Postgame: Grizzlies 97, Rockets 101

by Joshua Coleman

Due to some other things happening in my life over the last couple of weeks, I was unable to attend the other home preseason games, making this the first time that I had seen the home team live since the Open Practice. And what a sight it was!

Waiting outside prior to the Forum opening up, Chip and I chatted with some of the other fans. Then Chip turns and says, "Is that Artest?" Sure enough, there was Crazy Pills himself walking up to us, NY Mets hat atop his head and gametime sneakers in hand. After some small talk, he admitted that he just didn't feel like walking to the other side of the building where the players usually entered, so he decided to go through the main entrance. He was very polite and even a little shy.

We were selected to be MVP's for the night, which meant that we got some free t-shirts, watched warmups from the baseline and then stood in the line when starting lineups were announced, so we were able to slap hands and exchange fist bumps with the starters. (Relevant side note: Marc Gasol has ridiculously large hands.) Talk about a warm welcome to the season beginning. Prior to all of that, we got to watch shootaround, which was much more organized than we had previously realized. Antoine Walker was going through shooting drills with two assistant coaches until he was drenched in sweat. It was fairly impressive. On to the game!

The Good
Marc Gasol - The big Spaniard impressed me at Open Practice, has made believers out of his teammates through training camp and preseason, and did enough to raise quite a few eyebrows tonight. He was active and aggressive in his 19 minutes of play, including a sequence where he exchanged elbows with Joey Dorsey and Carl Landry on successive possessions, which failed to draw a whistle from the officials. The more I see him, the more comfortable I feel about him manning the pivot for this squad.

O.J. Mayo - The much-heralded rookie was the epitome of confidence. He never tried to do too much or force the issue, but had no problem whatsoever taking a few difficult shots with defenders in his face, including one fadeaway from the baseline that appeared to defy gravity as he hung in the air for what seemed like forever. On the occasions that he got the ball out front on the break, he either outran his opponents to the basket or found the open man for the easy bucket. He hasn't played like a rookie in the past two contests, which is very encouraging.

Darrell Arthur - I must admit that my expectations were fairly low for D.A., but he really had a quality performance tonight. He displayed a silky smooth touch on his jumper that just seemed too soft to belong to a PF. He also made several hustle plays, sticking his long arms into passing lanes and making deflections all night long. If he keeps this up, Hakim Warrick might be even more expendable than I had previously thought.

Darko Milicic - The Dark One played sparingly, registering just over 20 minutes, but was very effective while he was in the game. He was a solid defensive presence, but also showed some offensive abilities that hadn't been witnessed since early last season, registering 12 points on 4/5 shooting. He also had the game's highest +/- rating at +14.

The Bad
Kyle Lowry - I don't know if it was the teammates he had on the floor with him, since he played with the bench players most of his 20 minutes, but Lowry was unable to set up anyone for an easy shot all night. His offense was simply off, as his shot wouldn't fall, leading to a 1 for 8 effort from the floor. He just didn't look good at all tonight.

Hakim Warrick - Hak tallied 10 points tonight, but 8 of those came from the free throw line, mostly when he barreled into his defender and got the bailout call from the refs. He also allowed Chuck Hayes and Carl Landry to get easy offensive rebounds on multiple occasions by refusing to fight for position. It was a disappointing effort to witness.

Javaris Crittenton - After seeing Chip's post today, I was hoping that Critt would read it and become inspired. Ok, maybe not really, but I was hoping to see something noteworthy from the young guard tonight. Instead, he was largely invisible, other than one play where he juked two Rockets defenders with a ball fake before banking in the easy layup. That's not a good sign for a young player who needs playing time to improve upon his deficiencies.

The Ugly
Perimeter Defense - The Grizzlies allowed the Rockets to make 18 of their 29 three-point attempts tonight. That's 62.1%, which is simply inexcusable.

Whoever was supposed to be guarding Von Wafer - To piggyback onto the last point, the player responsible for allowing Wafer's 23 point explosion (8/13 FG, 7/9 3PT) needs to be put in Kevin O'Neill's secret dungeon beneath the Forum for the next week. As Chip said tonight, "I thought that Von Wafer was a type of cookie".

Brent Barry's facial hair - Seriously, that growth on his face needs to be surgically removed. It is just hideous.

Luis Scola/Ron Artest - They were pathetic tonight. Now that I survived meeting Artest, I can say that in print.

Overall Thoughts
I saw enough from the probable starters to be excited about what the future holds, although I still believe that they will be maddeningly inconsistent this year as they experience their share of growing pains. Conley and Mayo are both mature beyond their years, Rudy has enough swagger and confidence for two guys, and the Gasol/Milicic frontcourt pairing looks like it could work this season. I have lots of questions about the bench, but I'm not going to base everything on just one very entertaining preseason game.

Grizzlies/Pacers Postgame Thoughts

Well, tonight was my first in-person experience with the Grizzlies so far this season.

Parking garage, enter the game, see the same ticket check attendant (a super nice and very cool lady, by the way) from last season at the entrance to my section.

Ahhhhhh....basketball season.

The Grizz started with Darko/Marc G./RU-DEE/OJ/Conley. Pretty good lineup to start. Shot 67% for about the first seven or so minutes....the Grizz ended Q1 shooting around 38%. Thanks, bench. I'm going to preemptively apologize to Dr. Zack...but Lowry just stunk up the joint running the offense for several stretches tonight. It wasn't just what he did or didn't do, it was that no one seemed to anticipate teammates' positions or be able to get HQ shots while Kyle was running the offense. He was much better in the second half (when, by the way, he played with many of the same guys with whom he played in the first half), but Conley does seem to have a better cohesive effect on the offense. When Lowry came in, IIRC, it was 18-10 Grizz; at the end of Q1, it was 23-21 Pacers. On the plus side, all five Grizz starters scored in the first five minutes, with Rudy actually being the last of them to score. Three turns in the first 2.5 minutes, but only six the rest of the first half, and only four in the second half.

Now, on to the important part. This Mayo character. Saw him put his arm on Kyle's shoulder when Ivy said something Kyle didn't like (which seems to happen quite a bit.......), saw him do the same to Marc G. when he fumbled one. He's very, very unafraid to lead, and as much as Rudy and Conley are expected to lead the team...Mayo is going to move into that role as much as a rookie can.

AND SOMEONE NEEDED TO POUR SOME WATER ON OJ! HE WAS ON FIRE!!!!!!!

Nothing we won't see again, but goodness gracious, he was sure of himself. He had the green light and knew it, and it was awesome to watch. 10-17, 6-8 for three. Couple dumb mistakes with the ball, but overall his assets tonight FAR outweighed any liabilities.

