Tag: Spurs

Categories
Beyond the Arc Sports

Game 1: Spurs 105, Grizzlies 83 — When 0-1 Looks Steeper Than it Did Before

CREDIT: LARRY KUZNIEWSKI

Quincy Pondexter was one of the few brights spots for the Grizzlies, as they dropped Game 1 in San Antonio.

  • LARRY KUZNIEWSKI
  • Quincy Pondexter was one of the few brights spots for the Grizzlies, as they dropped Game 1 in San Antonio.

box score

In a dreadful start to the series for the Grizzlies, let me start by underscoring four points that I made in my series preview:

1. The key to defending the Spurs has less to do with containing stars than containing team three-point shooting, especially from role players. Tony Parker was splendid on Sunday afternoon, scoring 20 points on 9-14 shooting, with 9 assists. But Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili combined for only 14 points on 5-15 shooting. Instead, the Spurs killed the Grizzlies from outside, hitting a franchise playoff record 14 three-pointers on 29 attempts, the most made threes the Grizzlies have yielded all season. And the bulk of the damage came from secondary scorers Danny Green, Kawhi Leonard, and Matt Bonner, who combined to shoot 11-17 from three.

2. The Grizzlies low turnovers and high rate of free-throw attempts in rounds one and two were not going to be sustainable in this series. The Grizzlies did a good job of taking care of the ball after a rough start, their 12 turnovers only slightly more than the 10.4 average in the first two rounds, but the team’s inflated 31.6 free-throw attempts came down to a more reasonable 20.

3. The Grizzlies’ propensity for funky lineups in Game 1 repeated itself. The Grizzlies were still theoretically in the hunt when the team put out a small-ball lineup of Jerryd Bayless-Tony Wroten-Quincy Pondexter-Tony Allen-Zach Randolphto start the fourth and brought in Austin Daye for Wroten soon after.

4. The biggest key of all for this game was going to be which team could better adjust to the stylistic whiplash from their previous series, and clearly that was the Spurs, in a big, big way. After chasing three-point shooters all over the floor against the Golden State Warriors, the Spurs seemed almost relieved to be in a halfcourt defense against the Grizzlies, crowding the paint and routinely ignoring Grizzlies’ wing players. The Grizzlies, on the other end, couldn’t adjust as quickly to the Spurs’ spread offense and quick, deft ball movement, which provides an extreme contrast to the over-reliance on stars Chris Paul and Kevin Durant that the Grizzlies were able to snuff out in the first and second rounds. As it turned out, playing against Vinny Del Negro and Scott Brooks was poor preparation for playing against Gregg Popovich.

Categories
Beyond the Arc Sports

Postgame Notebook: Grizzlies 92, Spurs 90 — Conley is Clutch, Griz Hit 50

CREDIT: LARRY KUZNIEWSKI

Mike Conley drove the Grizzlies home.

The Lead: For a half, this sequel to the best game at FedExForum this season threatened to be the worst. But it was saved by a frenetic fourth, a thrilling finish, and a big closing performance from Mike Conley that sealed the season’s 50th victory, tying a franchise record.

For the first 24 minutes, the Grizzlies were in the mud — and not in the good way — against a Spurs team missing three of its four best players (Tim Duncan, Kawhi Leonard, and Manu Ginobili). Even in building an early nine-point lead, the Grizzlies offense was awkward, and by the time the bench began to cycle through they looked like they’d just met up before the game, ending the half with 37 points on sub-32% shooting and a (lucky to be only) seven-point deficit.

In the third quarter, the Grizzlies played their normally super-effective starting lineup for close to nine minutes and managed to cut all of one point off the Spurs lead.

The fourth started poorly, with a Danny Green steal setting up a Gary Neal three-pointer. But then Jerryd Bayless did what sixth-men are supposed to do, giving the team a burst of energy and offense by scoring or assisting on three straight buckets to cut he deficit down to three. The rest of the way was a dogfight, with missed free-throws (3-6 down the stretch) and Tony Parker keeping the Grizzlies at bay.

Man of the Match: But with five minutes to go, Mike Conley put the team on his back. A lefty scoop lay-up brought the Grizzlies within two, then a bounce feed to Marc Gasol on the baseline sent Gasol to the line to tie it up. The Spurs rebuilt a four-point lead, but Conley sliced it in half with a jitterbugging drive down the lane. Down three with under a minute to go, Conley got a feed from Jerryd Bayless on the left elbow extended and knocked down a long one to tie the game.

Categories
Beyond the Arc Sports

Game 74 Preview: Grizzlies vs. Spurs

CREDIT: LARRY KUZNIEWSKI

A big game tonight at FedExForum will feature the leagues two best centers this season.

  • LARRY KUZNIEWSKI
  • A big game tonight at FedExForum will feature the league’s two best centers this season.

