The Lead: The Grizzlies weathered an unlikely, late run from a colorful Hornets’ bench crew to hold on for a 108-99 win and remain undefeated at home against teams not named “the Oklahoma City Thunder.”
Despite being down as much as 17 points late in the third quarter, a Hornets lineup lead by former Grizzlies reserve Greivis Vasquez — making his first appearance in Memphis following his Christmas Eve trade to New Orleans — went on a 26-11 run over a seven-minute stretch in the late third and early fourth quarter, bringing the Hornets to within two points, 91-93. But the Grizzlies kept their composure and never let the Hornets pull even, with consecutive Tony Allen scores following the Hornets drawing to within two and Rudy Gay then taking advantage of mismatches to put the game away.
Gay, two nights after finally breaking out with his 26 points against the Knick, drove past Hornets big Jason Smith for a foul and hit both shots to make it a seven-point game at 2:54, then shot over Vasquez for a three-pointer that made it a 10-point game with just over two-minutes to go. After starting 2-7 and missing some good shots — including a power dunk attempt — Gay went 7-12 the rest of the way en route to a game high 23.
Man of the Match: It’s a testament to the kind of season Marc Gasol is having that his stat line of 20 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks, and 0 turnovers seems like a run-of-the-mill game. This was Gasol’s third 20/10 game in his past five. It was his eighth straight double-digit rebound game. His fifth straight game with at least two blocks. His fifth straight game to play at least 40 minutes. Gasol’s big post-season last spring overshadowed what had been a somewhat disappointing regular season. But Gasol is back to where he was two seasons ago, when he was the Grizzlies best all-around basketball player even with Rudy Gay scoring 20 a night and Zach Randolph making the all-star team. In fact, he’s even better, and the Grizzlies’ fall off is frequently steep in the rare minutes when he’s not in the game. I’m not sure how much of the greater NBA audience has taken notice yet, but Gasol is, at worst, the third-best center in the Association right now.
