So is the Bizzaro run over? Maybe. At least the agonizing home defeats are. Last night the Grizzlies used solid production from their bench and the terrible play of the New Jersey Nets to end an eight game losing streak at home and finally hear Rick Trotter yell “Grizzlies Win!” as the confetti fell for at FedExForum for the first time since Feb. 1.

It wasn’t exactly pretty…
The Grizzlies third quarter woes continued in this one, as they were outscored 26 to 14 there. Despite the miserable quarter, the Grizzlies never trailed after the first, as they had built a 20 point lead in the second quarter, and went into the half up 16. The closest the Nets got was two points.

Coach Hollins said after the game that the lackadaisical play in the third quarter was perhaps his team not realizing how important it was for them to snap their losing streak at home, but was happy with the win.

No Z-Bo, no problem?
Well not exactly. While the Grizzlies rebounding numbers were still ok (52 compared to 45 from the Nets), Grizzlies big men Marc Gasol and Hamed Haddadi were stretched defensively, picking up fouls more quickly than usual without Randolph to help on the defensive end. Gasol and Haddadi both finished with 5 fouls.

The team did not discuss Randolph’s absence before the game, staying focused on playing with who they had. Hollins said the real detriment to having Randolph out was missing “that dominant post player who always draws a double-team,” but added that they were still able to win because of the bench players stepping up.

Big Night for the Bench
When asked about how Randolph’s absence affected their game, center Marc Gasol looked irritated.

“We’ve got a lot of good guys here,” he said. “We’ve got enough good guys that we should be able to win without him for a few games.”

At least last night he was right. Sam Young continued his solid production with 10 points, Marcus Wliams had 8, Hamed Haddadi added 3 points and 2 rebounds, and Darrell Arthur had 7 points and 3 rebounds in his first start of the season. The bench star of the night however, was DaMarre Carroll, who finished with a season high 10 points, 8 rebounds and 3 steals.

Benefiting from a small New Jersey lineup that allowed Hollins to play him at power forward rather than small forward, Carroll got most of his points the same way he did in college, from offensive rebounds and putbacks, but he even added a jump shot for the first time in a while. Carroll clocked 24 minutes and almost hit his first NBA double-double.

Carroll had not been playing much in February or March, and saw Randolph’s absence as an opportunity.

“I’ve just been sitting at the end of the bench, patiently waiting, lifting weights and coming in at night to get in extra shots, and tonight I just tried to come out and stay true to myself,” Carroll said.

But Carroll also said that Lionel Hollins gets on him more than any other rookie, which is odd considering Carroll wasn’t demoted to the d-league.

You had to be there
The crowd was tiny - announced at over 10,000 but appeared to be about half that in reality. First signs of life from the crowd came when Tiger favorite Chris Douglas-Roberts checked in. The crowd responded with a big applause even before Grizzlies announcer Rick Trotter said his name.

Really he should just add the Chris to make a complete circle.
Photo by Chase Gustafson

Although small, the crowd was excited the entire game, cheering loudly during the first half, booing even louder during the third quarter, and enjoying the win at the end. They even paid enough attention to boo a botched game of Grizzlies Tic-Tac-Toe during a timeout in the second.

Dunk of the Game
There were a bunch in this one, especially in the first half. Rudy Gay, Marc Gasol and O.J. Mayo kept in simple with their dunks, preferring to just get the ball in the basket, rather than show off (which is probably good when you’re on an eight game losing streak). His dunks still looked good, but we’ll have to give this one to DaMarre Carroll, who found a wide open back door late in the fourth and pounded home a two handed jam to put the Grizzlies one point shy of 100 and essentially put the game out of reach for the Nets.
Dunk Count: 5, Carroll - 1 Gay – 1, Gasol -2, Mayo -1,

Twitter Watch
Hasheem Thabeet
GoodMornin Wonderful World!!!!! I’m Back.. Ya’ll Have a nice and Blessed Day!!!

