Escape from L.A.
What can even be said at this point? What can you say about this team?
How many other teams could blow a big game 1 lead and not just bounce back and win the next game, but go down 3-1 and force a game 7? Who would keep bouncing back against all odds?
Apparently, the Memphis Grizzlies.
You have to understand, the Grizzlies have been a terrible franchise for most of their existence. They just didn’t lose big games, they didn’t even play in any.
Last year when they finally did enjoy some playoff success, it was because San Antonio was banged up or any other laundry list of excuses.
When they hung with Oklahoma City and forced a game 7, it was because the Thunder wasn’t ready for the big stage.
When Memphis blew game 1 of this year’s Clippers series, it seemed to a lot of people like it was the same ol’ Grizzlies, and for good reason.
When the Grizzlies blew games 3 and 4 in Los Angeles in a pair of crushing defeats, most people wrote the team off, no way they win three straight.
In their defense, they hadn’t looked good against the Clippers in any of their four trips to Staples this season.
You can add Friday’s game 6 to that list, with one notable difference: the Grizzlies finally pulled a big road win out, and at the very last, possible moment.
The Grizzlies beat the Clippers in game 6, 90-88 setting up an all-important game 7 Sunday afternoon at FedEx Forum.
Even the most intense Memphis fan would have to admit that a game 7 felt like a pipe dream just two games ago, as the Grizzlies had lost three of the first four games of the series, and faced one more big road test in a place they hadn’t won in two years.
It seemed even less likely with about 7 minutes left in the game and the Clippers seizing an 8 point lead and the Clippers fans going crazy after yet another Reggie Evans hustle play.
However, if we’ve learned anything from the Grizzlies in the past two years, it’s that the Grizzlies are right at home in an ugly, sloppy game and although they had lost two games out there already in the series, the Grizzlies had no intentions on making it a third and calling it a season.
The Grizzlies were once again led by Marc Gasol’s 23 points and 9 rebounds, as the all-star center put the team on his back in the first half, when the Grizzlies were struggling for points.
Gasol also had three assists, two of those going to his buddy Zach Randolph, who had another nice game, posting 18 points and an absurd 16 rebounds in 38 minutes of play.
How does a guy who’s 6’9 (6’8, probably) pull down 16 rebounds? He can barely jump!
So maybe that’s not true, but that’s when Zach is at his best, when he’s pulling down offensive rebounds and going back up with them. The Grizzlies are at their best when Randolph and Gasol are doing their thing, and in games 5 and 6, they looked like the dynamic duo from the 2011 playoffs.
Lost in the shuffle, and why not, it seems he always is, was point guard Mike Conley Jr.
Conley didn’t shoot a high percentage (just 4/9) but it’s becoming more and more apparent as this series goes on that he’s the only guy on the Grizzlies that can get them into sets and actually run a play.
That alone puts him in the conversation for most valuable Grizzly, but his corner three with about 5 minutes left in the 4th quarter put the Grizzlies up three and although we didn’t know it at the time, that was a lead that Memphis would never cough up.
The Clippers’ two stars, Chris Paul and Blake Griffin ended up starting, but were clearly not 100%, although Griffin hit two jump shots in the first quarter that marked the first two baskets he’s scored in the playoffs that didn’t come in the paint.
Key Moment Of The Game:
As crazy as it sounds (and as funny as me whining about it on Twitter at the time), the key play of the game for the Grizzlies came during Hamed Haddadi’s brief three minute run in the game.
Haddadi entered the game in the 4th quarter with the Grizzlies shooting free throws and recovered an offensive rebound and put it back in for a bizarre three-point play.
The Grizzlies would go on to tie the game and take the lead on Conley’s three-pointer, but the Haddadi play swung the momentum back to the Grizzlies at a time when they could have packed their tents up.
Instead, Haddadi made a big hustle play that got the Grizzlies to buy in all over again and now there will be a game 7 in Memphis against the Clippers to decide who gets to face the top seeded Spurs in round 2. Wonders never cease.
Player Of The Game:
Marc Gasol. You could have talked me into Zach Randolph and maybe even Mike Conley, but Gasol played inspired ball again and showed the world that he should have been getting consistent looks through the entire series. If that were the case, there may not even be a game 7 on Sunday, but rather game 1 against San Antonio.
On Twitter during the game, I asked if Gasol was a top 15-18 player in the league right now. It may have been inspired in the heat of the moment, but when you sit down and think about it, are there really 15 or 16 players you’d rather have than Marc Gasol if you were starting your team from scratch?
You have obvious names with Lebron, Dwight, Derrick Rose, Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker, Dwyane Wade, Kobe, and Durant.
That’s 10 names that most any NBA fan would reasonably take over Marc Gasol. They’re also the 10 best players in the league today, so there’s no shame in that.
Then you dig a little deeper and see names like Russell Westbrook, Pau Gasol, Kevin Love, Andrew Bynum, Chris Bosh, Rajon Rondo and…. who? Even if you would take all of that second list over Marc, he’s 17th in the league and I don’t think I’d take Kevin Love, Andrew Bynum or Chris Bosh over him at all.
You could argue Roy Hibbert, Al Horford, or Joakim Noah as alternates at center, but they aren’t better than Gasol by any measure.
Marc Gasol is one of the best 16 players in the world no matter how you shake it.
With four of the prestigious top 10 already bounced from the playoffs, Marc is one of the 12 best players still in the playoffs. He or Chris Paul is going home on Sunday. The Lakers play a big game 7 on Saturday and if they lose, then Kobe and Pau will be gone as well.
If the Grizzlies win, Marc Gasol could be one of the 8 or 9 best players in the playoffs entering the second round. The Grizzlies may still lack a back-up point guard, and their big men not named “Randolph” or “Gasol” are still up and down, but when you have an elite talent on your team, you always have a shot.
It’s taken the Grizzlies 11 years and two Gasol brothers to find that guy, but in the past two years, it seems to have happened.
If Gasol has one more big performance on Sunday and leads the Grizzlies to a game 7 win, he probably passes Zach and big brother Pau as the franchise’s best player.
It’s not the same as having your number retired by the Celtics or Lakers, but you have to start somewhere. Putting an entire franchise and city on your back is a pretty good jumping off point.