Darko seemed to have his head in the game mostly, which was nice to see, but he and Gasol still made some concrete-handed messes on the inside tonight.


THE UNSTOPPABLE RASHO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One should NEVER use that phrase, but it was that way tonight. He abused Marc Gasol in the first half, and had ten of the Pacers' first twelve points. That does NOT bode well for when the Grizzlies play against quick athletic centers (and oh, yes, there are a few of those, now aren't there).

And TJ Ford had his way with the Grizzlies' PG's in the first half as well, to the tune of 14 points in the half. Sure, he's quick, but not on an elite level. Again, that tells me that Tony Parker and the like can go ahead and pencil in about 30 against the Grizz.

I was surprised by how bad Hibbert wasn't-he has fair hands and is quick for a guy who is just huge.

Ok, enough about the enemy. Back to the Grizz. Hak had his first off game, but he had a HUGE three with the shot clock WAY down when the Pacers had begun to make inroads into the Grizzlies' lead. Quentin "I went 0-3 on a 3pt attempt freethrow trip" Ross made two really big buckets in Q4 also...nice that he made a couple when they really counted.

Rudy made several really nice shots, but I, like some others (right X??), am somewhat concerned that he seems to be able to "turn it on and off" at will. A player with his ability and talent should be unconsciously "on" ALL THE TIME. He had the highlight of the night on a one-armed drawback THROWDOWN on a putback. Amazing stuff.

One thought for the coaching staff:

DO NOT PLAY BUCKNER AND ROSS AT THE SAME TIME. PLEASE. It's as ugly as ugly can be on offense, and the Grizz can be ugly enough even with our offensive principals on the floor.

Oh, by the way, the Pacers didn't play Granger, Murphy, Daniels, or Dunleavy. Nice of them to give us this one.

Still a nice win, and a crowd that seemed much more into it than I thought they'd be. A nice surprise.

The above is the most sense I could make out of my completely scrambled chickenscratch of notes I took during the game..thanks Grizzlies for giving us a W tonight, preseason or not.

For the other side of things, check out the postgame comments from Indy Cornrows.

Game Recap: Memphis v Hornets

The Grizzlies rookie team made an impressive debut in the summer league. OJ Mayo, Mike Conley, Darrell Arthur and surprising PJ Tucker all scored in double figures and the team was never seriously challenged but the Hornets.

You can geta nice recap of the game over at the Commercial Appeal, read the active game thread on the Memphis Grizzlies Message board and get Chris Herrington's comments over at Beyond the Arc.

The game wasn't easy to watch on the webcast at NBA.com. Poor transfer quality and no announcing with a static view and no replays made it better than nothing but hardly enjoyable.

I would like to throw out a big thanks to the Commercial Appeal for sending Beat Writer Ron Tillery to the event. In the past the CA decided to save some money and not send a reporter to the event or only send one for a short period of time. This left Grizz fans with only an AP writers recap of the games. Thanks to the sports editor for approving the expense instead of saving a few dollars and denying the local fans a first hand account.

Post Game Thoughts - New York Knicks

Grizz Win 130-114! A blowout at the Forum. Streamers floated down from the sky and everyone left happy.

Why does it feel like another loss?

Victories seems Pyrrhic these days. Sure it was great to see the young players step up and produce in a game. The problem is that the win cost the Grizzlies two spots in the lottery game. They dropped from 3rd to 5th with a win over the New York Knicks, a team that seems depressed that they can't tank enough to catch the hapless Miami Heat who the Grizzlies also have to play next week.

A sparse crowd that was no where near the amount of tickets sold for the game saw the Grizzlies put together their best effort of the season against a team more interested in their lottery position than their record. Ideally, one would look at this game as something to build on for the future.

Does anyone truly believe that this season's Grizzlies are a team that can score 130 points on any given night? Do people look at this game as the first step in the rebuilding of the once solid franchise?

But there is good news here. First, while technically 5th in the standings the Grizzlies are still tied with New York for the 4th lottery spot. Tie-breakers aren't used in the lottery so if the season ends with both teams having the same record then both teams get the same number of ping pong balls. The head to head match ups are of no concern.

Rudy Gay was Kobe-esque in the ease and fluidity of his game. His 21 pts on 7-11 shooting was so easy it looked like that ad for the Grizzlies where players are working out on the court by themselves hitting shot after shot. At times it even felt like he was on the court, all alone, hitting shot after shot.


(Hat tip: Odenized )

For the game the team shot 60% from the field. Before you say that it was just the Knicks remember that this follows a 53.9% shooting night against Atlanta, 47.5% against the Clippers and 49.4% against the Lakers. Something is working with the offense. The team is hitting their shots at a rate unmatched all season. They are starting to shoot like the Phoenix Suns that we wanted when Marc Iavaroni was hired.

Juan Carlos Navarro was 4-6 from the 3 pt line running his season total to 146. That leaves him 12 short of the tying Kerry Kittle's NBA record for three pointers in a season. With 7 games remaining including Friday night's game against the Warriors, a game at Miami and two against Minnesota it is definitely within reach.

Javaris Crittenton was a major bright light. He had a terrific game with 23 pts (a new career high), 9 rebounds (tying a career high) and 3 assists (one short of his career high) including a beautiful bounce pass through traffic to Kyle Lowry for a layup. Not bad for a former 3rd string bench player who spent most of the night playing Small Forward for the Grizzlies.

Kyle Lowry was the pugnacious bulldog Grizzlies fans love to watch play. He also showed off in front of shooting coach Mark Price by going 5-8 from the field to go with his 6 assists and 2 steals.
That has been one of the main reasons the bench has been so productive of late. Memphis routinely has Kyle Lowry, Juan Carlos Navarro and Javaris Crittenton on the court at the same time and frankly teams can't handle that combination of speed, passing ability and youthful exuberance. These three players seem to really enjoy playing together and make life miserable for opposing benches. The Knicks tried to go big and it did allow them to have a huge night on the offensive glass (17 offensive boards) but it didn't allow them to catch up.

One of the reasons that Knicks were so effective on the glass also had to do with the one true negative of the night. Darko Milicic, who has been so effective preventing opposing teams from controlling the glass this season, appeared to injure his shoulder early in the game and did not return. That meant the Grizzlies had to go with Jason Collins and Kwame Brown in the middle. Collins played his normal defensive game.

