Jaren Jackson, Jr. against Kevin Durant on December 2, 2023 as the Grizzlies battled the Phoenix Suns at Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images)
Jaren Jackson Jr. played just 14 minutes and was benched due to foul trouble on Friday night in the Mavericks victory. He made amends by scoring a season-high 37 points in Saturday’s 116-109 loss to the Phoenix Suns.
Jackson Jr. scored a game and season-high for Memphis on 13-of-21 shooting while adding seven rebounds, three steals, an assist, and a block. He was 6-of-6 from the field at the half. He has now scored in double figures in all but three games this season.
“Angles — it was all angles,” Jackson Jr. described what was working for him against the Suns. “That was all that was working. Just figuring out how to score tonight; just figuring it out and just driving. That is all I had going for me.”
Although his offensive output has been off this season, the one positive aspect of his offense has been Jackson Jr.’s ability to get to the free-throw line. He is getting to the line for 6.1 attempts per game so far this season and has become one of the league’s best at drawing fouls.
Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins praised Jackson Jr. for his efforts against Phoenix. “I mean, this was a great game for him to bounce back from the other night, Jenkins said.
“But I’m really impressed with him just playing with force, physicality, and getting angles on guys one-on-one. Touch, finishing ability — it’s always been there.”
Jenkins continued: “And then, obviously, he unleashed it tonight. He knocked down threes, so [with] that inside-outside game that he’s capable of — stepping up to the free throw line, he had 10 free throws tonight, which is really impressive.”
The reigning Defensive Player of the Year was not pleased, however, with how things got away in the second half. He said, “They started scoring a little bit. Sometimes, good teams just keep going. We have to figure out a way to cut that off — we did not. They just got a big lead late, and that was kind of the problem.”
Desmond Bane finished with 27 points on 10-of-17 shooting, five assists, and three rebounds for Memphis, even though he was limited in the first half due to foul trouble. Bane is averaging a career-best 23.8 points per game this season.
Vince Williams Jr. added 12 points and six rebounds in 30 minutes of action as a reserve. Williams Jr. nearly recorded his first double-double in a win against Dallas on Friday night, tallying 15 points (matching his career high) and a career-best nine rebounds.
For the Suns, Devin Booker (34) and Kevin Durant (27) combined to score 61, taking over the game for good in the second half. Durant said after the game, “That team over there (Memphis), they play extremely hard. They muddy up the game a lot. So from just playing them over the years, we knew it was going to be a back-and-forth game in the first half.”
He concluded, “Our defense was solid the whole game, and we were able to get out into transition and get some baskets to open the game up.”
The Suns used the free throw line to their advantage, getting to the line 19 more times than Memphis, finishing 35-for-43 while the Grizzlies finished 22-for-24 from the line.
The Magic Number is Six
There are six more games until Grizzlies All-Star guard Ja Morant is scheduled to return from his 25-game league suspension.
Up Next
Memphis will head to Detroit to take on the 0-17 Detroit Pistons at 6 p.m. CT at Little Caesars on Wednesday, December 6.
Ja Morant handles the ball against Ben Simmons. (Credit: Aimee Stiegemeyer)
What’s good, Grizz Nation? Your Memphis Grizzlies defeated the Brooklyn Nets 134-124 in the second home game of the season.
Let’s get into it.
Drama plagued Brooklyn in the offseason, with one of their star players, Kevin Durant, requesting to be traded and that Nets’ owner Joe Tsai fire general manager Sean Marks and head coach Steve Nash. None of those things happened, and Durant opted to remain with the team. Judging from his performance in Monday night’s game, any residual awkwardness from Durant’s off-season behavior has not affected his on-court ability. Durant and Kyrie Irving each scored 37 points in the loss.
The Grizzlies welcomed the return of Dillon Brooks, who played for the first time this season. Brooks had a quiet night offensively but still brought his signature defensive effort, culminating in him and Kevin Durant receiving double technical fouls in the first half.
But the real dynamic duo of the night turned out to be Ja Morant and Desmond Bane. Their combined 76 points set a new franchise record for combined points by two teammates. Morant and Bane each put up 38 points, with the latter setting new career highs in scoring and three-pointers made.
