Tag: basketball

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Sports Sports Feature

Rockets Thump Grizzlies, 105-92

AP – Tracy McGrady had his third career triple-double and Yao Ming had 24 points and 13 rebounds to help the Houston Rockets beat the Memphis Grizzlies 105-92 on Wednesday.

McGrady, who was cold shooting from the field early, finished with 17 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists.

Reserve Bonzi Wells added a season-high 24 for Houston, which has won four of six since losing six straight.

Pau Gasol led the Grizzlies with 23 points and 12 rebounds while Damon Stoudamire had 19 points. Memphis has lost eight of 12.

The Grizzlies came back from a 13-point halftime deficit to get within seven at one point in the third quarter.

But McGrady, who hit only three of his first 15 shots, warmed up in the third by scoring seven points. Yao added 13 as Houston pulled back to an 85-71 lead after three.

Notes: McGrady’s other triple-doubles came against Philadelphia (22-11-11) on Feb. 23, 2002 and New Jersey (46-13-10) on Feb. 23, 2003. It was his first with the Rockets. … Grizzlies C Darko Milicic didn’t start due to a strained left ankle. Gasol moved to the center spot and Juan Carlos Navarro started at forward. Milicic, who missed seven games due to a strained left thumb, had been back only two games. … Yao missed his second free throw of the game, ending a string of 27 straight. It started in the second quarter of the Nov. 26 game at the Los Angeles Clippers. … Stoudamire equaled his season high for 3-pointers with four.

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Sports Sports Feature

Memphis Tops USC in OT, 62-58

The Memphis Tigers overcame horrendous free-throw shooting (7-17) and a tenacious Southern Cal triangle-and-two defense to defeat the Trojans in the Jimmy V Classic in Madison Square Garden, 62-58.

Robert Dozier led Memphis with 13 points and 8 rebounds, followed by Chris Douglas-Roberts with 10 points and 9 boards. Freshman sensation O.J. Mayo led SC with 16 points and 5 rebounds, but the Tigers superior rebounding (46-29) led to numerous second-chance points as Memphis wore down their opponent in overtime.

For stats and recap, go to CBS sportsline.

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Sports Sports Feature

Memphis is Eight-Point Favorite Over USC at MSG

We know that readers of this website would ever place a bet on a basketball game, but if you’re looking to see what the professional odds-makers think about tonight’s game between 2nd-ranked Memphis and 25th-ranked USC, we suggest you check out TheSpread.com.

Here’s a sample: Oddsmakers from Bodog have made Memphis -8 point spread favorites for today’s game. Current public betting information shows that 71 percent of bets for this game have been placed on Memphis -8.

Rose and Mayo were two of the most heavily recruited guards in their class, and both figure to be early selections in next summer’s NBA draft. Both players have also gotten off to hot starts in their collegiate careers.

The 6-foot-4 Rose has helped Memphis (6-0) match the highest ranking in school history. The Tigers, who are No. 2 for the first time since the 1985-86 season, haven’t started 6-0 since 1995-96.

Rose is averaging 17 points, and is coming off perhaps his best game of the season. He had 19 points and 12 assists in a 104-82 win over Austin Peay last Tuesday.

There’s much more here.

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Sports Sports Feature

Grizzlies Lose Heartbreaker at Buzzer to Portland, 106-105

CREDIT: Ward Archer

(AP) – Travis Outlaw scored 21 points, including the winning 6-foot runner as the buzzer sounded, to give the Portland Trail Blazers their first road victory of the season, 106-105 over the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night.

Officials reviewed the basket after the game not only to see if Outlaw got the shot off in time, but also whether the clock started properly when Portland inbounded the ball with 2.8 seconds left.

Outlaw took the inbounds pass near midcourt and drove the right side on Mike Miller before firing the off-balance bank shot. Outlaw scored the last seven points for the Trail Blazers over the game’s final 56 seconds.

It was Outlaw’s second buzzer-beater of the game as his 30-footer at the horn cut Memphis’ lead to 80-78 at the end of three quarters.

Rudy Gay had 30 points, including a sweeping rebound tip with 2.8 seconds left to give Memphis the lead before Outlaw’s winning basket.

Miller had a season-high 30 points for the Grizzlies.

Brandon Roy had 26 points and nine assists for Portland, which had lost its first nine road games this season. LaMarcus Aldridge finished with 23 points.
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Juan Carlos Navarro had 16 points for Memphis, while Pau Gasol added 14 points and 15 rebounds.

The game was tied at 99 with 2:08 left after Roy hit an 18-footer. But consecutive baskets by Damon Stoudamire gave Memphis a 103-99 lead with just over a minute to play.

Outlaw bounced in a 9-footer with 56 seconds left and added a 3-pointer with 15 seconds remaining to give Portland the lead before Gay’s sweeping tip-in.

The Grizzlies held a seven-point lead earlier in the fourth, but seemed to run out of gas, hitting only two field goals over a 4-minute span. That allowed Portland to put together a 10-2 run, erasing Memphis’ lead.

