The Memphis Grizzlies are one of the less glamorous teams in the postseason party. They shoot 3-pointers about as poorly as any team in the NBA. They don’t have many high flyers offering up highlight-reel dunks a la Blake Griffin. They have not one but two ground-bound post players in Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph. The Grizzlies simply defend like mad, play through their big men and try to make hay in transition and at the free-throw line. And for the last
Memphis is famous for barbeque, Beale Street and Blue Suede Shoes. Each of those has helped produce some of the finer institutions in the city including brisket, bourbon and, when the King was around, Burnin’ Love. If there is one area where Memphis has failed to captivate the masses, however, it is basketball – at least the professional variety. Yes, it’s true that a fanatical group of perhaps 150 natives – give or take a few (very few) – remember those glorious
Usually, the winners make the headlines. In today’s roundup, however, the losers were the story of Saturday night as a handful of teams fighting to make the playoffs came up short. With three different teams — Milwaukee, Utah and Phoenix — still within reach of the eighth and final playoff seed in their respective Conferences, how many of them came out with a victory? None. Starting with the most inexplicable blowout of the night – the only game on national television – the Spurs
Since their previous meeting on March 24, when Vinny Del Negro’s job was in the balance, the Memphis Grizzlies and Los Angeles Clippers have lost a combined three games. Needless to say, they have been two of the hottest teams in the Western Conference. They collide again for the third and the final time this season as Chris Paul and the Clippers visit Rudy Gay and the Grizzlies in Monday’s best game. The Clippers (34-22) hosted and won the first two meetings between
You have to admire the Rockets. They came out fast, then had a horrible second quarter and could easily have given up. Instead, they won the second half by 17 points behind the unlikely Big Three of Goran Dragic (21), Luis Scola (18) and Marcus Camby (12 PTS, 11 REB.) Chicago, which hadn’t lost two in a row all season, got 24 from Luol Deng and 16 from Carlos Boozer, but their guards were disappointing. Richard Hamilton played 20 minutes
You won’t read this sentence too many times: The Oklahoma City Thunder lost at home, and so did the Chicago Bulls. And you haven’t read this sentence in more than a year: The Bulls have now lost consecutive games. While Kentucky predictably won the NCAA championship Monday night, it was a different story in the NBA. The two best teams lost, both at home, and the playoff races got even tighter. Fasten your seat belts, because this is shaping up as a wild
No, that horrific shooting night for Kobe Bryant (3-for-21) wasn’t an early April Fool’s joke and he did hit a late, clutch 3-pointer to prevent the Lakers from losing. Jarrett Jack had been solid all afternoon despite a sore ankle (18 PTS, 10 AST) but missed a huge layup near the end. I was bullish on Carl Landry, a surprise — and very late — scratch with a sore ankle. Jason Smith (17 PTS, 10 REB, 2 BLK) held his
When Jeremy Lin sat out a playoff-implication game against Milwaukee due to a sore left knee on Monday, the absence was expected. When he sat out again two days later against Orlando, there was cause for concern. As teammates said, Lin is not the type of player to sit out games unless it was something serious. After avoiding the media prior to the game against the Hawks on Friday, it became clear something was amiss. Then suddenly, at least for now, the sensation