Desmond Bane launches from behind the three-point line. (Credit: Aimee Stiegemeyer)
By the Numbers:
Ja Morant closed out the night with 38 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, and two steals while shooting 4 of 6 from three-point range. Morant is currently leading the league in total points scored (141) and in highest-scoring game (49).
Desmond Bane also finished with 38 points and 7 assists, shooting 8 of 11 from beyond the arc. Bane scored 32 of his points in the second half.
12skii + deuce deuce went 𝐅𝐄𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋 in the win last night.
Santi Aldama had 17 points and 4 rebounds; Brandon Clarke dropped 13 points from the bench on 4 of 5 field goal attempts.
Steven Adams put up 9 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.
Who Got Next?
The Grizzlies are embarking on a 4-game road trip, with their first stop in Sacramento to face off against the Kings Thursday night. Tip-off is at 9 PM CDT.
The Grizzlies just keep celebrating in this historic season. (Photo cred: Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images)
On Wednesday night, the Grizzlies’ star guard was sidelined for the second straight game with knee soreness as Memphis took on the Nets. Still, the Grizzlies showed they are a complete team with the next man up mentality.
Ja Morant is by far the best player on the team, but his teammates are solid players as well. Their skill was on full display in front of a packed FedExForum — and a national TV audience on ESPN. The Grizzlies beat the Nets 132-120.
Nets head coach Steve Nash had some interesting and telling words after the game about the Grizzlies ability to win without Ja Morant. He said, “Talent — they have a talented, balanced roster. Our roster is built on three stars. When they’re out it makes it very difficult and puts a big strain on guys to play roles that they haven’t played before.”
Kevin Durant also spoke about Memphis’ ability to win without Morant. “I mean look down the line, they got solid players all the way down the line, just good players, you know. De’Anthony Melton came in and changed the game. I think that’s what won them the game. I think our starting five, pretty much match them. You know, then you know you got guys off the bench that came in and play well, so they got a deep team. They got a lot of athletic guys and they run fast, and he played [with] a lot of confidence.”
Durant continued, “I think one through 10 in their rotation are just solid players. You know Ja [Morant] is the superstar on this team, but they got guys that can start with pretty much a lot of teams in the league. Their front office did a great job putting this team together.”
De’Anthony Melton led the charge off the bench with a season-high 23 points, including a career-high six 3-pointers.
The Memphis bench outscored the Nets reserves 52-11.
“We are nothing to play with — one man goes down, two men go down — we are so deep you know we have a lot of depth in our team,” said Melton after the statement win before a national TV audience. “We have a lot of guys that work on their game and want to win from the top to the bottom no matter what. So, we understand what we need to do to go out there and get the victory. We’re going to do that no matter what. Each guy understands that and is willing to put their body on the line for it.”
In Morant’s absence, Melton had his own highlight dunk that surely will be featured on SportsCenter.
Dillon Brooks also has a special message about the Grizzlies. “We still got the grit — we still got the grind,” Brooks proclaimed. “I feel like we just got a lot of swagger to us. It doesn’t matter who it is on the floor. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing against. We just have that different type of swagger. It shouldn’t matter if we’re playing Brooklyn or if we’re playing Atlanta. We have to figure out how to keep this same energy, the same grit, the same attention to detail so we can finish out the season and go into the playoffs with some momentum.” Brooks ended the night with 21 points, three rebounds and two assists.
Desmond Bane had 23 points on 6-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc, including 3 three-pointers in the game’s final frame to help give Memphis a 132-120 victory over the Nets as “Whoop That Trick” blasted loudly on ESPN.
Bane walked to the interview podium with the game ball tucked in his hand. “It’s a huge accomplishment — I’m super thankful,” Bane said about breaking the franchise record. “I have to thank my teammates, first and foremost. And Coach Jenkins, for giving us all the confidence to be aggressive and continue to let it fly, make or miss. We got a great team, something special going on. We always share the ball and the ball happens to find me in the right place. And the rest is history.”
The TCU alum said he will have Mike Miller sign the game ball, and he will sign it himself, date it, and then put it up. Bane also revealed that he and Miller had a good relationship.
