The Truth: Boston Celtics Edge Out Grizzlies, 110-105
The Grizzlies may have lost two of their last three games, but they're still moving up my power rankings.
And while they might not be rising quite as fast as a couple weeks ago, the Memphis Grizzlies are showing a hell of a lot more resilience than anyone expected from this team. This recent run has seen the Grizzlies playing the Mavericks, Cavaliers, Thunder, Heat, and Celtics. That's quite the spread right there.
I don't want to take anything away from the Celtics, because that's not my point. It takes an enormous change in team culture for the Memphis Grizzlies that most people remember as the Memphis Grizzlies to come out on the second night of a traveling back-to-back and play a full-strength, reloaded championship squad down to the wire.
And this game wasn't just down to the wire, it was the Memphis Grizzlies making all the easy plays while the Celtics seemed to make all the hard ones. Don't call it luck, because it's clutch execution since the C's do it time and time again, but I honestly believe that the Grizzlies played better than the Celtics tonight.
A little more post-game plus a return to the awards are on the other side of the jump; CelticsBlog probably has clips of that Ray Allen three if you'd rather just face it now than in your nightmares.
Even a moral victory is a tough loss though, huh? I honestly believed the Grizzlies would pull this one out. They had great contributions from Jamaal Tinsley and Hasheem Thabeet. Sam Young scored a little bit too. In what seems to be becoming the norm here in Memphis, there were three scorers over 20 points on the night.
Everything seemed to go right. Rudy Gay was showing his new aggressiveness, shocking the Celtics by getting to the line seemingly at will in the first half. O.J. Mayo was a rock solid shooter, Zach Randolph was being Zach Randolph, which, as it turns out, isn't so detrimental to a team.
The difference in the game was that the Grizzlies couldn't hit their threes, with a hand in their face or not. Rudy blew it by shooting 0-5 from deep, and OJAM's long ball wasn't exactly splashing tonight -- he shot 1-6. The Celtics, by the way, made 10-20 of their three pointers. Difference maker? I wonder.
Rockness Monster: It's tough, because I really liked O.J.'s game and he defense on Ray Allen, but I have to give this one to Rudy. I don't know if it's Coach Hollins, him just putting it all together, or steal-master Z-Bo's sage advice, but Rudy has finally figured out how to make his agility, awesome hands, and creepily long arms work to start some serious thievery. The 3 steals against Paul Pierce, just like the one's against Prince James, were just a bit bigger than huge.
U-Turn: Hasheem Thabeet posted 8 rebounds and 4 blocks in 18 minutes. This boy's learning how to play the game of basketball.
Bitter Limon: Is plus/minus really one-hundred-percent useful in a single game. No, not really. But after several solid performances, Mike Conley looked pretty mediocre and posted a team worst -12. Jamaal Tinsley tied his 4 assists. The difference is that Ashey Larry only played a third of the minutes and was the only Grizzlies with a positive plus/minus at +7.
Sleeping With the Enemy: Maybe it's my Midwestern sensibilities, but if there's one thing I hate more than the city of Boston, it's their sports teams. Don't care about the enemy. I have nothing to say terrible about the Celtics that I haven't already said a million times about Dancing With the Stars -- they're all fake, way past their prime, and their knees will be shot by the end of the year anyhow.
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Comments
Thabeet and Celtics
Thabeet drew praise from Celtic hall of famer and announcer Tom Heinson for great athletic and shot blocking ability and the overall offensive talent of the griz especially Gay and Mayo.You are WAY wrong about the Celtics- they will be the champions this year-experience playing together is important!
by Peterct on Dec 15, 2009 6:45 AM CST reply actions 0 recs
Hmmm...
I wouldn’t be surprised if they won championship. They’re probably my #3 team right now. I’ve only got Lakers and Magic (if Jameer is healthy) ahead of them.
Straight Outta Vancouver - The Memphis Grizzlies DO Still Exist
by djturtleface on Dec 15, 2009 9:11 AM CST up reply actions 1 recs
BOSTON
By the way Boston is a GREAT city- the midwest is flyover territory till Montana!!
by Peterct on Dec 15, 2009 6:47 AM CST reply actions 0 recs
Haha
I’m just playing with you. Boston is nice city, but I still hate their sports teams…
Straight Outta Vancouver - The Memphis Grizzlies DO Still Exist
by djturtleface on Dec 15, 2009 9:10 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs
you're not alone!
People across the country can’t stand NY and Boston teams. Their fans shouldn’t be surprised by this.
by LibNat on Dec 15, 2009 9:02 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
Their 12 minutes of hard beat our 48 minutes of hard.
Lionel said there was nothing to be taken away from last night’s game.
Let’s not delude ourselves. If this was a playoff game, their 48 minutes of hard would have left us in the dust. They, and the Lakers, have bullseyes on their chest every game. Everyone brings their “A” game against the Celtics and Lakers, especially a young team trying to win it’s fans back.
