Larry Kuzniewski
This happened to Spencer Hawes a lot last night.
Well, it was definitely a game between NBA blood rivals Grizzlies and Clippers, even if the score wasn’t much of a “rivalry game” score for most of the night. Marc Gasol started the game off with a couple of open jumpers, without the hesitation that’s marred his game a bit as of late, and from there the Grizzlies were running downhill at the Clippers all night long, grabbing a lead at the 9:42 mark of the first quarter and never surrendering it again.
For one of the best rivalries in the NBA, last night’s contest didn’t have much in the way of fireworks. Sure, the play was physical, and hard fouls were doled out right and left (and even Marc Gasol got into the act, drilling Blake Griffin to stop a layup), but once the Grizzlies got out to a double-digit lead, it was clear that the Clippers had no answer to what Gasol was doing. He ended up with 30, his first consecutive 30-point games in his career, and it looked like he could’ve gone for 40 if he’d been on the floor more.
The Clippers, for what it’s worth, look like they’ve regressed a bit. Blake Griffin is clearly not 100%, still recovering from a back fracture, and wasn’t anywhere near as active as he usually is. I’m not sure how much that contributed to Zach Randolph’s quiet game—Randolph had 10 points and 8 boards on 5–11 shooting in 29 minutes—but Griffin’s struggles meant that Chris Paul was clearly the best player on the floor for the Clippers at all times, and had to carry much of the weight of their offense by himself, something that the Grizzlies—who guarded him with Mike Conley, Tony Allen, and Quincy Pondexter at various points throughout the night—were already primed to prevent as much as they could.
Larry Kuzniewski
Griffin/Randolph was the matchup most wanted to see, but it didn’t amount to much last night.
One thing to note: Nick Calathes returned to action last night after serving his 20-game suspension. His first time touching the ball, he immediately dribbled into the corner and got trapped, but after that, he had a decent showing. It was clear that he hasn’t seen game action in a while, and it’ll take a few games for that rust to wear off, but the Conley/Calathes and Udrih/Calathes looks we saw from the Grizzlies are probably lineups he’ll be used in quite a bit this season, beyond “just” backup point guard. Udrih has developed some chemistry on offense in the last couple of weeks, so I doubt he’ll simply be relegated to the bench in favor of Calathes, but it is interesting to be able to trot out two vastly different backup point guards during the game and change up the look of the offense (and the defense; Calathes may not be a great defender but he’s good enough, and he’s longer than Udrih and Conley).
I said towards the end of the game that it was anticlimactic, in that it wasn’t a close game and never really got that tense, but it was in the best sense possible. The Grizzlies have now had two big wins at home, and almost knocked off the Raptors in Toronto with five players out of commission. They’re 12–2 for the first time since the 2012–13 season, in which they went on to win 56 games.
Tweet of the Night
Presumably after this play, but there are several to which it could apply:
Tony is the 16yo kid whose parents are out of town and finds the keys to the Ferrari
— Beno Fuego (@tab027) November 24, 2014
Up Next
Ah, yes, it’s time for the Grizzlies’ world-famous West Coast Road Trip. It’s a little later than normal this year, but the Grizzlies play at the Lakers on Wednesday, at Portland on Friday, at Sacramento on Sunday, and then after a couple of days off, they’re at Houston on Wednesday before coming home to play the Spurs. It’s a long road trip against some tough teams (and the Lakers), but the way the Grizzlies are playing right now, who knows how it’ll end? They’ve gotten off to a hot enough start that I think they can afford to take a schedule loss somewhere in this trip, but if they can do what they did last year and win all four games, it would go a long way towards building some distance from some of the rest of the Western Conference pack.