“We’re not sneaking up on nobody anymore. The Grizzlies got that respect. I mean, it started kind of this morning and yesterday with All Access [ESPN] and stuff like that.”
Desmond Bane at the post game presser with his record breaking game ball.
ESPN crews had been in Memphis the last couple of days to bring national attention to the Grizzlies. Personalities including Andrews, Stephen A. Smith, Jalen Rose, Kendrick Perkins, and more were in the Bluff City.
“The national networks are starting to take notice and pick up on our team and a great season we’re having,” Bane added. “To beat a team like Brooklyn, who’s building, trying to contend for it all. We’re shorthanded without Ja; it says a lot about our team and what we’re capable of.”
Stingy defense by Jaren Jackson Jr. and Brandon Clarke kept Brooklyn at just 16 points in the fourth quarter and ensured a decisive victory. Jackson Jr. ended with 13 points, five rebounds, and four blocks while Clarke finished with a double-double, 14 points, and 10 rebounds off the bench.
— Bally Sports: Grizzlies (@GrizzOnBally) March 24, 2022
“That’s one of our best big combinations and we didn’t know what they were going to do lineup-wise,” Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins said of the two defensive studs. “Start off the fourth quarter, which we normally start our force with [Brandon Clarke] and [Jaren Jackson Jr.], those guys. You just see the activity they play with. We started switching actions more, pick-and-rolls, putting bigs onto [Kyrie] Irving.”
Jenkins added, “Great one-on-one defense, and then when they were getting inside to the paint, we were just swarming them and blocking shots or rebounds. And then, when those guys just play with great guard play the way that they run the floor, [Clarke] the threat in the paint and at the rim, and then [Jackson Jr.] from the 3-point line, it’s just great balance.”
“They really set the tone with their defense because they’re very versatile,” Jenkins continued. “As I said, they were able to switch onto two of the most elite playmakers in the league and really hold it down.”
With the win, the Grizzlies improved to 50-23 on the season.
Melton was thankful for getting 50 for the first time ever. “I won 19 games my rookie year out of 82, which is crazy,” said Melton. “I mean from the jump, from the time I got here, I mean, I noticed the team — you know going uphill, upstream right now, and I feel like everybody has gotten better and everybody keeps getting better. I think that’s the motto in Memphis. Everybody has adapted to that and understands that.”
Eventually people will stop sleeping on the depth of this team. Great in game response to the Nets runs and lockdown 4th qtr D. Respect this team!!
Screen grab from video of Ja Morant’s vicious dunk over Nets forward James Johnson
As Monday came to an end, one can only imagine that Ja Morant said, in the words of Ice Cube, “Today was a good day.”
First, on Monday afternoon, the league announced that Grizzlies guard had been named the NBA’s Western Conference Player of the Week. This is Morant’s first time being honored as player of the week, and the 11th overall for the team.
The Murray State standout tallied 34.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, 4.7 assists, and 1.33 steals during three straight victories from December 27 to January 2, 2022, while shooting 55.7 percent from the field (39-70 FG) and 80.0 percent from 3-point range (12-15 3P).
Then on Monday night, Morant solidified himself as one of the NBA’s superstars as he put on a masterclass against Brooklyn with 36 points, eight assists, and six rebounds. He messed around and almost got a triple-double as I can hear him say, “Today was a good day.” It was the fourth time in as many games that Morant had scored 30 or more points, which set a new team record.
The 22-year-old even received MVP chants in Barclays Center as he was at the line shooting free throws. Morant led Memphis to their fifth straight victory, knocking off the Nets 118-104 as the Grizzlies moved to 24-14 on the season.
.@JaMorant scored 36 points (14-22 FG, 2-4 3P) Monday at Brooklyn, his franchise-record fourth consecutive game scoring 30+ points.
Morant has averaged 35.0 points (.576 FG, .737 3P), 6.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists during this four-game span (4-0 record).#NBAAllStarpic.twitter.com/Or7tCcyLya
After the game, Kevin Durant had nice words to say about Morant. “He’s just controlling the game. Always been an efficient player who can run the point guard spot,” Durant said.
“He’s developed into a major scorer as well,” Durant added. “He just plays at a great pace out there — plays with joy and enthusiasm. You see him blossom in front of our eyes. Since college he’s been on this trajectory. As a basketball fan you can’t wait to see what it’s like years going forward.”
