I don’t want to dwell on Game 5 longer than I have to. It was so bad. Not since the Memphis Tigers lost to the UCLA Bruins 50-45 in the 2006 Elite Eight has my team failed to score so miserably. You’ve heard the number: 35.9% from the field. To put that in perspective, last night’s shooting performance was the worst the Grizzlies have turned in all season long. All season!!! Additionally, the 72 points the Grizz scored tied their season low. Why was the offense so pitiful? The obvious reason has to be that the team lost a triple overtime game less than 48 hours before the Game 5 tipoff. Legs were tired, shots had no lift, rebounds weren’t corralled, etc. The energy, heart, grit and grind that has defined the Grizzlies during their playoff run just wasn’t there last night.
How do we fix that in a must-win Game 6, then? Excellent question. Thankfully, we will be four days removed from the triple OT game. What’s more, Game 6 will be in Memphis, where the team has lost just six games since January 1. Strategy wise, we have to rebound better. Simple as that; the Grizz were outrebounded by 17 (17!!!) in Game 5 and consistently failed to get second chances and, consequently, more points. More rebounds will lead to more points and a closer game.
Another area that must be improved on in Game 6 is defending the Thunder bench. While stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook were limited to 24 field goal attempts and 30 points, reserves Nazr Mohammed and Daequan Cook combined for 28 points on just 14 field goal attempts. If the Grizzlies are to move the series back to Oklahoma City, they will have to defend the Thunder’s second unit much better.
Well, dang, I dwelled on Game 5 a lot longer than I wanted to. But knowing past mistakes is essential in not repeating them in the future. I’m not going to harp on our chances to win the series, because that can’t be accomplished on Friday night. We have to win Game 6 just to get to Game 7, so it’s useless to talk about our chances in a hostile Game 7 environment. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. Yes, I said “when.” I truly believe the Grizzlies will come out incredibly motivated in Game 6, will fight to a win, and will extend the series to Game 7. I’ll be at the Grindhouse and I hope you will be too.
All heart, grit, grind,
Owen
P.S. Congrats to Zach Randolph for being named to the All-NBA Third Team. It’s the first time the Grizzlies franchise has ever had a player selected for any All-NBA team.
USER COMMENTS
Track comments via RSS