Grizzlies Show Signs Of Life, Force Game 6.
In the Memphis Grizzlies’ first must-win game since game 7 of the Oklahoma City second round series last spring, they passed with flying colors. That doesn’t mean it was easy, though.
In fact, the game 5 script read almost exactly like the game 1 script, down to some extremely tense moments in the 4th quarter that saw a large Memphis lead whittled to a fraction of itself.
But this time, the Grizzlies executed better than the Clippers down the stretch, made a few hustle plays and clinched a 92-80 win that extended the first round series for at least one more night. Game 6 will be Friday at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
It’s a result that has the potential to be disappointing for more reasons than just a loss for the Clippers, as well. Their two most important players, Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, both left the game with injuries at different points of the game. Paul just jammed a finger and should be fine, though it is on his shooting hand, but Griffin apparently hurt his knee. There has been no word yet on either’s status for game 6.
The Grizzlies started off like gang busters in the first quarter, behind their dynamic duo of Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol, as the duo combined for 22 points in opening frame, whipping the Grizzlies’ home crowd into a frenzy, and building yet another early lead.
Memphis’ two all-star bigs were 14-18 from the field in the first half, but 0-7 in the second half, as the game slowed down on both sides after halftime, with the Grizzlies only scoring 35 points and the Clippers 38.
Randolph, the star of the Grizzlies’ breakout season last year posted a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds, while shooting a neat 6-11 from the field and went 7-10 from the free throw line.
As good as Randolph was, game 5 was truly Marc Gasol’s game. Big Spain had 23 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists as the only person in the building that could have stopped him was Lionel Hollins. Gasol shot a nice 8-14 from the field and 7-8 from the free throw line to pace the Grizzlies, who struggled from the field again, shooting only 44% for the game.
The Clippers started a late rally, but with Paul out of the game, they didn’t have the horses to get over the hump. With just under a minute left, the Clips had cut the Grizzlies’ lead to 6, but would never get closer as the Grizzlies closed the game out from the line and now look to do what they haven’t been able to so far in these playoffs, and that’s steal a win in Los Angeles, to set up a huge, winner-take-all game 7 back in Memphis.
Key Moment Of The Game:
The two biggest shots of the game came from, somewhat remarkably, Marreese Speights, the Grizzlies’ reserve big man.
Late in the third quarter, the Clippers had cut a 24 point Grizzlies lead to 15 in about 90 seconds as Speights sized up a jump shot and gave the crowd something to cheer about, and helped the lead swell back to 17. The Clippers would score 5 points after that, but Speights prevented that 9-0 run from growing a 14-0.
His biggest shot came early in the 4th off of a Clippers miss. With the lead sitting at just 12 and both sides trying to grab the upper hand, Speights hit another jumper that got the Memphis lead back to 14, but would also be the last points the Grizzlies would score for over three minutes.
Player Of The Game:
Marc Gasol. Look, Zach was awesome and Rudy Gay played within himself, made some huge plays down the stretch, including a monster offensive rebound off of a Randolph miss late, and then a layup that clinched the game, but I’ve suspected all along that Big Spain has been the Grizzlies’ best option on offense for this series, and he’s had some truly awesome stretches. On Wednesday, he put together a full game, got enough shot attempts, protected the rim and cleaned up the boards. He was the best player on the court in game 5, the first time that honor has gone to somebody other than Chris Paul. If he can do it two more times, the Grizzlies can win the series, if Memphis forgets about him, it will become that much harder to win these next two games.
For one night, the Grizzlies returned to their 2011 playoff formula and it paid off handsomely. Nobody wants to lose a playoff series at home and, for the moment, the Grizzlies avoided just that. If they can survive game 6, they’ll have a nice, big crowd waiting on them in Memphis Sunday night for a game 7, the best event in all of sports.
That scenario seemed unlikely just two days ago, but after the Grizzlies went back to their all-stars, anything started to seem possible. There’s one major hurdle left to navigate, game 6 in Los Angeles, but you could argue that the Grizzlies are due a good performance out there and if they get it, momentum will have swung almost completely back to the team from the Bluff City. Things happen fast in the playoffs, wild swings from one game to the next, and the team that wins the series is usually the one that can adjust and take a few haymakers. The Grizzlies have taken two in this series (the game 1 collapse and games 3 and 4 at Staples) yet were able to pick themselves up off the mat both times with impressive wins at home.
Game 6 on the road is a tall order, but Memphis thinks it should have won both games in California in the first place, and the Clippers may have seen some doubt creep into their minds last night as they got trampled by Randolph and Gasol. If the Clippers get off to a slow start in game 6, then things have the potential to get away from them, and if Paul and/or Griffin are seriously hurt, then that chore becomes that much more difficult.
If we learned anything last night besides the fact that Gasol and Randolph can be downright unstoppable at times, it’s that Memphis and their fans most definitely believe and if the Grizzlies come up short on Friday night, it will hurt and a lot of people will be very disappointed, but those same people will also be surprised, something you couldn’t have said about the team before last year, but with success comes expectations and while it stinks to fall short of your ultimate goal, expectations help keep you on track and give you something to work for.
Before the spring of 2011, the Grizzlies had very few expectations, and now they do. The 3-1 deficit was definitely a detour on the road to meeting those expectations, but nobody said it would be easy. The Grizzlies and their fans are just happy to see another day and if their team pulls one more win out, my guess is that FedEx Forum will be ready to go for game 7 in Memphis.
If the Grizzlies rely on their two low-post studs in game 6, we may very well get to see that scenario play out.