“He’s special,” Desmond Bane said about Morant. “People are debating whether or not he should be an All-Star. I think we should be debating whether he’s the best point guard in the league. I don’t think it’s any question if he’s an All-Star. The real conversation is, ‘Is he the best point guard in the league?’” Bane finished the night with 29 points, eight rebounds, and two steals.
Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins wholeheartedly believes Morant is an All-Star. “I have come out and said he’s absolutely an All-Star,” Jenkins said. “But I think the follow-up to that is that he should be because he impacts winning with his style of play. It’s whatever his teammates need, it’s multiple assists, the rebounding and taking on defensive assignments. Then, obviously, there’s the scoring ability. It comes in the paint, from the free-throw line and the 3-point line. His decision making is just constantly getting better game after game.”
“With a performance like that, like I’ve said before, all he cares about is winning, let’s keep winning. Obviously, he’s a huge piece to us winning. He empowers his teammates.”
When asked about the All-Star talk, Morant said, “I really don’t focus on it too much, honestly. Everybody who knows me, including my teammates, people throughout the organization know I’m a very humble guy, but I’m also confident.
“So I’m gonna let my teammates continue to talk for me,” he added. I’m gonna just go out there and do what I can on the floor to help prove their case right even more.”
As for the MVP chants inside the Barclays Center, Morant was appreciative. He said, “It was surreal, obviously something I’ve been working for and to prove that I’m one of the top players in this league and my play as of late helping me with that and obviously giving me a lot more recognition from our fans to away fans.” He has heard multiple MVP chants at the FedExForum.
Morant continued, “But to hear MVP chants on the road is different. It’s probably people who are rooting for the home team at a time, but still showing me love and respect — it’s big time; obviously, something I work for though. I just have to continue to work, go out there and play my game on the floor and do whatever I can to help my team win. That’s pretty much my main goal.”
For Morant, statistics, honors, and recognition mean nothing until they lead to wins for his team.
Barring unforeseen circumstances, Morant should be heading to Cleveland for his first career NBA All-Star selection next month.
Quentin Tarantino likes Superman. A lot. There’s a scene in his 2004 film, Kill Bill, Vol. 2, in which Bill (played by David Carradine) explains to Beatrix (Uma Thurman) the singular trait that makes Superman superior to all other costumed heroes. As Bill tells it, Batman wakes up every morning as Bruce Wayne. Spider-Man eats his breakfast as Peter Parker. Only Superman starts his day as the hero he truly is, forced to “costume” himself as a mere mortal, one of us all-too-frail humans, Clark Kent.
Kawhi Leonard in his new Superman outfit.
It occurred to me earlier this month that Tarantino must love the NBA. That’s because the greatest basketball league on the planet has become a collection of supermen, players who shape the costumes, er, uniforms they wear far more than the teams — represented by those uniforms — shape them. Kawhi Leonard may have won the 2019 NBA championship without the Toronto Raptors (and their jersey on his back). There is no way the Raptors win the 2019 NBA championship without Leonard. Kawhi Leonard, in NBA terms, is a superman. And NBA championships are the reserve, almost exclusively, of basketball supermen.
Think about the NFL and its resident dynasty. Aside from Tom Brady (granted, a Thor in shoulder pads), those who don the helmet of the New England Patriots are interchangeable, yet the franchise has won three Super Bowls this decade after winning three the previous. They are Batman, and it doesn’t matter who’s wearing the utility belt. And baseball? Name three players who played for all three San Francisco Giant championship teams this decade. (Madison Bumgarner and Buster Posey are gimmes.) That franchise was a slick-fielding, pitching-strong Spider-Man. Check out Into the Spider-Verse if you think it matters who is wearing the web-shooters.
