The Grizz beat the Celtics on the road last week. They lost an extremely tight game on the road at the East-leading Bulls on Friday. And they still had enough left in the tank to topple the NBA-leading Spurs last night.
Am I surprised? Not at all.
In case you didn’t notice, we went 2-1 against three of the best teams in the league. And could have easily gone 3-0. All of this without Rudy Gay. If you had told me last year that the Grizz would be beating such teams on a tear for the playoffs, I would have asked how much we had to pay for Lebron. This year, I expect it. Seriously though, look at the difference in the team at this point last year and this year.
The main difference: Passion. The Grizzlies want it, badly. The players are playing with absolute ferocity right now. Tony Allen is a boss out there. He poured in 23 points and grabbed 5 rebounds. And what is he known for? His defense. He is playing out of his mind.
ZBo struggled early last night. Until 5 minutes left in the game, he only had 12 points. Not a terrible night, but not good enough against the Spurs. By the end of the game, he racked up 23 points and 12 rebounds. Solid.
OJ and Shane combined for 27 points off the bench. Arthur grabbed 7 rebounds to go with his 8 points. Our bench is solid now. Always the bane of the Grizzlies, it can now go head to head or even beat opposing benches. Juice seems to have found his niche again.
Conley, well, haters gon’ hate. I still love your play right now. He is so quick off the dribble and gets to the basket well.
Some concerns as we head to the end: we still need perimeter shooting. That is our biggest weakness. We rarely hit more than two or three shots from range a game. I would love to see Shane or OJ step up there. Also, while Powe has been playing well offensively in some games, we need him to step up his rebounding. Zero last night.
Overall though, I love the fire that has been lit under this team. The players are passionate, the fans are passionate. Let’s make a run.
Grow those beards. Mine is itchy already; deal with it.
MEdwards
Allen had 5 steals as well. His steals per 48 min stats this year are ridiculous, I heard they are the best in like 25 years.
Our defensive game has certainly been a strength of late. Blocks and steals get us in transition too, which is very important.