Kwame was the story of the night. The rarely used $9 million expiring contract (and does anyone think of him in any other terms) had his best game since coming over in the trade. He was actually important to the early success of the team with 6 pts and 6 boards in the first half. It looked like an easy double-double for Kwame as the Knicks resorted to fouling him to keep him at bay offensively. Clearly exhausted after playing 31 minutes he only finished with 8 boards but it was still good to see him out there gaining confidence every minute he was on the court.

The test of the team's new found success comes Friday night against the desperate Golden St Warriors who lost to the Dallas Mavericks last night to fall one game behind Denver for the last playoff spot.

It should be a great game to watch.

Post Game Thoughts - Atlanta

A mother with a teething child on an airplane. A teenager watching his mother show his first prom date pictures of him as a child. People who are shown in first round elimination clips from America's Idol. Grizzlies fans at the FedEx Forum.

People who are embarrassed?

That is correct!

Through three quarters last night it was one of those games where you just wanted to run away and hide in shame. They happen to all teams in the NBA. After all the Lakers lost back to back home games against Charlotte and Memphis last week. Boston lost back to back games to Washington. San Antonio lost to Memp...well let's forget that one for the time being.

The point is that every team at some point of the season puts up a really poor effort and last night in front of their true and loyal fans (all 3,000 of them from the looks of the stands) the Grizzlies put on a truly lackluster effort. Atlanta shot 68% in the first half. Not from the line but from the field! They were perfect from the line. Memphis was shooting 40% at that time. Not from the field but from the free throw line! Memphis was actually shooting 50% from the field at halftime. Memphis trailed by 31 points at the end of the 3rd quarter...to the Hawks! The Hawks were shooting 69% at the end of the 3rd quarter. The Hawks were on fire and the Grizzlies were not making it difficult for the Hawks either.

How bad have things gotten that the Clippers and Hawks blew us out in back to back games?

If you only saw the final score, and judging from the crowd at the game most of you did only see the final score, it didn't look that bad. Don't be confused. The only reason the score wasn't worse was Mike Woodson, Atlanta's coach, felt sorry for the Grizzlies and put in his bench players.

That was nearly a mistake too. As if a spell had been lifted Memphis played some of their best basketball in the first half of the 4th quarter when they cut the 31 pt lead to a mere 12 points and Rudy Gay had an open look on a 3 pt shot to cut the lead to 9 with more than half the quarter remaining.

Rudy missed the shot of course and Memphis went the next 4 possessions without scoring while Atlanta milked the clock down on their possessions and the game was over but for 6:30 the Memphis Grizzlies, one of the worst teams in the NBA, outscored the Altanta Hawks, a playoff team as it currently stands, by an incredible 23 to 4 pts. Sure the Grizzlies only scored 4 points the rest of the way and by failing to score a 5th point deprived the fans of 10 free wings at Hooters, but for 6 and a half minutes they were the Durham Bulls with Crash Davis. They were the Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan, No bull. They were really playing well.

It didn't last long but it salvaged what was a pretty sad effort overall. The best +/- ratio among our starters was Rudy Gay's -15 and he dominated the 4th quarter scoring 12 points by himself in the quarter. After Rudy only Hakim scored in double figures and that was 11 pts on 3-8 shooting. Mike Miller played 18 minutes and shot the ball 3 times, all from long range. Mike had as many turnovers as shot attempts in the game. Mike Conley was totally outclassed by Mike Bibby. Darko looked terribe dropping easy passes, missing hook shots when he could easily have dunked the ball and basically not trying to be a force inside against rookie Al Horford who was 4 inches shorter than him.

Ah but the bench, now those guys came to play. Kyle Lowry was 7-9 shooting and constantly forcing issues in the paint. Juan Carlos Navarro was 7-14 ahooting and forced the Hawks into numerous defensive breakdowns. His three more long balls raising his season total to 142, 16 short of the NBA rookie record with 8 games remaining. Javaris Crittenton got things moving with defense and rebounding but was a little out of control on offense a few times (okay completely out of control more than a few times) but at least he was giving some effort! The bench plus Rudy Gay salvaged an otherwise forgetable game. Of course it is the bench plus Rudy Gay that are probably the future of this franchise. Darko hasn't shown he is worth what we are paying him (which is a lot less than he demanded in June) and Mike Conley looks like a 19 yr old who isn't used to the grind of the NBA.

The good news is that the loss put us a game ahead of Minnesota for the all important 37 extra ping pong balls that the difference between 3rd and 4th makes in the lottery machine.

So the bench and the ping pong balls. That is the only nice things I can say about last nights game.

Post Game Thoughts - Sacramento

Mike Miller may want to tweak his new shoes just a bit.

Miller was wearing his personally designed shoes for the first time in Sacramento and had what can best be described as an off-night fouling out with 16 pts in only 32 minutes. Mike did hit the longest 3 pt shot I have ever seen him make. He was closer to the midcourt circle than the three point line.

but I digress. This game was all about three people: Poole, Delaney and Grillo.


Who are they you ask? The referees assigned to screw up the game by Stu Jackson. You remember Stu Jackson don't you?

Memphis was called for 32 fouls. In a 48 minutes game that is 2 fouls every three minutes. Of course this game was played over 53 minutes so it wasn't quite that bad but it was still pretty ridiculous. In overtime the Kings had one basket, one basket with a free throw and 4 foul shots. 5 of their 9 points came from the line.

In comparison the Kings were called for 20 fouls. The referees made sure that everyone knew they were the real stars of the game in overtime when they fouled out Miller for not running away from Kevin Martin (could it be his shoes?) and then completely ignored the mugging Kyle Lowry received on his drive to the basket.


I could go on and on about the poor officiating but it was obvious if you watched the game and unbelievable if you didn't. I promise not to talk about them anymore.

There were some positives to take from this game. A lot of positives actually. Who would have thought that Rudy and Mike would combine for 11 fouls (damn, I was supposed to put the refs behind me), 27 points, 8 rebounds and 8 turnovers and still Memphis had opportunities to win the game at the end of regulation and OT if the refs had called the fouls (oops, there I go again).

The Grizzlies are playing defense. I know that sounds strange and it probably shocked the refs which is why they called the game the way they did (damn I did it again) but Memphis held the sharp-shooting Kings to just 39.8% from the field and 23.3% from the field. If the Kings hadn't been next to perfect from the line (30-31) then the Grizzlies would have won this game easily.


Kyle Lowry was incredible. Damn close to superhero-esque as he nearly scored the game winning shot despite Anthony Johnson holding his off-arm and Mikki Moore clubbing his shooting arm on the last play (I'm trying guys). Kyle finished with 16 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 fouls (sorry). His impact on the game was far more than the numbers however. Kyle played good defense, woke up the offense and was a difference maker every moment he was on the court. It is two bad he missed his last two free throws or he would have won the game in spite of the refs (I can't help myself).