Well.
The Grizzlies may not have won the game.
But they are winning their fans back.
.
by jwoods1 on Dec 15, 2009 6:53 AM CST reply actions 0 recs
Well...
I’m not sure I fully agree, I thought the Celtics really played very hard also.
If this was a championship game, yeah, maybe it would have blown us out. But keep in mind that the Celtics got pushed by a bad Bulls team last year and a bad Hawks team two years ago.
Straight Outta Vancouver - The Memphis Grizzlies DO Still Exist
by djturtleface on Dec 15, 2009 9:14 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs
Zach Randolph was being Zach Randolph, which, as it turns out, isn’t so detrimental to a team.
Yup, you are going through the realization that Zach Randolph is actually a really good player. It’s amazing how a guy gets a bad rap at the age of 21 on a team full of “questionable characters” and it stuck with him his whole career. The dude can play.
by Michael White on Dec 15, 2009 10:02 AM CST reply actions 0 recs
Boston plays with PRIDE
learn it. you hear guys like Shaq saying “LEGACY” about their game. They WISH they could have what Boston has. Their whole career is in the shadows trying to find that light. I agree there are very few places of significance between Colorado/Texas/Atlanta/Philadelphia/DC areas. I never have understood what people like about Chicago. My experience there has been unelevating. Memphis, New Orleans, East Carolina have some magic places that are supremely rare. Other than that it’s kind of a wasteland. If you drive through Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Michigan you will ask yourself, Have I landed in hell???
by xangoir on Dec 15, 2009 12:11 PM CST reply actions 0 recs
out past missouri of course I don’t have to mention what those doldrums encompass.
by xangoir on Dec 15, 2009 12:12 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
video of midwest
hold on, I found a video on youtube of midwest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOEUpYcSwOM&feature=related
by xangoir on Dec 15, 2009 3:57 PM CST reply actions 0 recs
Your recap does speak the truth
It’s right on. I think everyone can see that the Grizzlies are improving greatly. The whole Allen Iverson episode seemed like years ago and it’s almost as if there’s a new team in Memphis.
For a team that won no more than 24 games in each of the last three seasons to go 3-2 against the Mavs, Cavs, Thunder, Heat, and Celtcs is impressive. But the tough stretch isn’t over; the next five opponents are Atlanta, Indy, Denver, Golden State, and Dallas (again). Facing the Hawks in Atlanta is going to be really tough, as they’re 10-2 at home and have a real chance of cracking the top three in the East (they’re already ahead of Cleveland in the standings).
The difference in last night’s game? You don’t have to wonder. It was the three-point shooting. Boston made NINE more threes—that’s 27 extra points. That was decisive.
Just about everything else was about even: FGs, FTs, rebounds, turnovers. The Celts did have 11 more assists, so their ball movement was better. Credit Rondo for that.
This was a close game and either team could have won it. I actually thought the Grizzlies had momentum and could have pulled out the game when they were up 73-69 in the middle of the third quarter but then back-to-back treys by Pierce and Allen just stopped them cold. You could say those 6 points won the game for Boston.
The Celtics got just a little bit of extra breathing room in the 3rd quarter but couldn’t put away the Grizz, unlike what they’ve done to many other teams in that quarter. Boston had to continue to battle it out to the end of the game. Just look at the veteran starters’ minutes: 41 for Pierce, 37 for Allen, and 33 for Garnett. Rasheed Wallace was largely effective (except for his 3pt shooting) or else KG would have had to play more minutes.
BTW, in the pic above Gasol looked like he was gonna turn into a werewolf and just decapitate the ref.
by LibNat on Dec 15, 2009 8:59 PM CST reply actions 0 recs
Whenever we do our first visual overhaul...
I’m going to push for that picture to somehow be involved in the new logo.
Straight Outta Vancouver - The Memphis Grizzlies DO Still Exist
by djturtleface on Dec 15, 2009 9:56 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
threes
I read a recent article on another board about three point shooting and it is a huge difference maker in games. Grizzlies have to get on board to really compete. OJ is our only guy right now doing it but he is more than just a chucker. It would be nice to have Mike Miller back in his 2006 form on this team as 6th man again.
by xangoir on Dec 16, 2009 8:29 AM CST up reply actions 1 recs
Although
Tom Ziller wrote something over at Fanhouse that suggested (by the numbers) that the Grizzlies are much better off than teams that shoot the average amount of threes even though they’re below average 3pt shooters.
Not that we don’t need more shooting, just that it’s good that we haven’t given Rudy and Zach the constant green-light even though they’re below average three shooters to make up for the lack of real shooting (mostly Conley’s fault?)
Straight Outta Vancouver - The Memphis Grizzlies DO Still Exist
by djturtleface on Dec 16, 2009 11:43 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

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