- LARRY KUZNIEWSKI
- Mike Conley continued to assert himself over the weekend, leading the Grizzlies in scoring in both games.
Weekend Recap: The Grizzlies split weekend games against Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings — both two-point contests — to complete a 2-1 West Coast road trip. Given the franchise’s history along the Pacific that’s a good trip no matter the circumstances.
Each game was marked by a semi-controversial non-call at the rim and near the end of the game. In the Lakers game, it was Mike Conley driving in to tie and being smothered up by Dwight Howard. In the Kings game, it was Marc Gasol blocking DeMarcus Cousins’ drive. Did Howard get Conley with the body? Did Gasol get Cousins on the wrist instead of the hand? Even after a few in-game replays both non-calls looked inconclusive to me. So much of basketball officiating is about judgement calls and I thought both of those non-calls were, at minimum, defensible.
Of wider note, Mike Conley continued his recent scoring trend, notching 46 points on 18-33 shooting, leading the team in both games. As for his being featured late, we’ll get to that in just a minute.
On the other side of the ball, Marc Gasol continued to bolster his Defensive Player of the Year case. Against the Lakers, Gasol had eight defensive rebounds, three steals, and two blocks while helping hold Dwight Howard to 9 points on 3-7 shooting. In the second half, as the Grizzlies were overcoming poor early shooting to get back into the game, Gasol strung together a series of terrific defensive plays. Against the Kings, Gasol notched five blocks, with two coming in the final 20 seconds to seal the game: The first was on Cousins. On the second, Gasol swallowed up Marcus Thornton and snatched away his attempted game-winner at the buzzer.
On the downside, Zach Randolph struggled over the weekend, shooting 11-30 over two games and often struggling to finish shots over defenders in the paint. Randolph is averaging 13 points on 43% shooting over his past 10 games and seems to be creeping into the playoffs in distressingly similar form to his limited post-injury performance last spring.