Javaris Crittenton continues to look great nearly getting his first double-double with 13 pts, 9 rebounds and 3 assists. He really seems to be getting into a nice groove and shows a lot of promise for the future. For those keeping score at home that is 29 pts, 14 rebounds and 8 assists from the backup guards. Juan Carlos Navarro threw in 9 pts including a 3 pt shot bringing his season total to 138 3 pters made. He is twenty 3's short of the rookie record with 11 games remaining.


Hakim Warrick was unstoppable in the 1st half with 20 pts. While he cooled off after halftime he still led the team in scoring with 26 pts and 7 rebounds. Hak also set the most impressive pick of the season when he flattened Ron Artest on the final play of the game to free up Kyle for his foul plagued drive to the hoop.

I give up. You can't talk about this game and not mention that Rudy and Hak had 5 fouls each to go with Mike Miller fouling out. These guys aren't exactly reputed to be the most intense defensive players after all. Milicic and Kyle getting 4 fouls each is understandable but when your top three scorers have a combined 16 fouls you are going to struggle.

The good news is that since Minnesota lost as well Memphis is still tied with the TWolves for the 3rd worst record and the guaranteed top 7 draft pick and a great chance for a top 3 pick. The youngsters are playing great. At one point Memphis made a run with Conley (20), Crittenton (19), Rudy (21), Darko (22) and Hak (25) on the court. That is some serious youth playing some good basketball.

There is hope for the future if the refs would just get out of the way.



Or maybe it was Miller's shoes...

Postgame Thoughts: Memphis vs. Sacramento - 3.22.08

Darko Milicic made a move from the elbow, ducked around Mikki Moore and finished with a sweet finger roll basket. That play almost single handedly described how well the Grizz were performing against Sacramento on Saturday night.

Juan Carlos Navarro followed up a strong game in NYC, where the fans were cheering for him more than the Knicks, with 6 three points baskets in 9 attempts in a 22 point effort. Many of the shots came late in the game when Sacramento was trying to steal the game.

Mike Conley looked as sharp as he has in weeks. His 10 pt, 6 assist game in under 28 minutes were huge in getting the Grizzlies off to a hot start and to keep Sacramento from getting too close late in the game. He moved the ball well, hit open shots when they presented themselves and was constantly breaking down the Kings defense with penetration in the lane.

Memphis won back to back games for the 2nd time this season and looked incredibly sharp in doing so. They have now won 3 out of 4 games as well. Normally that would be cause for some joy in Memphis but when the three wins came against teams competing with Memphis for ping pong balls in the upcoming lottery one has to question whether the desire to win isn't superseded by the logic of improving their chances of getting a top pick in the draft. So while plays like Milicic's finger roll combined with a 19 pt and 10 rebound game, or Navarro's 6 three point bombs or Conley's 10 pt, 6 assist game should make people pleased they also seemed to be working against the team's long term best interests.

However it only seems that way.

Memphis is not guaranteed anything by winning or losing this game. The team gained much needed confidence in both themselves and the system that they are playing under by winning this game. The argument that the team should be trying to lose as many games as possible is wrong. It may turn out that losing more games could have given the team a better draft pick, but it could just as easily turn out that winning these games allows the team to have a better draft pick. It may turn out that the player who gets drafted one spot ahead of the Grizzlies pick is a true difference maker in the NBA. It may be just as true that the player taken after the Grizzlies pick turns out to be the real star of the draft.

At this point we just don't know. What we do know is that the experience of playing a tough game and coming out on top is needed for the young Grizzlies. Lessons learned from this win may translate into more important wins in the future when games are more important. Bad teams stay bad from failing to learn the lessons from the positive outcome of games like these. Teams go from bad to good by learning how to win games like these. A team that starts 3 players under 23 years old and has two more under 22 that play significant minutes needs to learn how to win games as much as they need to worry about the outcome of ping pong balls in a machine.

And by the way, Minnesota beat the Knicks tonight so the win didn't drop the Grizzlies in the standings and has no effect on the lottery at all.

Postgame Thoughts: Memphis at Minnesota - 3.19.08

This game was like a heavywieght title bout between two fighters both represented by Don King.


Memphis and Minnesota fought the good fight and both teams exerted a lot of effort in the game. Unfortunately for Minnesota they just came up a bit short in the end. No Memphis didn't win the game. Memphis won the all important position battle for the ping pong balls in the Western Conference.

Memphis started out looking like a team that didn't care about the battle for the top position in the lottery. The Grizzlies opened the game on fire with Mike Miller scoring 10 points, Rudy Gay adding 6 and Juan Carlos Navarro chipping in with 5 pts as the Grizzlies built a 28-23 lead after one quarter. The second quarter was even worse for Grizz fans as the 2nd unit continued to show no concern for standings and the long term benefit of the franchise as their selfish play created a seemingly insurmountable hole with the Grizzlies leading 52-38. Minnesota was on top of their game in that quarter as the TWolves managed to score a mere 15 points and ended the half with 38 points against one of the worst defensive teams in the league.

It must have been a stirring half time speach by Marc Iavaroni that woke up the team. The Grizzlies came out of halftime and their lackluster play and poor shot selection created a nice 17-5 run by Minnesota to tie the game at 57. This has been the type of play Grizz fans have come to expect from a team competing for the top spot in the lottery for the 2nd consecutive year. Darco Milicic, taking one for the team, re-injured his left hand allowing the Grizzlies interior defense to completely disappear. After Milicic held Al Jefferson to only 7 pts in the first half the combination of Jason Collins, Hakim Warrick and yes even Kwame Brown helped insure the TWolves would have no trouble getting the ball to Jefferson and that Big Al would be completely unable to miss the shot by allowing repeated uncontested dunks.

Minnesota appeared to wake up to this threat once the score was tied. Suddenly Memphis was getting the uncontested shots while Minnesota went cold and Memphis ended the quarter on a miserable 11-5 run to fall into a 6 pt hole (i.e. lead) with one quarter to play. Memphis did manage to score only 16 points in the third quarter despite the weak play at the end. The Grizzlies came out fighting in the fourth giving up open shots and when Minnesota wouldn't take them, picking up illegal defense calls to force the TWolves to the line. The game progressed with both teams really expending a lot of energy to insure the loss.

Speaking of the line, that is where Memphis really showed their strength. The Twolves shot an embarrassing 82.9% from the line while Memphis was deadly hitting 63.6% to overcome the huge deficit they put themselves in from the floor shooting 41.5% compared to Minnesota's shot 39.3%. Both teams were doing their best from the 3 pt line with Memphis winning the battle 22.7% to 27.3% for the TWolves.