There was a time when NBA players became stars by making their team — one team, mind you — a dynasty. Think Bill Russell with the Boston Celtics, Magic Johnson with the Los Angeles Lakers, or Michael Jordan with the Chicago Bulls (twice). Those days predate flip phones, for crying out loud. In today’s NBA, the superstars — supermen – decide where (and for whom) they’d like to win a championship. LeBron James couldn’t get it done in Cleveland, so he took off for Miami (two titles). Kevin Durant won an MVP in Oklahoma City that he sweetly dedicated to his mother. But Mom couldn’t help win a championship, so off to Oakland flew Durant, where he won two titles with Steph Curry and the Warriors. Cast off by San Antonio, despite credentials as a Finals MVP, Leonard won the same hardware in what would prove to be his only season in a Raptors uniform. You see, Kawhi Leonard wakes up as Kawhi Leonard … every day.
At the end of each season, 15 players earn All-NBA recognition (five first-team, five second-team, and five third-team). No fewer than six of those players in 2019 changed teams earlier this month. Leonard is now an L.A. Clipper, along with former Thunder forward Paul George. Durant has taken his torn Achilles tendon to Brooklyn, where he’ll join Kyrie Irving, making the Nets early (very early) favorites to win the Eastern Conference title in 2021. Kemba Walker departed Charlotte to replace Irving in Boston. And talk about Superman: Russell Westbrook — a man who has averaged a triple-double for three straight seasons — has joined forces with 2018 MVP James Harden in Houston. We might as well add new Laker Anthony Davis — not All-NBA this year, but three times a first-teamer — to this collection of supermen changing the color of their capes.
Is this Superman effect good for the NBA? That’s in the eye of the beholder. An informal poll of my Twitter pals suggested a Grizzlies championship with a one-and-gone superstar (like Leonard in Toronto) is significantly preferable to a team of merely very good teammates leading a lengthy run of playoff appearances without a title. Basketball has become a player’s league to the point that the jerseys they wear are merely incidental. Don’t be offended if you see Clipper jerseys in FedExForum when L.A.’s “other team” visits next winter. No, those are Kawhi Leonard jerseys.
Perhaps Ja Morant will become an NBA superman. Maybe Jaren Jackson Jr. can leap a building in a single bound. When or if they bring a championship to Memphis, the color of their jersey will matter to those of us who call the Grizzlies our team. They alone know what it’s like to wake up every day as Ja Morant and Triple-J. Until they bring that parade to Beale Street, though, consider them Clark Kents, blending — however uncomfortably — among the rest of professional basketball’s mortal talents.
It may be only July, but I can’t recall a calendar year with as many significant losses (measured a few ways) in the world of sports. In one month alone — a span of 26 days in June, to be precise — the world lost Muhammad Ali, Gordie Howe, and Pat Summitt, each the face of his or her sport for multiple generations, transformative figures whose impact somehow exceeded their achievements in the arena of competition. Come December, these three will lead reviews of “those we lost” and not just in sports media.
Tim Duncan
But there are two other endings in sports, both traumatic in their own way to athletes and their fans. One is retirement, often called “the first death” for a person accustomed to the cheering of thousands as part of a workday. The second is the departure of a longtime franchise icon for another city and uniform, the shedding of one fan base — accompanied by emotional outbursts from one extreme to another — for a new band of loyalists ready to, as Jerry Seinfeld would have hit, cheer “the laundry” that much more.
Come November, five certifiable NBA superstars — each with at least one MVP trophy, either for the regular season or NBA Finals — will not be wearing the uniforms we grew to see as an extra layer of skin over the last decade.
• Laker legend Kobe Bryant retired in April, having completed the first 20-year career spent entirely with a single franchise in NBA history.
• Five years after earning MVP honors at the age of 22 with his hometown Chicago Bulls, Derrick Rose was traded to the New York Knicks, the NBA’s island for misfit toys.
• After 13 years and three NBA titles with the Miami Heat, Dwyane Wade signed a two-year deal to essentially replace Rose as the face of the franchise in Chicago.
• In the biggest free agent exodus since LeBron James departed Cleveland for Miami, Kevin Durant waved goodbye to Oklahoma City — his professional home for eight years — and joined the Splash Brothers in Golden State, forming the greatest shooting trio in NBA history. How many shots Steph Curry and Klay Thompson are prepared to give up for Durant will be a swing factor in the latest super-team’s championship aspirations.
