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Next Day Notes, Playoff Edition: Game 2: Grizzlies 97, Blazers 82

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

Larry Kuzniewski

Courtney Lee returned to his early-season form in Game 2, scoring 18 points on 11 shots.

The Grizzlies are now the owners of the first 2-0 series lead in the history of the franchise after knocking off the Portland Trail Blazers 97-82 in another (if slightly less typical) Grindhouse rout. Once they got through the first two minutes of the second quarter, the Griz never trailed again, and though Portland played a better game than they did in Game 1, ultimately it ended in the same fashion: a double-digit Grizzlies victory over a team that has been decimated by injury at the shooting guard spot.

The first half started slow and subdued, both on the floor and in the building. It was a late-arriving crowd and the Grizzlies’ game at both ends of the floor seemed to follow suit, with no shots falling and the Blazers scoring at will. After 2:30 of play, the Griz were down 10-2, but that was as far as it got before things started to shape up. Courtney Lee had 7 in the first frame, which kept the Grizzlies’ 21-19 deficit from being much worse than it could’ve been.

The second quarter saw the Grizzlies’ defense finally start to clamp down, while the Grizlies’ guards started to get on a roll of their own. With Gasol and Randolph combining to shoot 2-15 in the first half, it was a good thing. First, Beno Udrih continued to rain fire and brimstone on the city of Portland, going 4-7 from the floor for 8 points in 8 minutes before turning into a pillar of salt tweaking his ankle and limping to the locker room. The rest of the team picked up where he left off, and by the end of the half the Grizzlies had built an 11-point lead out of guard play, even making more 3’s (5 to Portland’s 2) on the same number of attempts (8), which is a bad sign for Portland, whose outside shooting was considered to be one of the few advantages they had over Memphis given their ongoing struggles with injuries. At halftime, the Grizzlies had 21 second chance points despite having the same number of offensive rebounds as Portland. Everything started to break the Grizzlies’ way.

The third quarter saw the Griz push their lead out as high as 18, with Zach Randolph finally waking up and scoring 8 points (most of which involved some form of tremendous, slow violence being done to LaMarcus Aldridge’s upper body) while Courtney Lee caught fire and poured on 7 points. Lee played with a confidence and a swagger we haven’t seen from him in months—not since well before he injured his hand and started playing poorly down the stretch after the All-Star Break.

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The Blazers, as always, didn’t close up shop. Early in the 4th they cut the Griz lead back down to 10, where it hovered between 8 and 13 for a while. Mike Conley and Courtney Lee continued their scoring, with Conley returning for Udrih at the five minute mark and immediately carving up the Portland defense on a crafty hesitation-laden drive to the basket. Udrih’s scoring has meant Conley can stay much fresher than he ever has in Griz playoff history, and the difference has been immediately visible. He hasn’t played 30 minutes in either game the Griz have played so far. The clampdown continued by the Griz D, Zach Randolph, Marc Gasol, Courtney Lee, and Mike Conley all managed to score double digits (with Conley and Lee both flirting with a 20-piece, a.k.a. “The Beno Combo Meal”) and eventually the game tilted too far in the home team’s favor for Portland to catch up, and the Grizzlies took the first 2-0 series lead they’ve ever had.

Larry Kuzniewski

Mike Conley had an excellent game, and only had to play 29 minutes.

Game Notes

➭ After a spring that left most Griz fans baffled and more than a little frustrated by his lack of production (though some of that was later explained away by a lingering unreported hand injury), Courtney Lee was excellent, scoring 18 points on 8-11 shooting, including 2-3 from long range. Lee was able to get open often, and when he was open, he shot, something Dave Joerger said in the postgame presser that he exhorted Lee to do early in the game after he passed up a wide-open shot.

From then on, Lee was relentless in looking to take and make shots. His pullup jumpers were falling, his 3-point shot looked better than it has in months, and even though he didn’t break the 20-point mark (he scored a season-high 22 against Phoenix in November), when Lee scores like that, the Grizzlies are much more dangerous. It was a good sign for this series and for whatever aspirations the Grizzlies have for advancing beyond it that Lee has looked comfortable in these playoffs and seems to be getting better as they roll on.