So Memphis worked hard, very hard in fact, and got the result that was best for the team. They didn't want to lose the game, they didn't try to lose the game (unlike Miami which put up 54 pts against Toronto last night...for the game) but the loss is better for the team's chances of getting a difference maker in the draft.

Probably the most encouraging thing from last night's game is the realization that two of the TWolves top three scorers were players drafted by current Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace while he was in Boston. The most depressing thing was not getting any shots of Marco Jaric's girlfriend in the crowd.

Post Game Thoughts: Memphis vs. Charlotte - 3.17.08

Boy it feels sweet to be at a Grizzlies victory and the pre-game party was pretty tasty as well. Not just a victory either but a blowout win where the team came together and really played as a team in the 2nd half to completely thwart a talented opponent. Sure Charlotte has only 25 wins and is not threatening to grab a playoff spot in the weak Eastern Conference but any team with Jason Richardson, Gerald Wallace and free agent in waiting Emeka Okafor is not a team to overlook either.

If anyone was wondering who was going to be the on-court leader of the Grizzlies down the stretch should have had those questions answered tonight. Mike Miller played huge tonight from hitting big baskets, to grabbing rebounds and basically putting the team on his back and refusing to allow them to succumb to an early deficit. He played like a man who wanted to prove he is deserving a spot on this summer's Olympic team. He was that big last night against a pretty good player in Jason Richardson.

Juan Carlos Navarro can't be forgotten in the victory either. Despite being held in relative check in the 2nd half Navarro made many defensive plays to disrupt the Bobcats offense (yes I said defensive) and his 12 points in the first half kept the Grizzlies in contention when it seemed no one else could make a basket. Navarro ended up leading the Grizzlies in scoring with 21 points but it was the first half where he was most impressive.

Darko Milicic played a decent game. He shot the ball poorly including attempting to lay the ball in to often instead of just dunking the ball which resulted in one particularly embarrassing block by Gerald Wallace but he kept being aggressive offensively and drew some important fouls in the 2nd half. If Darko could hit free throws he would have been far more important in the final outcome. Still his 10 pts and 11 boards were a big aid in the 2nd half run.

Hakim Warrick didn't start which not only surprised me but the announcer as well. Hak had a decent game off the bench however and he his scoring helped the bench provide a scoring punch that was needed. Free throws hurt Hak's overall game as he was only 5-11 from the line.

If anyone had told me before the game that Rudy Gay would be in foul trouble all night and only score 8 points I would have assumed the Grizzlies would be blown out. Instead Rudy contributed in other ways holding Gerald Wallace to only 10 points and dishing out 4 assists. Rudy also was more vocal tonight than I have seen him in a while which I believe contributed to other players taking the lead offensively. He seemed to be encouraging his teammates to be more aggressive and not look to him so much. I don't know for sure if that was the case but the way Miller, Navarro and Hak took over seemed to make that impression valid.

Charlotte looked tired after playing yesterday in Cleveland. That doesn't explain the poor shooting from Jason Richardson and Raymond Felton however. Their combined 7-32 shooting had as much to do with the Bobcats defeat as the Grizzlies offensive heroics. Matt Carroll, a dangerous shooter for the Bobcats, was held to only 2 attempts and he failed to hit either one. Thank Juan Carlos Navarro for that ineffectiveness.

The Grizzlies now head to Minnesota to face the TWolves and another opportunity to put together a winning streak. The effort tonight should make that trip more encouraging.

Thanks to Joe Murphy and Getty Images for the great photos of Mike Miller and Rudy Gay. Chipc3 took the dance team picture at the Downtown Party. Everyone missed a great event there. Chris Wallace spoke and took questions (the man is a masochist the way he stands up there and takes questions), the Dance team made appearances and the food (Shrimp, tenderloin sandwiches, spicy chicken, chips and dip plus desserts) were fantastic. Another opportunity lost for those of you who didn't attend. The Grizzlies did it right this time!

Postgame Thoughts: Memphis at Golden State 3.15.08

Well, the Grizzlies finally showed up for a full game, which was a nice change. Even though they got down by as much as 17 points, they were still within striking distance going into the last minute of the game. After a string of blowout losses, this was a very entertaining game for fans of both teams, although I'm sure Warriors' fans wanted an easier night after coming off a tough loss to Phoenix.

Let's take a quick look at how the Grizzlies did last night.

Mike Miller - I don't know what exactly it is, but Miller absolutely thrives when playing in Oracle Arena. He posted 19 pts, 13 reb and 6 ast in 38 minutes last night. His perimeter shot wasn't falling like it normally does (1/5), but he still managed to shoot over 50% from the field. He was also one of three Grizzlies to post a positive +/- rating on the night.

Kyle Lowry - I'll admit that I was absolutely dumbfounded when Kyle came out in the starting lineup alongside Mike Conley. But Kyle was a whirlwind of energy all night and kept Memphis in the game with his intensity and toughness. He had 5 assists and 5 steals with only 3 turnovers to go with his 12 points scored and was a big reason that the Grizzlies didn't just give up in the second half.

Hakim Warrick - Hak held his own against a bigger, stronger opponent while matched up with Andris Biedrins as he got the start at C with the foot injury that sidelined Darko Milicic. He led all scorers with 23 points and chipped in 7 boards, 1 assist and 3 steals as well.

Juan Carlos Navarro - JCN is a scorer. Last night he scored very efficiently, tallying 20 points on only 11 FG attempts. That's something everyone would love to see more of from the Spaniard.

Passing lane defense - The Grizzlies finished the game with 15 steals as the 6 players receiving the most playing time all recorded at least one. That's how you stay with a team that plays at a frenetic pace like the Warriors.

Rudy Gay - Even though he had a great night statistically (20 pts, 11 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 2 blk), you could tell that his hamstring injury was still bothering him as he didn't have his usual level of explosiveness. Hopefully, he won't push too hard and aggravate the injury.

Mike Conley - He looked like a rookie PG.....which is what he is. He struggled to cover the bigger Warriors he was matched up against on defense, but given what Baron and Monta have been doing to all opponents this year, I don't think that he played poorly at all.

Brian Cardinal - 8 points and 8 rebounds in under 18 minutes of PT?!?! Really? Maybe BC just wanted to remind Golden State fans what they were missing out on now that he is in Beale Street Blue. Yeah....I'm sure that's what it was.

3-point shooting - They shot 40% from beyond the arc (6/15), which ain't too shabby.

