Larry Kuzniewski
It was just like this, except in Atlanta, with different Hawks uniforms, and Conley was wearing a mask.
After what was probably the most horrible first quarter of basketball I’ve seen from this group of Griz players, the Grizzlies came from way behind to beat the Hawks in Atlanta last night, 82-81.
The game was in many ways a “dress rehearsal” for the regular season: the starters (and I’m including both Jeff Green and Tony Allen in that group; more on that in a bit) played heavy minutes in the usual spots of the game, the bench rotation was shortened, and both teams looked like they were actually trying to win, something that seems to always happen in at least one preseason game per year.
After a 7-point first quarter, and a 4-31 shooting start to the game, the Griz defense clamped down and out scored the Hawks 75-57 in the last three quarters to come all the way back. Some notes:
Game Notes
➭ Joerger played eleven guys, but it was really more like nine: Ryan Hollins soaked up the bulk of the minutes at the “fourth big” spot, while JaMychal Green played 2:26 and Jarnell Stokes played 4:42. Hollins played well enough—as he has all preseason—but I’m still not sure I see what makes him a better fit for this rotation than (JaMychal) Green, other than “he’s 7 feet tall” and “he plays hard.” Last night was the closest thing to a regular season game the Griz have played yet, though, and Hollins was the guy who got the minutes, so I’m bracing for Hollins to be on that opening day roster even though I don’t really think he should be.
We’ll see what happens in the Grizzlies’ next game in Orlando; if that game is another “dress rehearsal” type game and Hollins still gets the bulk of the minutes, Joerger will really be sending the message that he wants Hollins on the roster. If Ja. Green gets the minutes, you’ll know he’s still exploring his options.
(For what it’s worth, Beno Udrih got all of the backup PG minutes last night—Russ Smith didn’t play at all.)
➭ Jeff Green started over Tony Allen and, well, the Grizzlies got off to one of the worst starts I’ve ever seen. In the first quarter they scored 7 points on 3 of 26 shooting (including 0-5 from 3-point range), while the Hawks put up 24. The entire team seemed disjointed and disinterested, and even the guys who looked like they were doing the right thing couldn’t hit the basket if it were the size of one of those plastic kiddie pools.
Can’t really blame Green for that, though, if everyone on the floor was terrible, starter or not. As the game wore on, especially in the third and fourth quarters, he got better, starting to find his place on the floor and make plays in the flow of the game. If (and it’s probably the biggest if for this franchise right now) he can continue to do that, and not bog things down, maybe there’s a spot for him after all.
It was worth noting that Joerger almost never changes who starts the second half from the first, and Tony Allen started in Green’s place at the beginning of the 3rd and played 7:20 to Green’s 4:40.
I get the sense that we’ll be talking about whether Green should be a starter for the rest of the time he’s on the team, whether that’s until December, until May, or beyond.
Larry Kuzniewski
Zach Randolph put up 19 and 13 last night against the Hawks.
➭ In a scary moment in the second half, Courtney Lee left the floor and immediately went to the locker room with some sort of leg injury. Ron Tillery of the Commercial Appeal later reported that it was a knee bruise from bumping knees with Atlanta’s Jeff Teague, and Lee wasn’t limping after the game. Lee has unquestionably been the best player of the Grizzlies’ preseason, so seeing him injured at all was a nice little gut-wrenching moment as I squinted at my bootleg stream of the game from Atlanta’s League Pass feed. Glad to hear all is well there.
➭ Marc Gasol hasn’t looked very crisp this preseason. I don’t want to say he looks out of shape, because that’s not true, but he’s definitely (1) not quite as lean as he was coming into 2014’s training camp and (2) not moving quite as cleanly on the floor.
As has been noted all over the place, this summer was the first that Gasol’s ever taken off from playing with the Spanish National Team, and it shows right now. He just looks out of the habit of playing basketball.
My guess, though, is that whatever hit his early-season performance takes from his lack of international play will be more than made up for down the stretch of the season when he’s not as fatigued from the constant basketball. As Marc ages, he’s got to be more mindful of the mileage he puts on his body, and a full summer of wear-and-tear after so many years of playing into May is quite a bit of work.
Even though he may not look 100% right now, he still looks 90%, and my assumption is that he’ll play his way into shape as he gets back into the routine of the season.
Tweet of the Night
I don’t think there’s any question that this is the part of Jeff Green that we can all enjoy in common. Poor Kyle Korver’s face.
That’s just nasty @unclejeffgreen! https://t.co/VA5DMGrTaS
— Memphis Grizzlies (@memgrizz) October 22, 2015
Up Next
The Grizzlies’ last preseason game is Friday night at the Orlando Magic. Who knows what we’ll see—maybe a clear-the-benches blowout where all of the guys unlikely to make the 15-man roster get their chance to shine, or maybe a tight mid-season rotation like we saw last night.
One hopes Jordan Adams will have recovered to the point that he can get some playing time in Orlando, but that remains to be seen. I’m starting to fear that Adams’ chance at proving he belongs in this rotation might be hampered by his lack of playing time in preseason, because Lord knows Joerger won’t play him in “real” games for a while.
