Big Spain Leads his Grizzlies to the Big Easy.
The “Big Spain” moniker of course is in reference to Marc Gasol, the Memphis Grizzlies’ all-star center. The nickname was given to him during the playoffs last year by de facto team spokesman, Tony Allen.
The Grizzlies hit the road on Sunday, heading south to La Nouvelle-Orleans to do battle with the Hornets.
The game comes just a day after the Grizzlies beat New Orleans’ original NBA franchise, the Jazz of Utah.
The Hornets are in the midst of rebuilding after agreeing to trade the best player in franchise history, Chris Paul, before the season.
The trade, much maligned at the time and still today because of the bizarre involvement of Commissioner David Stern and the other NBA powers that be, originally involved the Hornets, Lakers and Rockets, with Paul going to Los Angeles.
However, David Stern vetoed the trade under the vague guise of “basketball reasons.”
Everyone involved with the trade was sent back to their respective teams and asked to pretend like nothing ever happened.
This was especially damaging for the Lakers, as Lamar Odom, one of the centerpieces of the trade, was so upset about being traded that he asked to be moved agaIn. The Lakers would later send him to Dallas.
Since that time, the Hornets were able to find a palatable deal for Paul, sending him to the Clippers, effectively ruining New Orleans’ season and rejuvenating the Clippers franchise.
The Hornets did receive Eric Gordon, already one of the top 20 players in the league in my mind, along with a few other pieces, including young small forward Al-Faruq Aminu, yet when Gordon went down with an injury just two games into his Hornets tenure, New Orleans was left with a bunch of mis-matched pieces in one of the most competitive divisions in the NBA.
The Hornets’ head coach is Monty Williams, an up-and-coming young guy who got New Orleans to overachieve with the amount of talent that they have present on their roster.
New Orleans currently has the worst record in the Western Conference with only 17 wins, but they would be a few spots better if they still resided in the East.
The Hornets are a little better at home than they are on the road, as they have a 9-22 mark at home and are just 8-20 on the road.
The Grizzlies have already won both meetings this season against the Hornets, with two still left. In fact, Memphis plays two of their next three games against the Hornets. In between those two, they also play the Timberwolves on Tuesday night.
The Hornets are one of the five worst teams in the league, but that’s not to say that they aren’t competitive. The Grizzlies are 2-0 to this point against New Orleans, but the Hornets led both games in the 4th quarter, and that was without their new star, Gordon.
The Grizzlies have plenty to play for, as home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs is still in play.
My Prediction:
Grizzlies: 94
Hornets: 82
This will be another grind of a game. The Hornets would love nothing more than to play spoiler against a division rival and give themselves some real momentum going into next season.
This is a game that Memphis may have potentially overlooked earlier in the season, but as a team, they have to know what’s at stake and if Lionel Hollins has proven he can do one thing as head coach of the Grizzlies, it’s to focus on the task at hand.
The Memphis schedule is going to encourage a quick finish to this shortened season and the road to a top four seed begins tonight.