Rudy Gay
No disrespect to Hurt Locker! But Avatar was the greatest of all time! (Kanye shrug) lol

Grizz
Well it’s the end of my b day weekend, thx to all my furry homies for coming out and hangin with me. Best b day game yet!!

Final Shots
Hasheem Thabeet was back in Memphis after being recalled from the D-League (See tweet above). He sported a new, shorter haircut and sat the bench. New Jersey guards Courtney Lee and Devin Harris lit up the Grizzlies for a combined 58 points. Games are much more comfortable without Ronald McDonald ruining Black History Month. The Grizz should keep honoring players through March without the clown just to make up for February.

The Grizzlies next game is on the road at Boston Tomorrow at 6:30 pm. You can follow @douggillon and @cerrito for tweets during the games, or come watch the game with the entire Memphis Sport crew and rapper Teflon Don tomorrow night at the Poplar Lounge.

Hasheem Thabeet left and the dominant Z-Bo came back. The end of February saw the Grizzlies trucking along in a way Memphis fans had unfortunately come to expect, losing at home. The unforeseen events of the past two weeks have been the Grizzlies success on the road, where the Blue Bears have now won a franchise record six games in a row when away from FedExForum. That and the Grizzlies playoffs hopes are still alive, if only slightly. Even though the team has improved significantly since last year, anything less than a playoff berth will, at this point, be a disappointment. Whether or not the team makes it there starts Saturday at home against San Antonio. If the Grizzlies are to make it, they will need to continue their success on the road and greatly improve their play at home in the final two months of the season. 

Wednesday, February 24: Grizzlies win in Washington, 99-94
This was the first of several hard-fought road wins that kept the Grizzlies from dipping below .500. Despite a weak first half, O.J. Mayo finished with another strong game while Z-Bo, Rudy Gay and Marc Gasol all added 20+ points in the Grizzlies winning road effort.

This was another example of the Bizzaro Grizzlies of February. The second game of a back-to-back, on the road was usually a surefire loss for the team that Memphis had gotten used to in the dog days of winter. Now, for the second time in a row, it was a win. 

Thursday, February 25: Grizzlies demote Hasheem Thabeet and Lester Hudson to d-league affiliate:
This wasn’t much of a surprise, and had been rumored for weeks. Even if you weren’t aware of the behind the scenes talk, Coach Hollins switch to Hamed Haddadi, as the go-to back up center and the fact that Thabeet hadn’t played more than 2 minutes in weeks should have been an easy clue. Thabeet’s demotion makes him the highest draft pick to ever get demoted within his first season. Does that make him the biggest bust ever? See what we had to say about it.

Friday, February 26: Grizzlies drop back to .500, lose to Charlotte at home

Basketball as interpreted by Larry Brown - ugly. Photo by Chase Gustafson.

This was embarrassing on almost any level. The Grizzlies lost their sixth straight at home, and their first all year to a team below .500. And it was ugly. The Bobcat’s defense first, Larry Brown style was all over the game, resulting in a low scoring game in which the Grizzlies shot better percentage-wise than in previous losses at home, but the game was so riddled with turnovers and slow possessions that the Grizzlies had trouble scoring any points. Z-Bo still clocked in a monster game with 24 and 10, but he and the Grizz couldn’t stop Stephen Jackson, who finished with 32

Again, by all accounts this game should have been a win for the Grizzlies. They were playing at home against a team they lost to on a buzzer tip in. The Bobcats had lost three straight and were on the end of a long road trip. But Bizzaro Grizz never win the games everyone thinks they will.

Biggest upside to the loss was Lionel Hollins improved demeanor in the post-game press conference. When asked why the Grizzlies allowed Charlotte to run a possession at the end of the game rather than fouling, Hollins was forthright and direct about his decision, and felt that the team still got the time and possessions he wanted, just were unable to convert the shots. 

Saturday, February 27: Grizzlies beat up the Knicks in the Garden
Again, the second night of a back-to-back, on the road. Crummy eastern conference team or not, this was supposed to spell L-O-S-S for the Grizzlies. But it didn’t.