• Finally — and this felt most final among the NBA endings — Tim Duncan announced his retirement after 19 seasons and five championships with the San Antonio Spurs. No player in basketball history is more the perpetual Face of the Franchise than Duncan. The Celtics had Russell and Bird, the Lakers West, Kareem, Magic, and Kobe. Even Michael Jordan spent two seasons in a Washington Wizards uniform. A century from now, Tim Duncan’s will be the name NBA fans identify with the Spurs. His absence next season will be glaring, even if San Antonio wins a sixth title.
The Boston Red Sox will soon be searching for a new designated hitter, David Ortiz having announced his retirement after already accomplishing the unthinkable by winning three World Series in a Bosox jersey. At last week’s All-Star Game, the American League dugout emptied for players to hug Ortiz individually as he was removed for a pinch runner. Baseball gets endings better than most sports, perhaps because the institution has been around so very long, and seen so many departures.
Shortly after the All-Star Game rosters were announced, I tweeted my view that the game would be diminished without St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina in uniform. (Molina had been named to the team the previous seven years.) A few of my followers — Cardinal fans, most of them — liked the sentiment. One expressed dismay, though, pointing out Molina’s pedestrian numbers (.259 batting average, two home runs). He didn’t deserve to be an All-Star.
That critic was right, of course, as we measure sports season to season. There are (at least) three National League catchers with better numbers this season than the eight-time Gold Glove winner behind the plate in St. Louis. There are shinier stars with more popular “brands” than the 34-year-old backbone of two world championship teams, Molina’s best days likely behind him.
But that wasn’t the point I aimed to make. Molina is to the Cardinals as Ortiz has been to the Red Sox, as Wade was to the Heat and (to some degree) what Duncan was to the Spurs. Furthermore, like Bryant, Duncan, and Durant, Molina has enriched his sport by his level of play over an extended period of time. But that time is approaching its end. And it’s an ending I, for one, will not greet with enthusiasm.
All good things must come to an end? 2016 may already have its epitaph.
For the second game in a row, the Oklahoma City Thunder pulled a four-point play to force overtime against the Memphis Grizzlies. And for the second game in a row, the resilient Grizzlies found a way to win in the extra period.
The Grizzlies slowly and methodically built a lead throughout the first 40 minutes of the game, and were seemingly in control with seven and half minutes left, leading 81-64. That’s when the Thunder dialed up their defense and the Grizzlies got tentative on offense. It was a combination that enabled OKC to erase the lead, and was helped in no small measure by a foul on Russell Westbrook by Tony Allen on a three-point shot with less than 30 seconds left. Westbrook made the free throw and the Grizzlies couldn’t score before the buzzer.
In overtime, the Thunder scored first, but the Grizzlies gritted out another win with a relentless, harassing defense and clutch shooting in crunch time. Allen was his usual trick-or-treat self, making vital plays on both ends, but also making a couple of bone-headed moves, including fouling Westbrook on a three-pointer again, with less than a second left in OT and the Grizzlies leading by five.
The Grizzlies had six players in double figures, including another vital 12 points from backup point guard Beno Udrih and strong minutes from second-string center Kosta Koufos, who came in when Marc Gasol got into foul trouble. The two Thunder stars, Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant, each scored 30 points, but shot a combined 35 percent.
Game Four in the series takes place Saturday in Memphis.
Marc Gasol drew a crowd but still lead the Grizzlies to an 87-81 win and a 2-1 series lead over the Thunder Saturday night.
From the arena concourse to the locker room to the dais of the post-game press conference, the mood was more one of relief than exultation for the Grizzlies and their fans after escaping with an 87-81 win at FedExForum Saturday night to take a 2-1 series lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Grizzlies won this tight game for much the same reason they had lost Game 1 in Oklahoma City; free throws. The Grizzlies converted 23 of 28 attempts at the line (82%), including a perfect 6-6 from Marc Gasol and Mike Conley in the game’s final two minutes, while Thunder star Kevin Durant — a career 88% foul shooter — suffered a devastating empty trip with under a minute to play. Those Grizzlies free throws were the only points scored in the game’s final two minutes, which began with the teams tied 81-81.
In addition to Durant’s missed free throws, the Thunder also watched Derek Fisher, so strong in Oklahoma City, miss an open three off a turnover on the subsequent possession.