UPDATE: The Spurs have now announced that both Tim Duncan and small forward Kawhi Leonard will be out for tonight’s game.

There are only four regular-season games left at FedExForum this season and tonight’s is a doozy. It’s a rematch of what I consider this season’s best game — the January 11th overtime Grizzlies win — and one in which both teams are fighting for playoff positioning and the Grizzlies are trying to tie a franchise record with win number 50.

Three things on the brain about tonight’s game:

1. How will Pop play it?: Spurs coach Gregg Popovich is notoriously protective of his stars during the regular season, so it will be interesting to see how he approaches this one, the second half of a back-to-back set after last night’s surprising home loss to a Miami Heat team playing without Lebron James and Dwyane Wade. Tim Duncan — having an under-appreciated fountain-of-youth season — hasn’t hit 65 total minutes on a back-to-back set since opening weekend. He played an uncharacteristic 35 minutes last night. So, if the Spurs stay to form, he may be limited tonight. The younger Tony Parker has topped 70 minutes in back-to-backs a couple of times this season, but has more typically been kept to 60 or fewer minutes. He played 37 last night. And the third member of the Spurs’ star trio, sixth man Manu Ginobili, is already out with a hamstring injury. The Spurs are 1.5 games up on the Thunder in the race for the West’s top seed and are now three games back of the Heat for overall homecourt in the playoffs. How much does this game mean to them?

2. Are the Griz back in a groove?: The Grizzlies, by contrast, enter the game in a better place, having corrected both a 1-3 since an overtime win over the Thunder and a more troubling five-game road losing streak with a 2-0 weekend against the Rockets and Wolves. The team’s post-halftime defense returned to lockdown mode (16- and 17-point third quarters allowed). Zach Randolph broke out of his slump (35 and 19 on 11-23 shooting). Marc Gasol looked uninhibited (42-13-10 on 16-24 shooting). Mike Conley concluded an near-All-Star quality March (34 and 13 with 6 steals on 13-26 shooting). And the bench was a big boost in Minnesota. The Grizzlies will need a strong closing kick — and some luck — to get homecourt advantage in a first-round series. A win tonight would be highly encouraging in that regard.

Categories
Beyond the Arc Sports

Road Recap: Spurs 103, Grizzlies 82 — A Trend It Is?

CREDIT: LARRY KUZNIEWSKI

Lionel Hollins and the Grizzlies have some things to figure out.

  • LARRY KUZNIEWSKI
  • Lionel Hollins and the Grizzlies have some things to figure out.

Before last night’s game in San Antonio, I suggested the team’s performance — win or lose — would determine whether the previous big losses were a trend or a blip. Well, blip gave way to trend as the game went on, an early close contest turning to a laugher with a demoralizing second-half collapse.

What’s wrong? Here’s a short answer nobody likes: I don’t know.

Unfortunately, renewed chaos and worry on the Griz front coincides with a moment where I don’t have time for any kind of deep dive. Instead, for now, a few quick reactions to different potential answers to that opening question

Trend be damned, it’s still a blip: I tend toward the “calm down” approach most of the time, but I’m skeptical about the “blip” notion. But I’ll entertain it. The Dallas loss wasn’t surprising given the scheduling aspects. The Clippers game was played without Rudy Gay and with some odd lineups — some forced, some, as with the early, disastrous insertion of Josh Selby, not. And the Spurs, well, the Spurs are really damned good. Even with all this, the Grizzlies are still fourth in the Western Conference. Certainly, a home game Friday against Sacramento could be a good way to get healthy again. But a big loss in that situation would end all doubt.

Trade rumors have ruined the chemistry: This sounds good but feels like nonsense to me. The Rudy Gay trade rumors have been out there for a while now. They were out there when the team started January going 5-1 with a perfect West Coast trip, a road win in Boston, and a home win over the Spurs. Trade rumors were a lot hotter with O.J. Mayo in the past and the team didn’t go in the tank. Trades rumors are common all over the league every season. It’s an easy excuse, but in the absence of some actual evidence, I have a hard time saying that’s the reason for anything.

Categories
Beyond the Arc Sports

Game 37 Preview: Grizzlies at Spurs

CREDIT: LARRY KUZNIEWSKI

Mike Conley: The Grizzlies leading indicator.

1. Trend or Blip?: It continues to be very difficult to get a handle on exactly how good this Grizzlies team is: A 12-1 November followed by a 7-7 December. A 5-1 start to January, including a perfect West Coast road trip and culminating in a rousing home win over these very Spurs, followed by two really dispiriting losses.

Both of those losses have their mitigating circumstances: Saturday’s night’s road implosion at Dallas felt like a classic “scheduling loss,” the second night of a back-to-back, on the road, after a draining overtime win the night before. Monday night against the Clippers, the absence of both Rudy Gay and Quincy Pondexter threw the rotation into disarray against the league’s deepest team. True, the Clippers were playing without Chris Paul, but they notched a commanding win without Paul again last night in Houston — also on the road, on the second night of a back-to-back.

