Memphis Grizzlies: The Grind Was Back (For One Night)
The Grind House was back for the first time this season; yes, it was against the winless Celtics, but a win is a win. The Memphis Grizzlies are back to .500 at 2-2 on the season. However, this is the first grind it out win where they looked a little like the 57-win team from last year. Furthermore, they finally held an opponent less than 100 points, even though the Celtics shot almost 48 percent. The offense did play respectable, shooting just less than 49 percent, with Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph both scoring more than 14 points. Now on to the Pelicans and the possibility of the first two-game win streak, but let’s look at a couple of things from Monday.
The Starter and The Closer
After the first four minutes of the game, it seemed the starters were off to another slow start. Coach David Joerger replaced Tony Allen with Quincy Pondexter. The move paid off right away as Pondexter came in and made a couple of 3s, spacing the floor. Again you have to wonder if the coaching staff is looking at adding a shooter to the starting lineup.
As the fourth quarter started the Grizzlies were down six points and Jerryd Bayless had not made a shot all game’ all of a sudden he makes his next six shots. On the sixth shot he gave Memphis a one-point lead and from there the Grizzlies never looked back. Bayless has played the closer role before; however, it feels like the closer role on this team will change game to game.
Zach Randolph To Retire A Grizzly?
Will Randolph really give the Grizz a hometown discount? Photo Credit: Mark Runyon, Basketball Schedule, Flickr.com
On Monday the Zach Randolph did an interview with ESPN’s Marc Stein where he expressed interest in retiring in Memphis. He has the option of opting out of his contract or playing the last year of it for $16.5 million next year. During the interview Randolph did say he is willing to sacrifice in order to stay in Memphis and help the team win a championship. This has been said many times by many athletes and time after time they show the opposite of sacrifice, as they do not want to take less money. It will be interesting to see if Randolph keeps his word and if the Grizzlies take him up on it and extend him for less money to help him retire in Memphis.
[slider_pro id=”15″]