It’s amazing what happens for the Memphis Grizzlies when Marc Gasol is aggressive on offense.
Gasol put up a career-high 38 points on 11-of-22 shooting from the field including a perfect 16-of-16 from the free-throw line in the Grizzlies 113-104 win over the New Orleans Pelicans Tuesday night.
Involved in the offense from start to finish, Gasol attacked the basket against the Pelicans big men and wasn’t afraid to draw fouls and get to the line. He’s always been a decent free-throw shooter, hitting on 76.3 percent of his attempts over his career, but against New Orleans he was on another level.
Hitting 16 free-throws in a row is incredibly difficult to do, especially since Gasol wasn’t in his home arena to do so. It was fitting that Gasol’s best game this season was on the road because the team desperately needed that win against a struggling team.
Anthony Davis was projected as an NBA MVP candidate before the season started, and he didn’t disappoint against the Grizzlies. Davis had 17 points, 13 rebounds and nine blocks in the loss. It was a great performance but Davis wasn’t enough to push his team over the top for the win.
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With Gasol outplaying a bonafide stud like Davis in the frontcourt, is it fair to put him in the MVP conversation?
If he keeps playing like he did against the Pelicans, then it’s certainly not out of the question.
Gasol was in the MVP race early last season when the Grizzlies got off to a 15-2 start in the rugged Western Conference.
His two-way play is vital to the Grizzlies success, and it’s rare for the team to have a shot against some of the better teams in the league without a worthy offensive performance from Gasol.
He has the versatility to play inside and out. Gasol is one of the better shooting big men in the league and his spacing is important for the Grizzlies because it gives teammate Zach Randolph more room to work with down low on offense.
With Gasol at the top of the key or in the corner, this gives Mike Conley room to operate the pick-and-roll with Randolph or drive and kick out to an open shooter on the perimeter. When Randolph is on the bench, Gasol has plenty of moves inside to keep defenses honest and dominate. He’s a finesse big man with his variety of low-post scoring tools, but he’s not afraid to bang on the offensive glass and get buckets that way.
Defensively, Gasol is the team’s rim protector and primary defensive weapon. He’s the one who is calling out shifts and communicating to the other parts of the defense. Gasol is always yelling out to his teammates and telling them where to go and what to do. Every defense needs a quarterback to put them in position to succeed. Gasol is that player for Memphis.
As long as he stays physical and bullies opposing players down low, there’s no reason why Gasol can’t put up big numbers and remain a huge part of the Grizzlies success. He has all of the tools to be great but he has to remember to use them and stay aggressive or else he puts Memphis at a disadvantage.
This may be the turnaround that Gasol needed this season to take his game to the next level. If he does and Memphis keeps winning, you’ll be hearing his name more among the best in the league.