So, all that makes tonight’s game particularly important — not in terms of outcome as much as performances. A good performance, win or lose, and you can call those last two losses a blip or sorts. Another bad performance — with no good excuse to offer this time— and we’re looking at a troubling trend.

Categories
Beyond the Arc Sports

Postgame Notebook: Grizzlies 101, Spurs 98 (OT) — We Had a Massive Night

CREDIT: LARRY KUZNIEWSKI

DSC_9798.jpeg

Over the course of an 82-game NBA regular season, most games are pretty good. Sure, some are duds. But I like the run-of-the-mill game in the middle of the season. My standard post-game notebook is built for their incidental pleasures and random occurrences. For the match-ups and great plays and the glimpses of young players developing and colorful bits of in-arena action and other items not necessarily crucial to the course of a season.

But some games overwhelm all that. Some games you don’t even want to write about. You just want to wave your arms and point. Or turn into Chris Farley. Do you remember that Rudy Gay dunk? That was awesome. That Tony Parker three at the end of regulation? Oh man. What, you missed it? Your loss pal.

For three quarters and change, this was already at a playoff intensity. But it was controlled enough to savor the usual details.

There was Tony Allen, on his birthday, with his gas turned up. Moving with purpose and rare efficiency on both ends. Getting steals, getting in transition, quick to loose balls.

There was the great moment late in the first half where Allen came in for a defensive possession, immediately forced a turnover, gave his trademark “first down” signal, then went and sat back down. All in the game.

There was Marc Gasol and Tim Duncan, going at each other in a match-up of tough, skilled big men that feels like my own personal basketball heaven. Gasol blocked Duncan at the rim twice in one possession. He hit Duncan’s trademark bank shot over the master himself. He faced up on Duncan, drove right, spun left, and kissed the ball off glass yet again. And Duncan gave as good as he got.

Categories
Beyond the Arc Sports

Post-Weekend Notebook: Griz Split with Pistons and Spurs

Mike Conley: Man of the Weekend

This weekend’s Grizzlies back-to-back got away from me a little bit. I was at Friday’s home game with the Pistons, a 90-78 win, but as a civilian, taking my soon-to-be-three-year-old son to his first game. And I watched Saturday night’s 99-95 overtime road loss to the San Antonio Spurs on DVR delay.

As a means of catching up, I’m re-purposing the Postgame Notebook format to look back on what happened in Griz World this weekend:

The Lead: The Grizzlies went 1-1 on the weekend while playing without Tony Allen, who was nursing a sore groin.

Friday’s home game against the Pistons was a rough repeat of the prior home games against the Cavaliers and Raptors: The Grizzlies played down to competition in the first half and then turned up their defense in the second to secure a double-digit win.

Saturday night, the Grizzlies played a very well rested Spurs team on their own home floor, on the second night of a back to back, and built a 15-point lead in the second half before succumbing to some combination of fatigue, poor execution, and questionable calls.

On the latter: The missed shot-clock violation near the end of overtime was clearly an official’s error, but one that was only harmful to the Grizzlies in retrospect. If Jerryd Bayless and Rudy Gay had connected on the subsequent long lead pass for a transition layup, the Grizzlies would have benefited from not having the violation called. As far Manu Ginobili grabbing Gay’s arm on his attempted catch of that pass, it was definitely a foul, but not all actual fouls are actually called in NBA games. For the Grizzlies, that was an infuriating non-call, but it wasn’t a terribly surprising one.

As it is, after 15 games the Grizzlies stand at 12-3 and still lack a bad loss: Single digits to the Clippers in their home opener. A narrow home loss to a deep, athletic Nuggets team on the final game of a three-in-four-nights set. And nip-and-tuck road overtime loss in San Antonio on the second of a back-to-back. That’s it. The Grizzlies are the last team standing this NBA season that has yet to lose a game by double-digits.

If you want to be concerned about something, you could point to the team’s 0-2 record in games that have come down to execution in the final couple of minutes. But two games — two! — is a pretty small sample size.

Categories
Sports Sports Feature

Grizzlies Edge Spurs With Last-Second Shot, 88-85

CREDIT: NBA.com

Rudy Gay made a buzzer-beating 3-pointer over Tim Duncan to lift the Memphis Grizzlies to an 88-85 victory over the San Antonio Spurs Wednesday night at FedExForum.

After trailing by as many as 23, the Spurs staged a fourth-quarter comeback to tie the game in the waning seconds on a dunk by Manu Ginobili, setting up Gay’s last-second heroics.

Gay finished with 23, none bigger than the final game-winner. Mike Miller led the Grizzlies with 31 points.

For stats and boxscore, check out CBS online.