With Lionel Hollins astutely managing offense/defense substitutions down the stretch to mitigate potential mismatches against the Thunder’s small-ball lineup and with Conley and Gasol coming up clutch from the charity stripe, the Grizzlies’ late game execution pulled them through what had been a shaky performance for much of the game.
“I feel like every game we have gotten better and today we were not better than the last game,” Gasol said afterward.
I was mostly done researching and thinking my way through the elements of a planned two-part preview of Saturday’s game — one part meant to post Thursday morning, with a second part following Friday morning — and had begun the writing process Wednesday night when my laptop decided it had had enough. I lost everything. I’ll spare you the details of how this post came to be — a planes, trains, and automobiles of compositional technologies — but suffice it to say this isn’t quite what I’d intended.
The problem did heighten an issue I grapple with quite a bit: How much should I “show my work,” in math-class terms. I’ve always consulted statistics as a necessary companion to personal observation and other forms of information. Concepts such as pace, usage, efficiency, and other building blocks of “advanced” statistics are not new trends in this space. Often I cite specific numbers to support claims. But sometimes the math is left in the background, an unstated element that helped form an opinion or hone an observation.
I’m not sure which is preferable — some readers like to follow the data; others, I’m sure, grow weary of too much statistical recitation. So I try to find a balance. And this time, with research lost and limits of time and technology weighing against a recreation, I may not show much work. Just know that when I say that Kendrick Perkins is killing the Thunder or that Scott Brooks should really consider using more small-ball or that Jerryd Bayless may be hurting the Griz defense more than helping the offense that there’s something backing all of that up.
So, here’s a somewhat truncated and considerably less precise first installment of my planned twelve takes. Part two will post later in the day Friday if things go well or Saturday morning if they don’t.
1. New Nickname Alert: This has no bearing on the outcome of the series, obviously, but I took great pleasure in the TNT postgame show after Game 2, when Charles Barkley christened Zach Randolph with a new nickname, “Ol’ Man River,” in reference to Randolph’s “old-man game” and the way he keeps rolling along against younger, more athletic competitors. (They get weary, and sick of trying.) This is even more perfect than Barkley knows, given Memphis’ perch on the river the song refers to as well as the song’s own treasured history in Memphis. It’s too bad we can’t have James Hyter bless this with a FedExForum performance.
This isn’t the first time, incidentally, that a national broadcast has made a brilliant musical reference with regard to the Grizzlies — or to Randolph, to be specific. In the 2011 playoff run, there was a package on the Randolph and Gasol combo — before first-round, Game 2, I think; I can’t remember the network — to the tune of John Fogerty’s “Big Train (From Memphis).” This was also perfect. The rumbling, locomotive imagery and insistent, old-fashioned rhythm matching Gasol and Randolph’s rumbling, old-fashioned style.
It occurred to me, thinking of the late Hyter, that perhaps if the Grizzlies advance we could get Fogerty in town for a Griz-specific update of his song: “Big Spain (From Memphis),” anyone?
Tony Allen was a difference-maker down the stretch as the Grizzlies evened the series 1-1.
With six seconds left in a decided game, Tony Allen stole the ball and did what you’re not supposed to do, streaking down the floor for a needless exclamation dunk, then soaking in the boos it provoked. Seconds later, according to the Twitter feed of Commercial Appeal beat writer Ron Tillery, Allen walked by the scorer’s table and yelled, “First team, all defense [expletive].”
Was Allen taunting his opponent or the fans in Oklahoma City? I doubt it. More likely, his target was some mix of the basketball gods, himself, and his coach. He was letting out some frustration and reasserting something that seemed to have been forgotten. And he did it with his game before he did it with words.
In Game 1 of this series, Allen — by acclamation one of the two or three best perimeter defenders in the league — played only 21 minutes in a game in which his team gave up 60 of 93 points to two wing players in Kevin Durant and Kevin Martin. He sat for most of a fourth quarter in which his team gave up 29 points and watched a nine-point lead evaporate as Durant made a series of big plays down the stretch.
Afterward, his coach, Lionel Hollins, explained that Allen was too short to guard Durant now. Using other defenders on the Thunder’s brilliant star, the Grizzlies had surrendered 35-15-6 on 13-26 shooting.
