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. 

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.

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.

Meant to represent ESPN cutting the NBA game tonight.

No NBA on the back end of ESPN's Wednesday double-header this week, but at least we've got this game to watch. The Grizzlies and Hornets have gone at it in two very entertaining games this season, even though the Grizzlies have lost in both of the thrillers.

The key matchup has to be between the frontcourts. Mike Conley has been playing better as of late, but Darren Collison has been a force. O.J. Mayo has really played poorly lately, which I think is a large reason why the Grizzlies haven't gotten many wins lately, but Marcus Thornton is a similar type of guard in terms of size and athleticism, which is normally a good matchup for Mayo.

Obviously the Grizzlies have the advantage down low on paper, but tonight they're going to have to make that count if they want any shot at evening up the season series.

After winning 10 games in a row at home, it's clear that the Grizzlies feel like they've been spoiling their hometown fans. They haven't won in Memphis in exactly a month; the monster upset over the Lakers on February 1st was their last winner in the Forum.

The Portland Trailblazers aren't going to roll over to end the losing slide, either. Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, and company are winners of 3 of their last 4 and trying to break into the West playoffs despite losing both Greg Oden and his backup Joel Pryzbilla.

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The last time the Bobcats and the Memphis Grizzlies played, it was one hell of a game.

But instead of a late game-winning shot to keep the streak going, Grizzlies fans watched while Raymond Felton's completely blown final second floater turned into an alley-oop for a leaping Gerald Wallace.

No disrespect, it was a phenomenal play by Wallace, but seriously, how you going to turn an air ball into a game-winner like that Charlotte?

Tonight is the Grizzlies's chance for some get back, but they're facing a subtlety different Charlotte team. After effectively swapping Flip Murray for Tyrus Thomas, the Bobcat are now paper-thin at guard but even deeper in shot-blocking bigs.

What kind of difference that will make against the Grizzlies, who'll bring a new look tonight also with Darrell Arthur and Hamed Haddadi stepping into bigger roles, is still up in the air. One thing that I know will make a difference, though, we've got the home court this time.

It's no secret that the Memphis Grizzlies don't play to the top of their game on the 2nd night of back-to-backs, especially when that 2nd game takes them on the road.

But the Grizz won a game similar to this one just a few games ago in Toronto and, quite frankly, the Washington Wizards are playing with a gutted roster. Not that Memphis can afford to take it easy, we learned that lesson in Jersey, but the Wizards aren't the team they once were.

Quite frankly, they weren't that good before losing Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison, Gilbert Arenas, and Brendan Haywood, so I'll go out on a limb and predict that they're not any better off right now.

Watch out for Al Thornton, though. Rudy Gay and he have history of getting into uncontested shooting competitions during games, so having Thornton and Randy Foye's size and scoring ability against this Grizzlies defense.

While the Memphis Grizzlies have been slumping, the Los Angeles Lakers have been dominating the league. Both teams, though, have their own sorts of identity crises they'll be battling in this one.

The Grizzlies proved they could beat the Lakers in their last matchup, but haven't played anything like the team that beat the Lakers over the last few weeks.

And the Lakers haven't played anything like themselves lately either, since Kobe Bryant has been out since before the All-Star Game. His return to the lineup is, most likely, tonight. That's going to be a big change in terms of who's calling, and taking, most of the shots.

So who knows, maybe the Grizzlies steal this one from an unprepared team. Maybe they battle out another close one and prove that Memphis hasn't quite fallen from basketball grace. It's certainly going to be one worth watching.

With all the games on television today, I'm willing to forgive anyone who says that this game isn't exactly their choice for thriller of the night.

The Grizzlies are up against the New Jersey Nets today, and count me as moderately unexcited by the prospect. The Nets are by far the worst team in the league this season, but the Grizzlies have been playing a lot like them lately, with just 2 wins in their last 10 games.

Memphis lost both of their games last season, when the Nets weren't much better than they are this season, though Vince Carter was the high-scorer in both of those games. Obviously Vince isn't going to do much damage this year, since he's matched up against the Cavaliers during the day game.

After losing to a Dwyane Wade-less Miami Heat the other night, I'm loathe to call this one a guaranteed win. We'll see what happens, but chances are it's going to be ugly.

Word from ESPN is that Dwyane Wade is out for at least a couple games with a calf injury, which sounds like, "Dwayne Wade is out because he's not happy we didn't land any help at the trade deadline," to me.

The last time I checked, the Miami Heat without Wade aren't a very good team, and even with Wade they lost to the Grizzlies in Miami by a pretty large margin the first time they met this season.

Look for this to, hopefully, be an easy win. Key things we'll be watching out for is if Ronnie Brewer plays without practicing with the team first, if Darrell Arthur can find his shot, and what kind of minutes Sam Young will play if Brewer gets into the game.