Ronnie Brewer took another giant step toward what looks like his imminent return when he played in a full-contact, 3-on-3 game Thursday on the Grizzlies' FedExForum practice court.
Brewer has said that his partially torn right hamstring is healing ahead of schedule. He's officially missed three weeks today, and I'd probably put the target date for his return at March 16 when the Griz host the Chicago Bulls.
How Much Better Can the Bench Be: Hasheem Thabeet Edition?
by djturtleface on Mar 12, 2010 7:30 AM CST
2 comments
When I wrote the first half of "How Much Better Can the Bench Be," it was clearly conceptualized as the bench needing a solid injection of talent on the wing and down low. Of course the wing was Ronnie Brewer, who's now only about a week from returning, and I assumed that the big to step up would be Darrell Arthur.
At that point Hasheem Thabeet had been replaced by Hamed Haddadi who, while a step up from the Thabeet I remembered, wasn't exactly a knight in shining armor. So if anyone was going to put in some killer minutes backing up Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol, it would have to be Darrell Arthur.
But after last night's 26 minute, +25 performance, I'm not so sure any longer. Could Hasheem Thabeet be the savior that the Grizzlies need, since Darrell Arthur looks far from even just matching last year's mediocre play?
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What Fight?: Grizzlies Hammer Boston Celtics
by djturtleface on Mar 11, 2010 8:02 AM CST
7 comments
Last time the Grizzlies played the Celtics, they pushed them hard but ended up losing in the 4th quarter. That game was before most people realized how improved this team was, so the game recaps were filled with Boston's players spouting off lines about how this team was so improved and had a bright future.
Welcome to that future. Last night the Grizzlies ran the Boston Celtics out of the gym, their own gym no less, winning by 20 and leading the entire game.
Rudy Gay, who led all scorers with 28 point and 8 boards, got to give the respectful complement this time:
"It wasn't about them. It was more about us," Gay said. "When you look at their lineup you have to respect them. They have three Hall of Famers."
If anybody should be complemented, though, it's Hasheem Thabeet. In his second game after returning from the D-League (he DNP-CD'd in the first), Thabeet was practically the Grizzlies 6th man. He saw 26 minutes of court time and, even though his counting stats weren't impressive, had a +25 for the game for a reason. 'Our Favorite Mistake' was playing solid defense and offense, using his length to change shots and tip boards.
Sam Young and Marcus Williams also added a spark, dropping 27 points to make up for Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol not really getting involved in the offense (combined 20 points).
This was just a fantastic win for the Grizzlies, there's not much to say but that you've got to respect the Celtic's lifetime achievement awards.
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GameThread: Memphis Grizzlies at Boston Celtics
by djturtleface on Mar 10, 2010 7:07 PM CST
7 comments
I've just been terrible about getting these gamethreads up in time lately, huh?
Oh well, it's here now. The Grizzlies are stunning the Celtics so far, up 21-12 with the 1st quarter almost over. This has been real ugly so far, besides some real nice play by Sam Young right now.
Anyhow, this would make 10 in a row on the road, which would be awfully impressive. Let's hope.
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Ugly as Sin: Grizzlies Hold On To Beat Nets 107-101
by djturtleface on Mar 8, 2010 9:49 PM CST
9 comments
Not that there were many fans on hand to watch the Grizzlies play the league-worst New Jersey Nets, but the ones that were there should ask for their money back.
The Grizzlies were without Zach Randolph, who's quickly becoming a fan favorite, and it showed. The starting unit looked ugly at times, with DeMarre Carroll and Darrell Arthur platooning to fill the power forward spot. They just didn't seem fully comfortable despite New Jersey's poor defense.
Not that the D-Bro's played bad. DeMarre had an impressive but horrible looking 10 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 steals, earning himself a nice 25 minutes. And Darrell scored 7 points and had 3 boards in 18 minutes of play, which isn't awful either.
Defensively, this game could not have been worse, though. The Grizzlies had a solid 10 steals on approximately 100 gambles (not a real stat). Obviously both teams scored over 100 in this one and, quite honestly, I don't think it was the good offense that got Courtney Lee his 30 points.
A win is a win, and the Grizzlies will certainly take a win after losing 8 straight at home, but it would have been nice to see the Grizzlies look good against the worst team in the league. Instead they looked, merely, just a bit better than the New Jersey Nets.
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He's Back: Grizzlies Recall Hasheem Thabeet
by djturtleface on Mar 8, 2010 7:50 PM CST
1 comment
After a fruitful stint in the Developmental League, Hasheem Thabeet is going to be back with Memphis Grizzlies tonight.
Thabeet was playing with the Dakota Wizards for 6 games, and over that time the Wizards were 5-1. He averaged 13.8 points, 11.2 rebounds, and a solid 3.17 blocks per game. Those stats might not seem fantastic, but Thabeet wasn't starting initially and only averaged 31 minutes per game.
The Grizzlies homepage obviously painted his time in the D-League as picture perfect:
The 7-3, 267-pound center, who led the Wizards to a 5-1 record, scored a D-League career-high 19 points on Feb. 28 at Fort Wayne and grabbed a personal-best 18 rebounds on March 5 at Tulsa. [...]
The 23-year-old rookie is averaging 2.5 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.16 blocks (second among first-year players) in 50 games with the Grizzlies.
Obviously that's not the whole story, though. Like everything in the world, there's a more nuanced view. Get over the jump for the close coverage, mostly relying on Ridiculous Upside's excellent coverage.
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GameThread: New Jersey Nets at Memphis Grizzlies
by djturtleface on Mar 8, 2010 6:36 PM CST
1 comment
Beware the fox blockin' shots on guys with dreadlocks
Last time the Grizzlies played the Nets, they gave them quite the scare. New Jersey, led by Brook Lopez and Devin Harris, dominated the Grizzlies in the first half, but the Grizz tightened up defensively and clearly woke up on the offensive end as well.
The Grizzlies have lost 8 games in a row at home, it's turning into quite the curse, and the league-worst Nets are going to give them a great chance to sweep the series and get back to the winning ways in Memphis.
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Where's Home: Grizzlies Lose to Spurs 102-92
by djturtleface on Mar 7, 2010 10:41 AM CST
2 comments
It wasn't that long ago that the Grizzlies couldn't be beat in the FedEx Forum, winning 11 straight at home. But fans haven't seen much out of them lately, the Grizzlies have now lost 8 straight games in Memphis.
Nobody knows what's wrong, though Coach Lionel Hollins might have an answer:
"We have played a different caliber of teams away than we have at home," Hollins said. "We just haven't been able to raise our caliber of play. We execute better on the road. We make a better effort and better decisions on the road. At home, we haven't been able to do that. We get a little frantic and the ball doesn't move."
Another answer also might be playing against the New Jersey Nets tomorrow, but if the Grizzlies play the way they did in the stretch last night they might not be able to close out the league's worst either.
The Grizzlies shot just 43% with lead scorers Zach Randolph and Rudy Gay struggling, putting up just a combined 28 points and 13 rebounds. Considering that's normally the kind of line that Z-Bo alone can post, it's easy to see why the Grizz struggled. Fortunately O.J. Mayo did his best to keep us in it; he scored 23 points in the loss.
But the real problem was the bench. Hamed Haddadi continued to play well, though his stat line was nothing special. Marcus Williams (-13), Darrell Arthur (-9), and Sam Young (-11) allowed the Spurs bench -- admittedly made up of mostly starting caliber players like Richard Jefferson, Manu Ginobilli, and DeJuan Blair -- to just obliterate them.
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