Assists - For the first time in a long time, half of their FG makes were assisted, as they recorded 20 assists on 40 made FG's.

They also kept the rebounding margin closer than expected (-3), won the turnover battle (+6) and even took (and hit!) more FT's than their opponent (21/29 to 18/26). In short, they did everything right except come away with the win. That should be a big positive for this young team and will hopefully lead to better play for the rest of the regular season.

Denver Recap 3.12.08

Memphis started out playing like a team that wanted to make a statement. The statement ended up being that the Grizzlies are a terrible team.

After opening the game 14-2 Memphis couldn't hold the lead until the end of the quarter, being outscored 8-21 the rest of the way to trail 23-22. Memphis' cold streak continued into the second quarter when the team could only score 14 points. That means that after the hot start the Grizzlies 22 points the rest of the half. Denver scored 23 pts in each of the first two quarters.

When the Grizzlies finally refound some offense the game was over as Denver scored 38 pts in the third quarter to leave the fourth quarter for the scrubs. There were two positives to take from this game. First our scrubs were better than Denver's as we outscored the Nuggets 28-24 in the final quarter.

Second, when on vacation in Colorado and people at the sports bar find out you are from Memphis and cheer for the Grizzlies they will buy you a lot of drinks in sympathy. Too bad I only drink sodas! Now I will be up all night thinking about how embarrassed I was at the bar.

If you look hard enough there were some bright spots. Hakim Warrick had three assists. Juan Carlos Navarro scored 16 points off the bench. Mike Miller, Javaris Crittenton and Hak hit all of their free throws.

The negatives were Mike Miller leading the team in rebounding with Navarro second against the big front line of Denver (Camby, Kenyon Martin and Carmello). Rudy played only 18 minutes and failed to reach double figures for the first time in a long while. The team shot 35% from the floor, 20% from the arc and below 70% from the line and their offense was a bright spot. I lost count at 10 but there were a lot of dunks by Denver last night. You probably won't see them on ESPN but there were a lot. Darko only played 9 minutes but I didn't see him get hurt. In the recap they mentioned he hurt his foot.

All in all another pathetic effort and a unfortunate outcome. Denver has been promoting that the team only has 19 games left in the regular season and they are going to give each one of them a playoff effort. It would be nice to see that type of effort from the Grizzlies in one of their remaining 18 games.

Postgame Thoughts: Memphis vs. Phoenix - 2.26.08

Hanging around, hanging around. Kid's got alligator blood. Can't get rid of him.

The Grizzlies just wouldn't go away quietly tonight. They hung with the Suns for 46 minutes before finally succumbing to superior talent and chemistry.

Rudy Gay posted a new career high in points, tallying 36 on the night, as Mike Conley set a career mark with 11 assists. Nice to see the young cornerstones developing despite being mired in the middle of a lost season.

Phoenix is one of those teams that has the kind of guys that you always see on championship contenders. Steve Nash is sneaky good, capable of putting up big scoring numbers when you least expect it. Grant Hill is the crafty veteran that everyone tends to overlook despite the fact that he still has plenty left in the tank. Raja Bell.....I hate Raja Bell. I mean seriously, the guy starts the game 0-9 and then late in the 4th quarter he hits three straight 3's?!?! Who does that? Then we come to Amare Stoudemire. STAT was his usual force of nature self without ever having to demand the ball. He dunked again and again, making the Grizzlies his own personal poster playground. The Suns just a little too much for the Grizzlies to overcome tonight.

But, there were flashes of light throughout the game. Through a great stretch in the first half, Memphis played solid defense that resulted in quite a few stops and transition opportunities. They weren't able to convert all of them, but you could see that they understood that defense led to the easy looks, not mindless running.

A few quick looks at the notebook:

I write down that Mike Conley needs to be more assertive on offense after he is passive early in the 3rd quarter. He then proceeds to score on 2 of the next 3 possessions.

Kyle Lowry looks to create for himself first, instead of facillitating for his teammates. That won't work in a Phoenix-style offensive system.

Juan Carlos Navarro and Darko Milicic seem to have developed some good chemistry, as JCN found the young Serbian with some nifty passes tonight. Too bad Darko is still a little awkward and uncoordinated, as he fumbled a couple of them. Still, a solid game by the Dark One as he matched Shaq's production on the night.

Hakim Warrick looks comfortable on the floor now. Perhaps that is all it took for him to become the productive player we have enjoyed for the past few weeks.

The Grizzlies have no bench right now. Cardinal is capable of filling in (and not screwing up) and Kyle is a solid backup for Conley, but the rest of them are borderline worthless......and I'd still take any of them over Suns' rookie D.J. Strawberry, who looked worse than a D-League call-up tonight.

There were several positives to take out of this game, which was nice for a change. It was an entertaining game, even though it resulted in a loss.

Postgame Thoughts: Memphis at Philly 2.13.08

Spartacus Says:
The All-Star break couldn't get here soon enough for the Memphis Grizzlies. After yet another loss, this time to the Philadelphia 76ers, most of the team will get a chance to take a much needed break. The Grizz will send 3 players to All-Star weekend, as Juan Carlos Navarro and Mike Conley will be participating in the Rookie/Sophmore game along with Rudy Gay, who will be pulling double duty as he competes in the Slam Dunk contest as well.

The Good:
Hakim Warrick - Hak has put two solid games together after the Gasol trade left him as the only consistent low-post scorer on the team. If he can continue this kind of production, he might stick around through the "rebuilding process" the team is currently undergoing.

Kyle Lowry - The Bulldog played well in his first return to the City of Brotherly Love since being drafted last year. He played with his trademark intensity while logging more minutes than any other Grizzly. Even his outside shot was on, as he hit 3/5 from behind the arc.

The Bad:
Starters' scoring - Philly had all 5 starters score in double figures. Memphis had 3....and the other two were scoreless. Granted, Kyle might as well have been the starter given he played nearly 40 minutes, scoring 15 points along the way, but that is still inexcusable.

Creating opportunities - The Grizzlies had 17 assists for 35 made baskets. That doesn't sound too bad, until you consider that the Sixers had 28 assists on 42 made baskets and the Grizzlies' 2nd leading assist man was Kwame Brown. No, that's not a misprint.

The Ugly:
3-Point Shooting - 7 for 26 = .269%. Need I say more? I didn't think so.

Team defense - Philly shot over 50% from the field and over 46% from behind the 3-point line. Hard to beat teams if you're going to post numbers like that.

This team has a lot to work on over the break and throughout the remainder of the season.

Post Game Thoughts - Sacramento

From Zack

Tonight, this is going to be short on substance. Look for more postgame impressions added in the morning.