The Grizzlies out muscled and overpowered the Knicks for a big win, and again just avoided dipping below .500. Z-Bo had another monster game, putting up 31 points and a ridiculous 25 rebounds. The Bizzaro run continued, but February was almost over. The Grizzlies were coming back – maybe... 

Monday, March 1: Grizzlies drop must-win again Blazers at home

The Blazers would not admit who their Haddadi was. Photo by Chase Gustafson.

Z-Bo hated this one as much or more than the Grizzlies fans. Down 3.5 games to the Blazers in the playoff hunt going into the game, it was a huge matchup for the Grizzlies. A win would have given them a 3-1 advantage in the season series, setting them up well for any situation in which the team’s tied for a playoff spot. Randolph was playing against another former team and wanted to give them the same thing he had given the Knicks earlier in the week.

Not so. The Blazers overcame a double-digit deficit with a 41 point fourth quarter to get the win.

Again the Grizzlies were playing at home against a team they could beat. Again that team was at the end of a long road trip. Again the Grizzlies couldn’t get the win.

Hollins continued his new trend of being nice after games… sort of. When asked why the team was lately getting wins on the road but unable to find them at home the coach responded, “We’re playing better on the road than we are at home.” Thanks for the insight Lionel. 

Wednesday, March 3: Grizzlies survive another third quarter scare, drop the Hornets in New Orleans
If you watched this and weren’t yelling Z-Boooooooooo! afterwards, then you must not like basketball. Mike Conley was the statistical hero, scoring a season-high 26 points in his revenge matchup against Darren Collison, but Zach Randolph’s bank-in three, made as the shot clock expired in the fourth quarter was the memorable play of the night.

Again the Grizzlies came off a tough home loss to win on the road and stay above .500. The next game was the next day, a full road trip back-to-back against another eastern team. I think at this point you can see where this is going… 

Thursday, March 4: Z-Bo dominates as Grizzlies drop Bulls in Chicago
Two games above .500 just took two road games – back-to-back. Makes sense right? It does for the Bizzaro Grizz.

And in true Bizzaro Grizz fashion, Memphis had to overcome a big first-half deficit to win (Bizzaro Grizz are better at losing after big first half leads).

Oh and Z-Bo? He scored 31 and had 18 boards, but his most memorable play of the night was getting dunked on by Derrick Rose. Hey – it’s Bizarro Grizz.

The back-to-back wins and particularly the win against New Orleans has the Grizzlies back up in the ninth spot in the west, one spot out of the playoffs. The aforementioned Blazers still hold the 8^th spot, 4 games ahead of the Grizzlies.

The Grizzlies play the San Antonio Spurs Saturday night at FedExForum. We’ll see whether the February team or the January team shows up then.

 

 

 

 

 

Grizzlies Coach Lionel Hollins tried to tell his young team about being a winning team in the NBA. “It’s not like college,” he said Monday night. “You can’t go play Sacred Heart tomorrow.”

Maybe the team hasn’t quite gotten that idea yet. In last night’s embarrassing 105 – 89 road loss to the current best in the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers, the Grizzlies starters underperformed and were almost completely yanked in the fourth quarter with the game out of reach. The Grizzlies now have a two day rest to regroup before taking on the Houston Rockets at FedExForum on Friday.

Back-to-Back
Granted this was about as difficult of a back-to-back set of games as any team could have, and came on the end of a four game in five day set that featured another back-to-back, but this team is good enough that excuses should not be made.

The Grizzlies have only won both games of a back-to-back schedule once this year, on Friday and Saturday of Martin Luther King Jr. weekend against the Timberwolves and Spurs. Those wins came during the 11-game home win streak, and were part of the only home back-to-back this season. The Grizzlies have nine more back-to-back games this season. Only one has both games at home (March 12 & 13 against the Knicks and Nuggets) and the final back-to-back ends with the last home game of the season against Philadelphia. The Grizzlies will need to find a way to win on the second night of those kinds of games if they want to make Allen Iverson’s first on-court appearance at FedExForum this season a win.

