Memphis Grizzlies Winning With Defense And Attitude

The Memphis Grizzlies are a team that come from one of the smallest markets in the NBA. Sellouts at FedEx Forum are never a certainty, even for playoff games.

They don’t have a marque superstar that will always end up featured on the highlights on SportsCenter. You never see Grizzlies jerseys being worn by the rich and famous and Memphis has never been a go-to destination for the college prospects entering the draft.

Despite all of that, or maybe because of it, the Grizzlies have always had an “us against them” mentality. The franchise has never gotten the respect of the rest of the NBA despite multiple deep playoff runs and never seemed to care.

They have even embraced their role as perennial underdog, going as far as printing it on the rally towels they handed out before Game 3 against the Golden State Warriors: Memphis vs Errrbody (Errrbody is one part Memphis slang/one part Souther drawl)

Most importantly, this has carried over to they way the Grizzlies play the game, which could best be described as “old school.”

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In the modern NBA, it’s all about scoring and offense. Teams with All-Star players like the Los Angeles Clippers and the Warriors’ own Splash Brothers are what sell tickets and merchandise. Fans want to see Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson go off from the three-point line and 100-point games every night. Defense has become a dirty word that is often considered a passe way to play the game of basketball.

The only problem is that the Grizzles are using just that style to shut down the Warriors and go up 2-1 in their best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series.

Thanks to another impressive performance by the Memphis defense and standout shooting by Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph, the Grizzlies won Game 3 by a final score of 99-89. More importantly, they have Golden State reeling, trying to find answers when they aren’t even sure of the questions.

The Grizzlies scored 22 points off of 17 turnovers compared to seven points off 15 turnovers for the Warriors. They limited Golden State to just 39 points in the first half, the same total from Game 2. Mike Conley and Tony Allen kept Curry and Thompson ineffective from beyond the arc, the pair only good for 5-for-16.

Then there were Gasol and Randolph, who seemed able to do whatever they wanted despite anything Golden State tried. Gasol finished with 21 points and 15 rebounds while Randolph has 22 points and eight rebounds. Throw in another 11 from Courtney Lee and solid minutes from center Kosta Koufos and there are few teams that can compete.

Plus, you know you have a problem when you allow Gasol to actually score from three-point range, which he did all of three times during the regular season.

For their part, the Grizzlies know their position in the NBA and they have used it as a chip on their shoulder, perfectly exemplified by Tony Allen’s remark to Michael Wallace of ESPN.com:

"“We’ve been to the Western Conference finals before, are you aware of that? We’re trying to dig in and fight and claw and take it one game at a time. We’ve all been together five or six years. We understand what stage we’re at right now.”"

While the much younger Warriors face what is essentially a must-win Game 4 and try to come up with some kind of answer to the Grizzlies defense, Memphis continues to embrace their role as underdog and spoiler, and you get the feeling they wouldn’t have it any other way.

Game 4 is on Monday in Memphis.

Next: 2015 NBA Playoffs: First Round Winners And Losers

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