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.

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.

Well, the season didn't start out the way we wanted it to.  The Pistons game was more or less embarrasing.  There was turnovers, terrible FG %, and terrible play from the rookies.  However, the Grizzlies have the chance to rebound from that loss tonight against a very good Raptors team.

In case you didn't see, the Raptors took down the Cavaliers a couple nights ago.  I really like the Raptors this year, and have them ranked at 10 in my power rankings.  Colangelo had a very busy offseason, and so far so good.  The Grizzlies had a very active offseason, and so far so bad.  The good thing about this is that it is only one game into the season.

I am most interested to see how Marc Gasol does tonight.  He did great on Wednesday, but that was against Kwame Brown, old Ben Wallace, and Charlie V.  He put up 21 points and 15 boards.  Tonight he is going to be tested against Bargnani and Bosh.  Bargnani looked like an animal against the Cavs, and Bosh is an elite big man in the league.  So, we will get to see how Gasol does verse the big boys.

Prediction
Grizzlies 93 Raptors 100

-I just don't see the Grizz being able to hang with the Raptors tonight.  I have a feeling that Bosh is going to tear up Randolph down low.  Our bench play was horrific on Wednesday night, and we are in desperate need of Iverson to return.  He could have provided a spark for that second unit and taken some pressure off the rooks. 

-Darrell Arthur would have been nice, too.  But, we have what we have right now for a bench.  And that is not good.  That is where the Grizz lose the game tonight, because the Raptors added some quality depth this offseason. 

-Rudy started off hot last game.  Let's hope that can carry over. 
-Chip, over at 3SoB, made a good point about how OJ was chasing Rip and Gordon around picks all night, and how this contributed to his shot being off. 

Other Commentary
3 Shades of Blue
Straight Outta Vancouver
Grizzfans

It has finally arrived.  The Memphis Grizzlies open the season against the Detroit Pistons.  The preseason had many ups and downs, but ultimately I came away happy.  The main reason for this was the potential that the team showed.  The team's best game came against the Pistons, so let's hope the Grizzlies can carry that over on Wednesday night.

This game does not have as much drama as anticipated with Allen Iverson out.  But, I am still excited to see how this team does in a regular season game.  It will also be interesting to see what kind of minutes each player gets.  I am especially interested to see what kind of minutes the rookies get after having an overall impressive preseason.

Not to mention the Grizzlies opening night entertainment includes the JabbaWockeez and Three 6 Mafia.  And free tshirts!  That was almost enought to talk my girlfriend into making the trip for opening night. 


My Prediction

Grizzlies 95 Pistons 90

I have high expectations this year!  I am not going to predict a loss to start the season.  I really liked how the Grizzlies looked against the Pistons in the preseason.  They played well against the scrubs, but more importantly they well against the starters. 

I think the Grizzlies have better overall depth than Pistons  With preseason over with, it means that the experimentation is over.  It will be interesting to see how many minutes each player is going to get.  I am especially interested to see how many minutes the rookies get after their overall impressive performances in preseason.  Hopefully the end of the experimentation translates to less turnovers.  If the Grizz are going to be competitive this season they can't average 21 turnovers a game.

I am pumped to get this season underway!  Be sure to check back at The Growl for pregame and postgame breakdowns.  I will do my best to get them up for as many games as possible, but as you know college can be tough with the homework. 
 
Also, be sure to check out the other Grizzlies sites for some great analysis.
3 Shades of Blue
Straight Outta Vancouver
Grizzfans