--Tonight was a game of runs, with most of the scoring from both teams coming in bunches.

--Predictably, Kevin Martin had a big night....well, mostly 1st half. The Griz and Coach Iavaroni actually made some good half-time adjustments and kept Kmart in check in the 2nd half.

--Hak had a monster 2nd half, going nuts scoring and rebounding. Hak got the start to match the Kings size and keep Miller on Kmart as much as possible instead of Navarro. Although Hak couldn't make a shot in the 1st half, he kept at it and was clearly the difference maker tonight with his 2nd half play.

--The zone looked good tonight. Part of that, IMO, is that Hak and Navarro are good zone defenders who actually seem to have better defensive instincts when in a zone compared to man-to-man. Well, Navarro has good defensive instincts all the time, the zone just minimizes teams taking advantage of his size at SG. Hak was raised on the zone for 4 years in college. When we play zone, it should coincide to when Hak is on the court.

--Nice offensive balance tonight.

--Darko had hands made of Pre-Cambrian Granite tonight. In one sequence, he failed to catch like 3 or 4 straight passes. Can anyone tell me a center the Griz have had that actually had good, soft hands?

--The win snapped our 6 game losing streak. Much like last year, any win feels about 4 times better than it should. Even a win against the Kings at home.

--A few words about the Kings. I think they are better without Bibby and Artest on the floor. They should look to trade Bibby and Artest for a similar pu-pu platter of expiring contracts and draft picks that we got for Pau. It would be a better direction than keeping either of them around, IMO.

Rudy Gay shows off a seldom used post up game with his version of Darko's lefty hook-type shot. (Getty)

We won! I'm pumped! Go get 'em Grizzlies! (hat/tip to Tennessee Drew for the pic)

Chipc3's Perspective:

I love the smell of Nepalm in the morning. It smells like victory!

Tonight at times made me feel like Col. Kilgore in Apocalypse Now. A dominating single victory in the midst of losing a war. It was a great single game victory but the long term outcome for this season is already determined.

Hakim showed tonight that he can score in the NBA which he hasn't done since Pau left. It didn't hurt that Mikki Moore, who has to have the worst dreadlocks I have ever seen, seemed incapable of escaping the refs whistles. Was it just me or did Hakim actually trim his goutee?

Navarro has definately trimmed his smurk hair cut. I am sorry Juan Carlos but you look a lot better without the baby spiked hairdo. I think he found some maturity on the court when he got rid of the childish haircut personally. He also found his shot tonight and that made a huge difference in the game. Juan Carlos also appeared to have fun tonight. That too was missing since the trade of his buddy Gasol. I remember in particular one play when he just missed Hakim with a bounce pass in the lane that was tipped away at the last moment. He turned to the crowd and you could see just how close he thought that was with his expression. Is there another player in the league who expresses how happy he is playing basketball than Navarro? The bottom line tonight was that when Navarro in particular and Memphis as a whole hits their shots they play with any team in the league. When they don't...well they don't. Lately they haven't so tonight was a pleasant surprise.

Could it be the hair?

Speaking of surprises, Jason Collins did his best Ben Wallace imitation tonight from defending the paint like a beast, to missing free throws to his HAIR! My god Jason, you went to Stanford for goodness sake. You should know better than to go out in public like that.
Darko Milicic showed tonight what everyone has been talking about with him...and I mean everyone. He showed a nice offensive game, at times very offensive to the casual fan. He made some incredibly smart passes and some incredibly dumb turnovers. Basically he looked a lot like a 22 yr old kid who was still trying to figure out what he is capable of doing. Which of course is exactly what he is but I am still encouraged to wait and see what happens when he does figure it out. Darko's hair is starting to grow back from that freshman initiation hatchet job on his head too.

Maybe it is the hair.

It seems scary to think but Rudy Gay actually had an off night. Sure he scored 21 pts but he did so on 6-15 shooting while grabbing only 3 rebounds. The signature play of the game was when Rudy blocked John Salmons three point shot attempt near the end of the third quarter. He absolutely soared up to block the shot and the exploded down the court for a monster dunk! Of course he was fouled immediately after the block and the dunk didn't count but no one in the stands cared. It was a great play from a young man still learning what he is capable of doing in the NBA.

Brian Cardinal gave some impressive minutes tonight but had to make the bonehead play of the game too. Late in the game Sacramento scored a bucket and Artest stayed down low to do a mini-press on Conley. Apparently BC didn't realize it until after he started leaning into the court and you can guess what happened. Yes he stepped over the line before making the pass and the ref caught it. Talk about dumb.

There isn't a lot you can do with Cardinal's hair. It had to be the hair tonight.

The most encouraging thing I saw tonight was the attitude that this team isn't dead. It was as if the shock of the Gasol and Swift trades finally wore off and the team realized that this group of players was capable of winning without those two players. Memphis has a great assortment of young players still figuring out where they fit into the team and what it takes to win. They will have bad games but tonight showed what Wallace and Iavaroni want to develop. Given time I am optomistic that this group of players can develop into a fun team to watch.

Which only leaves the question "Who does their hair man?"

Postgame Thoughts - Dallas

I don't understand how people can't be entertained watching the Grizzlies these days. My friend and I had a blast watching the Dallas game. Halfway into the 3rd quarter I bet him that the Grizzlies would score 80 points in the game. It was so exciting watching to see if it would happen.

What has Juan Carlos Navarro done to earn the hatred of the refs? He was getting mugged tonight without any calls. I can understand his frustration. We were absolutely laughing watching Eddie Jones nearly knock him over at midcourt in the third with no call, regrouping himself and driving into the lane and having Barea hook his arms with no call. The next time down the court Devan George elbowed him to the court for a rebound right in front of the ref with no call. I realize that Navarro has to be down after buying his contract out from Barcelona (yes he paid them to get out) so he could play with Pau only to see his best friend traded but the calls, or lack of them, certainly has to be making him wonder what he is doing here.

Rudy looked great in the first half but disappeared in the 2nd. Miller looked off all night and particularly bad in the 2nd when he lost the ball at midcourt, only to have it knocked back toward him so he kicked it toward the sideline and then slid out of bounds going for the ball. That was just embarrassing. Darko failed to get his double-double but didn't look particularly bad. He just didn't look particularly good either. Hakim is playing like he is a career bench player.

Free throw shooting was abyssmal. How does trading Pau cause the team to shoot 19-32? 13 missed free throws and a 12 pt loss. I wonder if there is a connection? Shooting below 40% from the field isn't going to get you many wins either. It just appears the team is lost without Gasol drawing double teams down low.

