It may now be a new year, but the only ball that was dropping was Reno’s three-point shot. In two games against the Bighorns, the Hustle left the court empty handed. Those losing efforts sandwiched a heroic six-man victory over the Northern Arizona Suns, which throws up so many confusing questions. For now, though, let’s start with Reno.
The first matchup, in Nevada, proved to be a blowout victory for the Bighorns. The only Hustle player who didn’t have a negative +/- was Omari Johnson, who only had two minutes on the floor. The large deficit can be traced to a poor shooting night for several players. Dusty Hannahs, Durand Scott, and Shaquille Thomas, with 83 minutes of game time between them, combined for only 11 points on 4-22 shooting. Memphis kept pace with Reno in the early goings thanks to the best efforts of Jordan Crawford, who’s been seeing significant minutes since the Grizzlies called up Kobi Simmons. The diminutive point guard led the Hustle’s efforts this game with a 21-point performance, but with so many inconsistent players around, Reno began to pull away in the second quarter and never really looked back from there, going on to lead by as many as 31 points.
If fans were looking for a response, certainly they couldn’t expect it with only six available players for the next game against Northern Arizona, right? Durand Scott, Austin Nichols, Vincent Hunter, Dusty Hannahs, Marquis Teague, and Chance Comanche took it upon themselves to battle their way to a 120-108 victory. You could blame some of the players for growing fatigued and losing steam as the clock wound down, but that was exactly the opposite of what happened. Several players turned in career performances: Hannahs shot 11-18 and hit 66 percent of his three point shots for 33 points, while Hunter scored 29 and added 13 rebounds for a double-double.
To make the victory even sweeter, the Hustle had to stage a comeback. The end of the first quarter had the Suns seize control with a 40-26 lead. However, the Hustle outscored their opponents 35-16 in the second quarter. From there, the Hustle battled gamely to keep their lead alive, extending it to an 18-point gap at one point despite Arizona’s best attempts to claw their way back. This is exactly the kind of performance fans want to see from a team; coming off the back of a big loss, and with the chips down, the Hustle almost grit-n-ground their way to victory here.
Unfortunately, after Arizona, Reno came to Southaven. While this game was much closer, plenty of the Hustle players’ scoring touch deserted them once again, forcing Durand Scott (21 points) and Marquis Teague (25 points) to carry the load. A huge 22-3 run stretching from the second to third quarter primed Memphis to come away with the victory, but their defense came apart in the 4th quarter, with Reno embarking on a 21-4 run to gain a lead they wouldn’t relinquish for the rest of the game. Definitely something to build on for when Reno comes back to town in February.
The Hustle’s fourth game, against the Oklahoma City Blue, unfortunately ended up as another five-point loss. Marquis Teague turned in an unusually poor performance with 3-9 shooting. Trahson Burrell also had a poor night on 6-13 shooting, but still managed to pull another double-double out of the hat. Vincent Hunter excelled, leading with a team-high 23 points and 14 rebounds for a double-double of his own. The Hustle almost created a comeback victory, pulling the score to 114-111 with ten seconds left to play, but the Blue held on for the win.
I’m not sure how the only victory out of four was when the Hustle only had six players available, but perhaps Coach Cyprien needs to channel that backs-to-the-wall mentality for more games. With the Grizzlies calling up Kobi Simmons to potentially groom him as their backup point guard for next season, the team might have to adjust to a new man bringing the ball up full time. The Hustle will certainly need to quickly, with their next four games coming against teams with positive records. Things might get worse before they get better, but if the team picks up good shooting form again, anything’s possible next week.
