Watching the game with Jumpstop, Stephen Maroda, and Michael Edwards last night, one thing became very apparent to all four of us: the Grizzlies were not trying to win this game. It was not the fault of the players as a group of relative scrubs played Portland fairly close for most of the game, but anytime Hamed, Grievis, and Ish get that much playing time, something’s fishy.
I understand resting Zach Randolph before an attempt at a playoff run because he’s a bit older and realize that someone has to get his minutes, but playing Haddadi 20 minutes to Darrel Arthur’s 16? Really? That puts us in the best position to win? I understand they play different positions, but Grizz centers got a combined 50 minutes last night to the power forwards 28. And I really do love Hamed and his fire and his teammate tactics from the pine, but he’s got to be one of the league’s most uncoordinated big men, perhaps trailing only Hasheem the Dream. At some point, he just doesn’t belong on the court for more than about 3 or 4 minutes a game.
I don’t understand sitting Tony down, he’s not that old of a guy, hasn’t had his play fall off recently, hasn’t seemed tired, and wants to win more than anything else. There is no way that he wanted to sit, no way that he was ok with the team losing this game.
I was confused last night as to if we were actually flopping or not because the rotations were so strange, yet the players were still playing pretty hard, not taking possessions off, etc. Then Jumpstop said something, and it all became clear: this was Heisley’s directive. He doesn’t want to play the Lakers, doesn’t want the Pau trade brought up every night for two straight weeks, and doesn’t want to lose face again with the national media. He cares about getting one playoff win, which will happen regardless of who we play, not about winning a series. Purposely losing is not what you do when you’ve got momentum. It’s not what keeps a city and a team inspired. Ask Peyton how shutting down before the playoffs has worked out for him. Have they won a Super Bowl? Yes. Have they flamed out in the playoffs early multiple other times, unable to regain the play they’d had in the regular season? Definitely. I clearly have no idea if I’m actually right or not about Heisley calling for this, about if the team wanted the rest or not, about anything in this article, but it certainly seems like a distinct possibility that the owner is making yet another poor basketball decision here. To shame sir, to shame.
Big Shot Bob
Tonight, against the Clippers in L.A. on ESPN(!!!): Memphis 50, Clip Show 75, 8:00 left in the 3rd, 20:00 left in the regular season.
Point proved.
Let’s hope your grand scheme pans out Heisley.
I HATE losing, when you can WIN