Face it, the team is bad right now. That doesn't mean they are that bad a team however. If the team doesn't shoot well then they aren't going to win but I believe that the shooting will improve once the team adjusts to Pau's being gone. Free throw shooting is a longer term problem however. Darko shoots free throws so poorly my high school coach would bench him on that alone and Kwame is worse!

The team looks lost on offense but at least is improving on defense. Probably the highlight of the game for me after Dallas went on a 11-2 run to end the half was when Jason Collins flattened Devan George instead of letting him get an easy layup. When has that happened by a Grizzlies player before?

Saturday night will probably be more of the same but after the all-star break I expect a better overall effort from the team. It's tough to make major changes to a young team in mid-season but there is a green light at the end of this tunnel. That FA money should find someone to help this team this summer. We just have to endure the rest of the season until that happens. A high draft pick and a veteran FA who can contribute inexpensively (I don't believe we will be going after a name player this summer) plus experience for Navarro, Conley, Rudy (yes he can still get better) and Lowry will make the team better next year.

I wasn't around when the Brooklyn Dodgers played ball at Ebbetts Field but I have heard their refrain: "Wait til next year!"

Post GameThoughts - Milwaukee

Chipc3's Perspective:
Well the post-Gasol era started the same way the Gasol era ended, with a team unable to figure out how to win a game that was in their grasp. The new look Grizzlies looked a lot like the old blowing a late lead by being outscored 12-2 down the stretch to lose by 5 pts to a Milwaukee team missing their top scorer and their hot shot rookie. Mike Miller looked good for three quarters including the fourth but this time disappeared in the 3rd when a halftime lead became a fourth quarter deficit. Rudy Gay couldn't take over the game because of his lack of ball handling skills and the team simply put up too many ugly shots down the stretch.

To make matters worse Pau Gasol scored 24 pts on 10-15 shooting and grabbed 12 boards in his Laker debut.

Darko Milicic looked decent at times in amassing his third straight double-double but his shot selection was highly suspect as was the play-calling that kept putting the ball in his hands. It seemed the plan was to make Darko an offensive threat and he is really is better focusing on defense and rebounding. The problem is that Memphis can't afford Darko to be an after thought offensively. The Grizzlies already attack in the half court set with 4 against 5 as Kyle Lowry is no threat at all. Throw in the fact that Juan Carlos Navarro is in a slump and the Grizz already have a hole at the 4 with no Gasol and it is easy to see why they have trouble scoring in crunch time.

The interior defense is still a problem so maybe that wasn't Pau's fault. They got killed on the boards so maybe that wasn't Pau's fault either. Basically the team looked exactly like they did with Pau only with one less weapon to score with. Still the trade is about the future not the present. Javaris Crittenton looked very promising if a bit raw in his 7 minutes and Kwame looked exactly like we were told he would look. Which means he looked like a player that will give us $9 million in cap space this summer.

The one bright spot was the weather had more to do with the poor attendance than the team.

From Zack

Quickly...

-- Deadly tornadoes in the area limited the crowd size. The upper deck was closed off and those fans moved down.
-- Kwame Brown got a standing ovation when he first entered the game.
-- The refs were absolutely abysmal.
-- A fan got kicked out because of it.
-- Of course, we found a way to lose at the end.
-- The Griz do not defend the pick-and-roll correctly. At all. Even a bit. It's pathetic.
-- Javaris played SG, while Navarro played PG when on the court together. Probably temporary.
-- Navarro is better suited to be a SG, this game showed his struggles bringing the ball down the court effectively against pressure.
-- Best play of the game was a thunderous alley-oop from Kyle to Rudy.
-- The Bucks were depleted. There couldn't have been a less interesting game scheduled tonight.
-- I had a lot of fun at the game, despite the loss.
-- Rudy Gay is awesome.
-- I'm encouraged about what I'm seeing from Darko with Pau gone.

Postgame Thoughts: Memphis vs. Denver - 1.30.08

Well, it was another game and another close loss as the dreaded "failure to execute in late game situations" demon reared its ugly head once again.



>No, I said "demon", not "Damon". Since we're talking about Damon though, word is that he'll sign with the San Antonio Spurs by the end of the week. The surprising portion of this news is that it will actually lower the team's average age. Back to demons now, like the one on the lovely Claire Forlani's top as seen here:



That's not a demon on her shirt you say? Well, it's not much of a shirt either, so sod off! She's far more appealing to look at than the box score of another loss. Fine, fine, here's your bloody demon.



Still speaking of demons, who let The Dark One out? 14 points, 16 boards and 5 blocks, neatly mimicking Camby's 13/19/5 line? A few more games like that and he might shake the ridiculous "bust" label he's been unfairly saddled with.



Well, Darko and Rudy Gay were the "good" tonight and Mike Miller was the "acceptable by that much" player. Now on to my new favorite target (and not just because I like to see Zack get all riled up): Kyle Lowry. The buzz going into tonight's game was his great play as a starter since Conley went down with an injury, posting averages of 17.0 ppg, 6.0 apg, 5.7 rpg, 2.7 spg and an assist to turnover ratio of 18-to-1 over the past three games (although Chip agrees with me that his turnover total is somewhat dubious). Well tonight Kyle scored (19 points on 8/17 FG, 3/3 FT), rebounded (4 boards), stole (2 steals) and........forgot that he was a point guard. He tallied 1 assist and 6 turnovers while having his shot blocked 4 times. Granted, Marc Iavaroni said during the postgame comments that he wasn't pleased with the team's lack of assists (12 for the game) and even made a pointed remark in Rudy's direction after saying that, but Kyle is the starting PG -- Kyle should be the facillitator for everyone else. I'll leave it at that, because I love the kid's tenacity and drive, but he has to start making better decisions with the ball -- especially in late-game situations.

I didn't say much about Navarro's good game on Monday, so I probably shouldn't mention his poor game tonight......but I'm an equal opportunity offender, so here we go! 2 of 12 from the floor, including 0 for 8 from behind the arc? Really? He made some plays elsewhere, recording 7 boards, 3 assists and a steal, but make no mistake about it, he's paid to score.

Defensively, the team played poorly again, allowing yet another team to shoot over 50%. That stat, combined with a turnover deficit of -5 helped negate a rebounding advantage of +12. Defense is something that is going to have to be addressed with this team, no matter what style of play they choose to play.

I'm gonna go drown my sorrows in an ice-cold Pepsi now.



Yeah, that'll do.

ChipC3's Perspective:
Another heart-stopping finish and another hart-breaking loss for the team that couldn't finish straight.