Dunk of the Game
Rudy Gay led the Grizzlies in scoring with 15 points, and started strong – slamming home a one handed jam through a no-call foul off a Marc Gasol assist. Runner-up goes to Stephen Hunter for his driving dunk at the end of the game, mostly because it came off a rare assist from Hamed Haddadi.
Dunk Count, 3: Gay – 1, Gasol – 1, Hunter – 1.

Twitter Watch
It kills me sometimes that I cannot put Marcus Williams up here because he is equal parts random, humor and confusion. He has his tweets protected so you’ll have to go see them for yourself. Last night he was giving reasons to end dates. You can request to follow him at http://twitter.com/mw1II

Rudy Gay
Tough loss but we have another one coming up!

I mean we have another game coming not another loss.

Hasheem Thabeet
Just Got in from Cleveland… Tough One last night!! Oh Well #ontothenextone… Goodnight World!!

Sam Young
On the way to memohis

Hamed Haddadi
Admin: Hamed provided a defensive spark off the bench, tallying 4 rebounds and 2 assists in 10 minutes of action,… http://bit.ly/dyXXF1

These have been going on for a few days now, coming in from Haddadi’s facebook page – or whoever is running it. They are lame...

DaMarre Carroll
Tough lost! We couldn’t find the energy but we will bounce back. Bout to fly back to Memphis!

Final Shots
The rescheduled Grizzlies watch party featured 3 members of the Claw Crew, the usual midtown lushes and a handful of Grizzly fans. Young Avenue Deli’s Sam I Am wrap is pretty awesome, but remember to take off the paper before you bite into it. It’s kinda dark in there – you might forget. The loss put Memphis in a three way tie with New Orleans and Houston for ninth in the West (one spot out of the playoffs). Oklahoma City is currently in the last spot. The Grizzlies are only two games behind San Antonio, the current fifth seed.

On the two year anniversary of the Pau Gasol trade that some called one of the most lopsided in NBA history, the Grizzlies defeated the trade’s “winners” on the back of the trade’s initial non-entity and moved back into playoff contention.

Despite the three to four thousand Faker fans, a 44-point night from Kobe and a two game losing streak, the Grizzlies once again adapted their game plan to the situation and took down another division leader. Thoughts, Twitter Watch, Dunk of the Game and more after the jump.

Gasol on Gasol
Two years ago Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace was maligned for trading Pau Gasol to the Lakers for what, as most at the time decided, was a whole lot of nothing. Part of that nothing? Pau’s brother Marc, now arguably one of the top 4 centers in the league in only his second season. Baby Gasol outscored, outblocked, outrebounded, and all-around outplayed his elder All-Star Brother in a bearded Spanish blood-duel that was the definite highlight of the night, with the possible exception of…

Yes, Kobe Broke the Damn Record
Kobe Bryant’s 44 points allowed him to pass Jerry West and become the top scorer in Laker’s history, but it didn’t matter now did it? The Grizzlies still won. Kobe didn’t look like he would break the record at the start, missing his first four attempts and first two free throws, but quickly turned that streak around in the second quarter and started drawing a lot of fouls to go with his points. In the second half Bryant scored more frequently but with fewer fouls as the team shifted their focus to stopping every other Laker scorer, and Kobe shifted his focus to winning the game. To bad for the MVP, it wasn’t enough.

Bizarro Bench
The minute we noticed Sam Young was out for the night (allergic reaction to mid-southerners cheering for a team from 1000 miles away for no good reason) the Grizzlies seemed doomed. He was the only bench player consistently scoring, and with the fatigue woes apparent in Saturday’s game against New Orleans, it seemed unlikely the Grizzlies could compete with Los Angeles’ bench. Trend was justified for about 5 minutes after the starters went out, when two different lineups featured only one starter and that starter (first Rudy, then Randolph) was the only one with any points. Then Lester Hudson happened.

Hudson drained two three pointers as part of his 11 second quarter points (13 for the game), leading a bench squad that actually expanded the lead. Even a rare Haddadi sighting produced two points as the Grizzlies' reserves outscored the Laker’s bench 21 – 14.