➭ He was able to keep his minutes down to only 29 due to another scoring outburst from Beno Udrih, but Mike Conley played an excellent all-around game, doing a very good job of shutting down Damian Lillard on defense while scoring 18 points and making 6 assists. As mentioned above, with Udrih’s scoring making this year’s 4th Quarter Conley much less tired than any other postseason iteration, his drives to the basket were awe-inspiring, and having him that fresh at the end of games completely changes how the Grizzlies play down the stretch.

Larry Kuzniewski

Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol didn’t carry the team in Game 2, and didn’t have to.

➭ Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol struggled to make shots but it didn’t matter because of the guard play. Even though they needed a combined 31 shots to make their 25 combined points, Randolph and Gasol set a tone for the game inside that kept things In The Mud where the Grizzlies wanted them, with Randolph bullying LaMarcus Aldridge for 8 points in the third quarter after going scoreless in the whole first half. We saw tonight what we’ve been dreaming about since the fall: when the Grizzlies actually hit shots, Gasol and Randolph don’t have to have good games every night. They can do their thing, defend well, and score just enough instead of carrying the entire burden of the offense.

Whether the Grizzlies will shoot that well for the rest of the series remains to be seen; a whole mountain of evidence from this season and earlier would suggest that they won’t. There will yet be a game in this series where the Grizzlies’ Gasol/Randolph tandem has to carry the team for 48 minutes, making ugly baskets through fisticuffs when nothing else will work. Tonight, though, was not that game, and for once it didn’t cost the Grizzlies a playoff game.

➭ Tony Allen re-joined the starting lineup and was pretty much the ideal form of Tony Allen: lots of tricks, lots of treats, lots of deflections, lots of insanity. Tony was even responsible for this moment:

Let’s just say that Allen’s injury no longer appears to be preventing him from unleashing pure unadulterated basketball chaos upon the heretofore hapless Trail Blazers, and in the two games played so far, that’s been pretty rad.

➭ Vince Carter hit three threes and generally looked like a much better version of Vince Carter than the Grizzlies have had on the floor in a while. That’s a good sign. Hopefully the rust continues to shake off and Carter gets hotter and hotter as the playoffs continue until he goes nova and scores 300 points in 27 minutes in a week or two and the league retires the #15 for every team in the league. It’s good to have goals and dreams.

The Chess Match

Portland is really hurting for wing and guard production, with their starting 2-guards (CJ McCollum and Allen Crabbe in the last two games, respectively) combining for 5 total points in two games. The injuries to Wes Matthews and Arron Afflalo have punched a big hole in the Blazers’ offensive boat, and so far LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard haven’t been able to bail enough water to keep it afloat. The Blazers desperately need to get Afflalo back, or else they’re going to continue to struggle to score.

The Grizzlies did struggle with Meyers Leonard and his shooting in Game 2, but not enough to make a difference in the outcome of the game. Leonard had 10 points on 5 shots and made 2 threes, and while he was on the floor the Griz defense was stretched a little. The Blazers also missed Chris Kaman in Game 2, who was out with a sprained ankle, so it’s impossible to really gauge what the Portland bench rotation would’ve looked like with Leonard playing more minutes and Joel Freeland never coming anywhere near the scorer’s table, much less actually checking into the game.

Jeff Green has yet to have a good offensive game—he was 3-11 in Game 1 and 4-13 in Game 2—but he’s still had a positive impact, especially with the second unit. If he can figure it out and make even half of his shots, he’ll have a monster game, and the Griz will probably need a monster game out of him at some point in the near future, especially if Portland figures out how to score outside the paint in Game 3 or 4.

Tweet(s) of the Night

Up Next

Game 3 is in Portland at 9:30 Memphis time on Saturday. I look for Portland to play better than they did in the first two games—home cooking always makes a difference in the playoffs, and Portland’s home crowds are legendarily nuts. If the Grizzlies can grab a split of Games 3 and 4, though, they’ll be in good shape coming back home for Game 5 and would be able to rest a little before the next round starts—which looks like it will be against the Golden State Warriors, so whichever team is going to win this series is best served by getting it over with as quickly as possible.