, but x-rays were negative.
➭ Beno Udrih hurt his finger diving for a loose ball that had all of Joakim Noah’s weight behind it. He immediately checked himself out of the game and sat on the bench wincing and holding his finger, and went to the locker room for x-rays. The official prognosis is that he jammed it (which, as anyone who has ever played more than one game of basketball knows, does not feel good), which is good news, because a Beno with a broken finger would be less effective.
That said, Udrih’s play has been so good as of late that Nick Calathes has been a non-factor. Calathes came into the game last night and reminded Griz fans that he’s still a good player and a dynamic passer. His length was immediately useful on defense, and his drive-and-kick game (and his telepathic connection with Kosta Koufos when Koufos rolls to the rim) was better that it was right after he returned from suspension, when he reverted to his old bad habit of running straight into the corners with the ball and getting trapped.
Calathes is still a valuable member of this Grizzlies team, even though Udrih is unquestionably The Backup Point Guard right now. I’d like to see Calathes deployed off the ball more, even in sets with Udrih. The Grizzlies have gotten a lot of mileage out of two-point-guard sets so far this season, so why not use all three point guards on the roster?
➭ Quincy Pondexter has really been struggling to find any kind of rhythm on offense as of late—he got a DNP-CD in the Warriors game and then started against the Spurs in Tony Allen’s absence—and it’s probably no coincidence that as Pondexter continues to try to find his shot, Tayshaun Prince has established himself back in the wing rotation. Prince was the odd man out for a large part of the early going this year, but his length, his ability to defend, and his effectiveness (yes, really!) in and against smallball lineups have proven to be valuable tools that the Grizzlies can actually use. It’s easy to forget that Prince’s viability as a rotation player at any level was a genuine question coming into the season. I don’t know what’s going to happen to Pondexter’s role when Allen returns from injury, but if Prince continues his solid play, I would expect Pondexter’s minutes to feel the squeeze while he struggles to find a place in the offense.
Tweet of the Night
The Gasol vs. Gasol battle last night was greatly overshadowed by Jimmy Butler and Nikola Mirotic carving up the Grizzlies piece by piece, but it wasn’t without its fireworks. Still, Pau ended up with 6 points and Marc had 13, so this feels true:
Pau and Marc are making sure not to score on each other too much so their mom doesn’t yell at them
— Ricky O’Donnell (@SBN_Ricky) December 20, 2014
Larry Kuzniewski
I feel like these two have been doing this sort of thing since early childhood.
Up Next
The Grizzlies go to Cleveland to play the Cavaliers at 3pm Memphis time on Sunday. Cleveland is good, but they’re still gelling, and they especially lack a rim protector (hence their supposed interest in trading for Kosta Koufos). The next time these two teams play is in Memphis in March—well after the trade deadline—so maybe they’ll get their wish. Who knows.
