- LARRY KUZNIEWSKI
- Zach Randolph recovered from his recent slump with a now-rare 20-10 night as the Grizzlies beat the Rockets.
The Lead: The Grizzlies got a bounce-back game from Zach Randolph — 21 and 12 and strong to the glass on both ends — and a solid performance from all of the starters plus sixth-man Jerryd Bayless — everyone doing what they can and should do well — to lead the Rockets buzzer to buzzer.
After a tight early stretch in which the Rockets’ high-octane offense was breaking through the Grizzlies perimeter defense and routinely finding open three-point shooters, the Grizzlies defense settled in, allowing the team to build a nice lead in the late second (up 8 at the half) and into the third quarter (a high of 17 about eight minutes into the third).
A mismatch of bench units in the second half kept the Grizzlies from pulling away, with a feisty Rockets group using five Grizzlies turnovers in a roughly three-minute span to peel off a 10-2 run that cut the Grizzlies lead back to single digits and prompted Lionel Hollins to come back earlier than desired with his starters.
With the starters back, the Grizzlies used tighter defense and back-to-back Mike Conley steals to regain control of the game.
Overall, it was a return to the balance and execution that has typified the Grizzlies at their best this season, with the team’s top six players all taking between nine and 12 field-goal attempts and all scoring in double digits. But the Grizzlies achieved this balance in the context of exploiting their interior game, with both Randolph (6-12 from the floor and 9-10 from the line) and Marc Gasol (21 points on 8-12 shooting) topping 20 points for only the third time this season.