The Grizzlies led 57-50 at halftime behind 18 points from Miller and 14 from Gay, as they combined to shoot 12-of-19 in the half.

James Jones had 11 of his 16 points in the first half to lead Portland.

The Trail Blazers hit 11 of their final 17 shots in the first quarter. Meanwhile, Memphis seemed to be struggling through its offensive flow early, not handling the ball cleanly and having some shooting issues. Gasol, who had 10 points in the half, missed five of his first six shots and had two others rejected by Joel Przybilla.

James Jones, who either did not play or was inactive during a 12-game stretch earlier this season, had his second productive game, hitting his first four shots from the field and missing only one of seven shots on the night.

Memphis came out flat in the early minutes of the second half committing four turnovers in the first three minutes and missing its first three shots. But Miller got untracked and scored 10 points in the period, and Memphis built a nine-point lead.

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Sports Sports Feature

Grizzlies Blister T-Wolves, 109-80

The Memphis Grizzlies took an early lead and kept pulling away throughout the game to cruise to an easy victory over Minnesota at the FedExForum Saturday night.

Rudy Gay had 21 points, and Mike Miller had 18 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Griz, who had six players in double figures.

For stats and a recap, go to CBS sports online.

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Editorial Opinion

All Have Won …

… And all must have prizes. We’re talking about the bounteous blessings that the holiday season has bestowed upon various local university athletic departments.

Closest to home is the University of Memphis, which (besides having one of the top-ranked basketball teams in the nation) finished its football season in a blaze of unexpected glory, winning five of its last six games to finish 7-5, becoming thereby bowl-worthy. In its finale against Southern Methodist University, Tommy West’s Tigers thrilled all who beheld the game with a triple-overtime victory. The team’s prize? A visit to the New Orleans Bowl and, one hopes, a bumper recruiting crop for next year.

Then there’s the University of Tennessee Volunteers. They won their heart-stopper against the University of Kentucky, triumphing finally in four overtimes, no less, 52-50, when the Vols stopped a two-point effort by the Wildcats, victors against mighty L.S.U. in a previous multiple-overtime game this year. All the Volunteers gained from Saturday’s game was the Eastern Conference championship of the Southeastern Conference. And a place in the SEC title contest. That’s all.

Speaking of L.S.U., those other Tigers from Louisiana State had long since recovered from their licking by Kentucky to regain the number-one ranking in the nation, until they encountered on Saturday yet another football team with a strong local following. This was the University of Arkansas Razorbacks, who played either well over their heads or up to their potential in downing the Bayou Bengals, 50-48, in, yep, another triple-overtime affair.

In the process, Razorback quarterback Darren McFadden surely enhanced his credentials for the Heisman Trophy. Meanwhile, the Razorbacks en masse enhanced their credentials for the Cotton Bowl with the victory. There was one cloud over Arkansas’ holiday sunshine, however: the resignation of longtime head coach Houston Nutt, victim of some passing strange northwest Arkansas soap opera which we don’t pretend to understand.

Mississippi State’s Bulldogs had suffered three straight losing seasons under head coach Sylvester Croom. But— eureka! — they emerged from Saturday’s Egg Bowl contest against arch-rival Ole Miss with one of the strangest come-from-behind victories we’ve seen in quite a while. That was owing to Rebel coach Ed Orgeron’s bizarre decision, with a 14-0 lead and 10 minutes left, ball at midfield and fourth and one, to go against logic and the odds in an effort to make a first down. Bad idea. The Bulldogs got the ball, the momentum, and the game, as they made two quick touchdowns and kicked a last-second field goal — 17-14 and over and out for Orgeron, who was let go as Ole Miss coach the next day.

So, is the University of Mississippi, winless in its SEC games for the first time since 1982, the only sad sack in the holiday saga of Mid-South college football? Actually, Arkansas’ loss became Mississippi’s gain with the hiring on Tuesday of the aforesaid Nutt as Rebel coach. Not since the late Johnny Vaught has Ole Miss possessed a football mentor with the record and reputation that Nutt, voted Coach of the Year in 2006, will bring. Nutt is what you might call glad tidings for the once-mighty Rebel program — the ghost of Christmas future, as it were.

Congratulations, all, and pass the cranberry sauce.

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Sports Sports Feature

Tigers Top Austin Peay, 104-82

AP – Derrick Rose had 19 points and 12 assists, and No. 3 Memphis shot 64 percent Tuesday night in a 104-82 victory over Austin Peay.

Rose was coming off his worst game of the season, a four-point performance against Arkansas State a week ago. Tuesday, he shot 6-of-8 from the field as Memphis (6-0) built the lead to as many as 23 early in the second half.

Chris Douglas-Roberts led Memphis with 23 points on 11-of-15 shooting, and Shawn Taggart added a career-high 17 points. Joey Dorsey was one of three Tigers with 10 points. He also grabbed 10 rebounds.

Drake Reed led the Governors (2-4) with 21 points, missing only one of his nine shots, while Todd Babington finished with 18 points on 5-of-8 from the field, all from 3-point range. Wes Channels had 16 for the Governors, and Kyle Duncan finished with 10 points, hitting all four of his shots from the field.

