The Growl

The Grizzlies start another group of road games tonight.  First up is Phoenix.

What can Grizzlies fans expect?  Lots of buckets, and terrible defense.  Both teams have had great offensive production this season, and their defense has been…well gross. 

Prediction

Phoenix 126 Memphis 114

Well, let’s start with the bad news.  The bad news is that Randolph will be matched up against Amare tonight, Nash has been killing this season, and Phoenix has been resting since Sunday.  The good news is that Memphis has won 4 of it’s last 5, and some key players are starting to get into a rhythm.  Rudy Gay and Marc Gasol have been beastin’ lately.

Some things to look for tonight.  Conley’s minutes were on the decline until Monday night.  He put up decent numbers, but it will be interesting to see how many minutes Tinsley will get.  He has been getting situated for the last week, and got 22 minutes on Monday.  With him starting to get comfortable with the team, I want to see how what he can do.  It will also be exciting to see how Thabeet can do against an up tempo offense like the Suns.  Will he look like confused Thabeet even more or feel more comfortable against it?  I am betting on confused Thabeet.

The Grizzlies haven’t been winning against the best during this streak.  The Suns are definitely ranked among the best thus far in the season and they will be a great test for the renewed Grizzlies.

Man, this clip is hating on Memphis this much even when we win the game?  Geeze...no love.  Anyways let's look at the positives.  The Grizzlies are on a two game win streak.  In my Lakers pregame breakdown, I said that the Grizzlies could get a little win streak started during this stretch.  Houston was a tough game, and Philly is going to be even tougher I think.  But, I expect the Grizz to get the win against a Martin-less Kings team.  I know the Bucks are doing pretty well right now, but that is still very winnable.  If the Grizz come out of this 3 game stretch 2 and 1, I will be a happy camper.

We saw some great things last night.  Marc is really turning into my favorite Grizzlies' player.  This is far from where he started in my book.  O.J., Rudy, and Randolph all looked nice.  And....Conley....ugh.  He only got 15 minutes last night, and he is only going to start losing more once Tinsley gets situated.  The Grizzlies were +11 with Marcus Williams on the floor and only +1 with Conley. 

Hey all.  I am sorry for the lack of posts the past week.  I have just been ridiculously swamped with school, work, and coaching.  I just need to get through this next week, and I will be back to posting.  It is terrible timing, because there is a lot of things going on with the Grizz right now.  For one, they actually won a game against the Twolves.  But also the whole Iverson debacle and the Tinsley signing.  Which I am happy about.  Conley is just not cutting it, and I do not want to go the whole season with him as the Grizzlies starter and Marcus Williams as the back up. 

Anyways, I will be back to this next week.  I will try to get a breakdown in at some point this week also.  Thanks for your patience.

Talk about drama.  It began after the first game Iverson dressed for the Grizzlies.  He started complaining about his minutes.  Now, he has left the team for personal reasons.  Everyone knew this experiment could go wrong, and thus far it has been.  Which makes you wonder if we are better off without him on the team.  What do you think?

The Grizzlies are coming off of a couple tough road losses.  In both of these games I expected the Grizzlies to pull out the win.  At least they put up some nice stats.  But, it was not enough, mostly because the other team's stats were better in some crucial areas.

Tonight, the Grizzlies are facing the Lakers.  36% of the people who voted in the offseason poll (to the right), said this was the game they were looking forward to the most this season.  There are a number of reasons to be excited about this game.

1. We are playing the defending champs.  It would be a HUGE win if we knocked them off, and could get the team headed into the right direction as they come up on some winnable games.  I can see us knocking off Houston, Minnesota, the Clips, Philly, Milwaukee, and Sacramento.  I don't expect the Grizz to win all of these, but they are all more than winnable.  Beating the Lakers tonight would give the team a lot of momentum heading into those games.

2. Who does not want to see us whoop up on Pau?  Not too many Grizzlies fans are over the whole Pau debacle, and if they were it was probably brought back when they saw him hoisting that trophy over the summer.  It would bring pleasure to all Grizzlies fans if he gets worked tonight
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3. Back to Pau.  It is always a good time watching brothers battle.  I know every time I play my brother I want to make him look like a fool.  The difference between the Gasol's and us is that the little brother is better than the older one in this family.  (just kidding Danny..kind of)  Oh, another difference they are Spaniards.

Prediction
Grizzlies 103 Lakers 115

I just don't think the Grizz have what it takes yet to be competitive with LA.  The good thing is that they can at least keep it respectable this year. 

I am excited to see the kind of minutes Iverson gets tonight.  Over/under 30?
I say over.

The Grizz showed a lot of good things this game.  They unfortunately came up short, but I was impressed with some things.  First of all, the rebounding was fantastic.  Zach Randolph is having a great year so far. 

On a bad note, the Iverson drama has begun.  He complained about his minutes following the game.  I figured they were trying to ease him back into it after his injury, but he does not seem to think that.  I expect his minutes to increase tomorrow against the Warriors.