Rudy Blue No More
If Rudy Gay was in a funk because of his perceived all-star snub, consider it over. Gay led the Grizzlies in scoring with 25 points – and he did it while being guarded by Ron Artest, one of the best defenders in the league. Oh and that game losing miss by Artest? Credit that to Rudy as well. With the whole team focusing on Kobe to try the game winning three, Artest was left open in the corner for a clear shot, but Rudy Gay closed on him like lightning, forcing him to adjust the angle and push the shot far enough for a Grizzlies’ win.

Home Court Advantage
The faker fans tried their best to give LA some kind of edge, but in the end were a non-factor.

Although not all the Purple and Gold in the house was worn by Faker Fans.

Coach Lionel Hollins said the fans can cheer for whoever they want, but he hopes the Grizzlies won some of them over with the victory. Center Marc Gasol had a different take, saying he felt sorry for locals in purple and gold. Who knows, maybe all those Faker fans gave Gasol even more motivation than normal.

Be on the lookout for any fourth quarter timeout performance by the Beale Street Flippers. The flippers sometimes perform at halftime, but for this game and the Phoenix game, the flippers were a significant distraction for the opposing team, who can’t help but be enthralled by the Memphis acrobatics. Grizzlies get to strategize while the visitors are forced to idolize – and it’s working so far.

You Had to Be There
FedExForum’s second sellout of the season was significantly more intense than the first (MLK day vs. Phoenix) and the amount and volume of the Faker fans made the contest at times seem like a big High School game, with every play garnering significant positive and negative reactions from the crowd of over 18,000.

The big feeling wasn’t just coming from the fans though. O.J. Mayo was so intense he got himself a technical for arguing his third foul. The guy really wanted to guard Kobe, but forgot the unspoken NBA rule that looking #24 in the eyes is an automatic foul. Marc and Pau Gasol were going after each other under the basket, and often shooting glances at their parents, who were in attendance. Rudy Gay and Kobe Bryant were exchanging big three point attempts, the first before the half when Rudy made a desperation heave way too early, after which the Lakers quickly shot the ball back up Kobe in the corner, who drained one to give the Lakers a halftime lead. Later Rudy nailed a three-pointer to put the Grizzlies up 5 with 29.5 second left, followed by Kobe needing all of 4 seconds to put one down on the other side to cut the lead back to 2. With the score 90-88 and Zach Randolph shooting the first of two free throws to extend the lead, Marc Gasol couldn’t even watch - staring up at the rafters until the ball had fallen in.

Dunk of the Game

Bench Scoring: Photographic Evidence from JD Meredith.

Mizzou alum DaMarre Carroll. The junkyard dog had a sick two-fisted jam off a sick Jamaal Tinsely assist as part of the Bizarro Bench’s second quarter run. Perhaps this is the beginning of a trend. Rudy Gay’s rebound/dunk might have been cooler – but we have to give some love to the subs stepping up.
Dunk Count, 2: 1 Carroll, 1 Gay

Twitter Watch

Rudy Gay

O yea IM BACK!!!!

Sam Young

Great win… Now off to the next one…

DaMarre Carroll

Big Big Big Win tonight. Now off to Cleveland for our next game. Congrats to Kobe!

Hasheem Thabeet

Watchin the Grammy’s!!!!!

Granted this was a few days ago.

Final Shots
Former Memphis Tiger and Grizzlies minority owner Elliot Perry was honored as part of a black history month celebration. He was joined by the President of the Grizzlies, a local McDonald’s franchise owner, and Ronald McDonald. Another former Memphis Tiger and current New England Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski was in the house to kick a field goal on the floor to win free tater tots for the crowd. He missed both attempts but tots were given anyway. Z-Bo was given a technical for throwing his headband in an effort to communicate to Grizzlies play-by-play man Pete Pranica that things were not going well. The win put the Grizzlies back into playoff contention, at the eighth spot.

The Grizzlies play tonight at Cleveland in the second game of a back to back scheduled by a prankster at the league office. You can follow @douggillon and @cerrito for live updates and analysis from the games.