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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GameThread: San Antonio Spurs at Memphis Grizzlies
by djturtleface on Mar 6, 2010 7:57 PM CST
4 comments
Sorry for the late post everybody, running a little bit behind today.
Anyhow the Spurs are on the end of a traveling back-to-back, while the Grizzlies have had a day's rest. It should be a good one, at the time of this posting the game's tied 30-30.
Look out for the George Hill and Tony Parker combo to rip apart the Grizzlies oftentimes lacking interior defense, unless Mike Conley and O.J. Mayo can contain their drives on the perimeter.
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How Much Better Can the Bench Be? Ronnie Brewer Edition
by djturtleface on Mar 5, 2010 9:12 PM CST
3 comments
Just before the trade deadline, I was pretty confident that the Grizzlies were about to be completed. Darrell Arthur was set to return from injury, and management seemed dead-set on trading for a 6th man to replace Sam Young and a few million dollars in cap space saved by buyouts earlier in the season.
Darrell Arthur is back, and the Grizzlies have Ronnie Brewer on the roster. As we all know, though, that doesn't mean much right now. Arthur is still playing like he's injured and isn't offering much, though he seems to be sporting a more refined game, and Ronnie Brewer's hamstring is still being tied back up.
But Arthur should turn things around at some point, he definitely has the talent to be a role player, and the Memphis Commercial Appeal is reporting that Ronnie B. is almost back:
The 6-7 guard/forward sounds as if he is on pace to fully recover from a partially torn right hamstring three weeks from the day he was injured.
That means Brewer likely could resume full-contact basketball activities around March 12.
The question, then, is: What are the Grizzlies going to get from these two guys once they round back into shape in the upcoming weeks? In this first part of the series, I'm taking a look at what contribution we can expect from the injured Ronnie Brewer.
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GameThread: Memphis Grizzlies at Chicago Bulls
by djturtleface on Mar 4, 2010 5:59 PM CST
9 comments
Is it just me or do the Grizzlies have a ton of back to backs this season? After beating an ice cold New Orleans team at home the Grizzlies are booking it to Chi-town for this game against the suddenly red hot (by the East's standards) Chicago Bulls.
Derrick Rose and the new and improved Mike Conley is obviously the key matchup here. I wouldn't be surprised to see O.J. Mayo guarding Rose at times, since Hinrich isn't much different size-wise and is an easier matchup for Mike, but when Conley's on D-Rose he has got to keep him out of the paint.
Taj Gibson and Brad Miller probably isn't the frontcourt to stop the Grizz, though, so even if Rose has his way with Conley, the Grizzlies still have a huge size advantage. Look for them to try to bang it inside even more than usual, especially since Vinny Del Negro isn't exactly a master of defensive scheming.
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The Mike Conley Praise Post
by djturtleface on Mar 4, 2010 12:14 PM CST
3 comments
For as much as I rip on Little Mike, and as often as I call him the worst starting point in the league, I have to give props when he comes up big. I don't like to say it, but it's true: Mike Conley has been playing pretty damn good basketball lately.
So if anything can keep the Grizzlies playoff dreams alive, it's the fact that Mike Conley has looked great on the offensive end lately. Yes, I said it. Mike Conley has looked great for more than a game or two. He's put together a legitimate run of rock solid games.
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