Empty Runway: Grizzlies Hold On to Beat Shorthanded Bulls

by djturtleface on Mar 17, 2010 9:42 AM CDT Comment 4 comments

The FedEx Forum was pretty full tonight; fans expected to see hometown favorite and Memphis's star alum Derrick Rose. If they came to see the stars, though, then I'm sure they went away at least a little unsatisfied.

The Bulls were missing Rose, Luol Deng, Kirk Hinrich, and Joakim Noah. The Grizzlies were without Marc Gasol and who knows where Rudy Gay was in mind. In short, this one got more than a little ugly.

It was clearly a game of runs, as the Bulls came out with a three point-guard lineup that clearly frustrated the Grizzlies early on. Acie Law IV, Jannero Pargo, and Flip Murray were incredibly disruptive and incredibly quick both getting to the ball defensively and breaking back to their own offense. The small-lineup Bulls began the game by doubling the Grizz 20-10.

Fortunately over time the Grizz's talent advantaged played out, putting Memphis up by 25 late in the third quarter. O.J. Mayo shot like he was in an open gym, scoring 24 on 8-12 shooting, and both Zach Randolph and Mike Conley double-doubled against the weak Bulls defense. The other big news of the night is that Hasheem Thabeet started in the place of Marc Gasol and nearly doubled up, scoring 10 with 9 boards and 2 blocks. Notably Thabeet had just 3 fouls in 28 minutes, and had a team high +21 on the game.

Of course when you're up 25 it's time to put the bench in, and the Grizzlies's bench performance might have been the worst of the season. Hakim Warrick proved why we never should have given him up; he outscored the entire Grizz bench (6 players, playing 71 minutes). The subs lost all the momentum and the starters were forced to scrap it out just to hold on and win this one 104-97.

All those fans who came out for the first time to see Derrick Rose? I think we can be pretty sure they don't plan on coming back any time soon.

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ugh

a game barely worth the price of admission. ok not even.

They have to get it going tonight in Houston again for another big road win to stay competitive in this crucial final weeks of the season. This was a game they definitely were looking past by starting Thabeet of all players. I was definitely happy to see him doing well but it was against a walking tree man, Brad Miller, and a Euroleague reject, Chris Richards. Of course he had good play – I’m glad he got minutes – but no excuse to be tanking that game when every win is essential from here on out. They can’t fool around like that. I reallyt hought they were settling for ping pong balls when I saw thabeet got the start over Haddadi….

by xangoir on Mar 17, 2010 10:10 AM CDT reply actions

Hmmm...

From what I’ve seen since he’s back from the D-League, Thabeet has (mostly) looked better than Haddadi. Also I’d say it probably has less to do with ping-pong balls and more to do with the Bulls missing 4 of their starters.

Marc Gasol’s injury does seem legit too. Strained neck showed up in an MRI, but I bet we’ll see him against Houston anyway.

Straight Outta Vancouver - The Memphis Grizzlies DO Still Exist

by djturtleface on Mar 17, 2010 12:29 PM CDT up reply actions

agreed on both counts

Thabeet has been playing better than Haddadi since he came back, and I’m glad to see him getting the time. Was a great opportunity with Gasol out for him to get meaningful minutes on the court. Don’t really understand the comment about them tanking the game – Thabeet was clearly disruptive to their drive-to-the-hoop offense, and they didn’t tank, they won the game (even putting back starters in the 4th when they have a B2B with Houston the next night).

Conley has been playing well as of late too – even though Marcus Wiliams got minutes last night, Conely made some big shots – those threes he took looked confident, and a couple strong drives to the hoop as well. 10 assists never can be overlooked.

by hueyproductions on Mar 17, 2010 2:57 PM CDT up reply actions

I missed the game, but Mike Conley looks like he had a WHALE of a game 19-10 and 5 steals. He’s had a pretty good March averaging 15.3 pts, 5.8 assists and 1.9 steals including two games with single digits scoring.

I was one of the one’s who thought that he would pick up HERE at the beginning of the year, because this was where he left off last year, but I don’t know. I would love to say, again, that it looks like he is finding a groove, but I guess only time will tell.

OK game by Thabeet. He definitely needs to hit the weights this summer!

by new_skool91 on Mar 17, 2010 1:29 PM CDT reply actions