Grizzlies Try To Avoid Elimination At Home.
So this is what it’s come down to for the Memphis Grizzlies. An elimination game at home, with the prospect of another cross-country road trip looming if they have designs on winning the series.
Before the playoffs started, a lot of Grizzlies followers (not myself. Don’t believe me? Here’s proof.) thought that the Clippers would be little more a speed bump on Memphis’ way to a second round series against a Spurs team that is playing better ball than anyone, but a team that the Grizzlies internally feel like they can knock off, having just done it 13 months ago.
Instead, the Grizzlies have been out-executed in every single 4th quarter of the series, game 2 excluded. The Grizzlies aren’t a team that relies on superior talent to win games, simply because they don’t really have enough talent. They aren’t the Heat, they aren’t even the Thunder from a pure talent stand point. Those teams can score with regularity, where the Grizzlies have always relied on outscoring the other team from the paint. If they lost the paint battle, they generally lose the game.
One way to outscore another team in the paint is by letting your post players catch the ball in a position to score, something the Grizzlies simply did not do in California. The result was two straight frustrating losses that have let the Grizzlies know that the playoffs have indeed started and before they snap to, their designs of an extended playoff run may already be over. It happens that fast in the postseason.
If the Grizzlies have anything to look forward to, it’s the fact that they’re heading home to the Grindhouse, site of the home team’s 25-7 regular season record. If they can find a way to win game 5 and steal game 6, then they get to return to the Forum for a potential game 7.
If tonight’s mood seems like it’s in a bit of a funk, any game 7 crowd will seem like Memphis’ version of Mardi Gras, if only because it seems so unlikely right now. A game 7 means the Grizzlies haven’t been eliminated and would then stand a good chance to win the series as they would have regained the home-court advantage.
But that’s a discussion for later. The Grizzlies have to win game 5 first, and I expect the fans to bring the heat like we haven’t seen since the 3rd quarter of game 1, for the simple reason that it may be the last time they see the team after such an exciting regular season. If you’re going to the Forum tonight, bring it.
Fans can affect a basketball game like no other. When Tony Allen or Dante Cunningham make one of their patented hustle plays (and it will happen) scream your lungs out. When Rudy Gay hits a shot, let him know you appreciate it.
Don’t worry about what may happen or what has happened already in this series, because beginning tonight, the only game that matters for the Grizzlies is the one they’re playing in. It’s not an ideal situation, but as the cliche goes, “it is what it is.”
If you’re watching tonight and don’t have a horse in the race, cheer for the Grizzlies, if only because the NBA needs a competitive first-round series after so many duds this year. If you got into last year’s Memphis run in the playoffs just the slightest bit, hope the Grizzlies prove you can still win with big guys and not just perimeter players. If you think Donald Sterling is a grease ball and doesn’t deserve happiness then you’re very astute and correct.
Most of all, cheer for the Grizzlies because a series this competitive and close should never end in just five games. It needs to go the distance because there’s nothing in sports better than a game 7, with the stakes at the highest they can be.
Quite simply, the Grizzlies will win tonight if they can find a way to limit Chris Paul. I’m very careful not to say “shut Paul down,” because I’m not sure it’s ever happened, I can’t remember a time, anyway. Just limit him to about 23 or 24 points, and 10 assists. If the Grizzlies can manage that, they will win the game because so much of the Clippers’ offense relies on Paul creating shots for other guys. If the Grizzlies can find a way to make him give the ball up, they will have a chance, not just tonight, but in the series as a whole.
If they let Paul dominate as he has the past two games, they will lose, the season will be over and the Grizzlies will face a long off-season of questions and concerns about Memphis’ future and any doubt that anyone had will be magnified.
Where’s the fun in that? This series has been too much fun to end so quickly, and especially in Memphis, where the fans deserve better than to see their Grizzlies’ season ended in front of 18,000 witnesses with Chris Paul pulling the trigger.
My Prediction:
Clippers: 90
Grizzlies: 95
Memphis lives to see another day, and another elimination game on Friday in Los Angeles. The Grizzlies finally find their identity from the 2011 playoffs and run their offense through their all-star caliber post players as Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol both post double-doubles, with Zach having a game-high 25 points.
That seems rather hopeful, but that’s Memphis basketball. If they get back to doing what they do best, they can win the series, if they continue to dribble around and shoot contested jumpers, the season probably ends in game 5. It’s the Grizzlies’ choice, and most good teams would rather get beat playing their game, rather than playing left-handed and hoping something good happens. We’ll see which approach the Grizzlies decide to take at 8:30 tonight.
Believe, Memphis.