Memphis has won all its games by double digits. The Governors, who have lost two straight, never got the deficit under 16 in the final 17 minutes.

Stats, box score.

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Sports Sports Feature

Grizzlies Beat Nets, 110-103

The Memphis Grizzlies built an early lead and withstood a late charge by the New Jersey Nets to win on the road, 110-103.

After building as much as an 18 point lead, the Grizzlies saw the Nets draw to within one point before they were able to pull away behind strong free throw shooting in the final minutes

The Griz were led by Pau Gasol, who had 22 points, and Juan Carlos Navarro, who had 16 points and 10 rebounds. The Griz won consecutive games for the first time this season.

For stats and recap, go to SI.com.

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Sports Sports Feature

Griz Whack Wiz, 124-118

AP — Juan Carlos Navarro scored 28 points, Rudy Gay added 27, and the Memphis Grizzlies overcame Antawn Jamison’s 41 points and 11 rebounds to beat the Washington Wizards 124-118 on Saturday night.

Jamison shot 18-of-22 from the floor for the Wizards, who lost their second in a row after a six-game winning streak. The Grizzlies won for the first time in three games.

Mike Miller and Kyle Lowry each had 17 points for Memphis with 15 of Lowry’s points coming in the second half. Caron Butler had 27 points and seven rebounds for the Wizards.

Memphis held the biggest lead of the night for either team, 14 points at 101-87 with 6:10 to play. The Wizards got within 122-118 when Jamison scored inside with 13 seconds left, but could get no closer.

Lowry kept the Grizzlies in front with eight points in the final 2 minutes, including six straight free throws. He finished the night 13-of-14 from the line.

Stats. Chris Herrington’s GrizBlog.

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Sports Sports Feature

New Wave?

With apologies to Jean-Luc Godard, here’s a series of discrete observations on the Grizzlies after nine regular-season games:

1) They’re better than their record. The Grizzlies may have a new coach and lots of new players, but this is still a franchise with a fan base that’s long past celebrating moral victories. That said, this team has played better basketball than its 2-7 record (heading into Monday night’s game against the Sonics) suggests. Of the seven NBA teams with two or fewer wins, none has played closer games against a tougher schedule than the Grizzlies. Over the course of a 1-3 stretch last week, the Grizzlies’ opponents had a combined 21-9 record, with the Grizzlies beating the then 6-1 Rockets and losing to the Bucks, Hornets, and Mavericks by a total of eight points. Since this Grizzlies team seemed predestined to start slow and improve over the course of the season, the team’s ability to be so competitive against such quality competition is a legitimate reason for optimism.

2) Pau’s not right. Rather than stepping up his production early on to help a young roster get through early-season struggles, Pau Gasol has been less productive than even during his rookie season. If you don’t think the problem is primarily physical — a result of the phalanx of minor injuries (back, ankle, finger) Gasol has been struggling through and the fatigue that comes from another summer of international competition — then take a look at the dramatic reduction in Gasol’s rate of blocked shots. After averaging 1.9 blocks in 35 minutes a game through his career, Gasol is averaging 0.6 blocks in 34 minutes a game so far this season. This indicator of athleticism confirms what the naked eye sees: Gasol is showing less lift and quickness this season.

3) They still need a closer. One reason the Grizzlies have lost so many close games this season is that they’ve struggled to score on half-court possessions at the end of games. Other than a flurry of desperate three-pointers (three in the final 13 seconds) to send their game against New Orleans into overtime, the Grizzlies haven’t been able to convert on crucial possessions late in games, searching fruitlessly for reliable scoring options: Kyle Lowry getting stripped against the Bucks; Gasol getting stripped against the Mavs; Juan Carlos Navarro missing consecutive open threes against the Mavs. Rudy Gay is developing nicely as a scorer, but his off-the-dribble game is still too suspect to be a reliable go-to guy.

4) The future is now or should be. Heading into the season, the conventional wisdom on the Grizzlies’ point-guard situation was that veteran Damon Stoudamire would give the team a better chance to win now than “raw” rookie Michael Conley. Nine games in, I think we can put an end to that assumption. At 34, age and injuries have robbed Stoudamire of the quickness he had in his 20s. His advantage over Conley was supposed to be his superior shooting and ability to lead a team. But, over last week’s four-game stretch, Stoudamire shot 6-21 and left the Grizzlies with a first-quarter deficit in three of four games.

Conley has played only 72 minutes in five games (all on the road) but has outplayed Stoudamire in virtually every way: better shooting percentage, more prolific scoring, a higher assist rate, and a lower turnover rate. He’s not just the point guard of the future; he’s the better player right now. Conley strained his shoulder against the Mavericks, but as soon as he’s back to 100 percent, he deserves to supplant Stoudamire in the rotation.

5) There’s a missing piece. The Grizzlies are still a bad defensive team. There’s plenty of room for internal improvement in this area, but the team could use a physical defender off the bench who can guard both wing positions. Tarence Kinsey is too slight for this role; Casey Jacobsen is too slow. If there’s an in-season trade, look for a player of this type to be the target.