Grizzlies lose game, Marc Gasol in New Orleans.

Hubie Brown used to say that there were four or five games in any given season where you just don’t have it. Whether it be fatigue, or the second night of a back-to-back. Maybe it’s a game against a bad team sandwiched in-between games against two good teams.

For whatever reason, over the course of an 82 game schedule, teams, even good ones, will lay an egg, play with no energy, get whipped on both ends of the floor and more or less seem completely disinterested in the proceedings.

Last night was one of those nights for the Memphis Grizzlies. On the road against one of the worst teams in the league, the Grizzlies took their medicine against a team they had pretty well owned over the span of the past two years.

Memphis actually led the game at halftime, 37-33, but it was obvious that if either team could ever start hitting a few shots, that they would eventually win the game.

The Hornets heated up first, outscoring the Grizzlies by 10 in the 3rd quarter and seven more in the 4th quarter on the way to one of their easiest wins of the year. The win came in front of new owner Tom Benson, who also owns the New Orleans Saints.

The Hornets had been run by the NBA for over a year while they searched for a new owner. That arrangement hit a snag in December when the Hornets thought they had a deal to send Chris Paul to the Lakers, but was overruled by Commissioner David Stern.

The incident gave a black eye to the league and made it obvious that an owner was needed in the Crescent City, immediately.

The Hornets have actually had their best player, Eric Gordon, back for a few weeks already, and he played very well, having scored 18 points, but the difference maker was Carl Landry. Landry posted a double-double, 16 points and 11 rebounds, off the bench against the Grizzlies’ usually stout front-line.

Rudy Gay was the lone Grizzly to play “well” as he scored a game-high 24 points on 9-17 shooting as his string of good games continued. Only two other Grizzlies even scored in double figures, as O.J. Mayo and Marc Gasol both got to 11, albeit on less than stellar shooting numbers. Mayo was 3-12 and Gasol was 2-6.

Gasol’s bad night wasn’t limited to the floor, however. Late in the 4th quarter, with the game having already gone New Orleans’ way, Marc drove to the basket and banged knees with Tony Allen under the rim. Gasol fell down and needed help getting up and walking off the court.

He returned to shoot his free throw, but left the game immediately after that for the locker room. After the game, the team announced that he had hyper-extended his knee and would be getting an MRI this afternoon. I will update the blog with the information as it becomes available.

All things considered, Gasol is the one guy that the Grizzlies couldn’t replace if he were lost with any type of significant injury. At this time last year, I would have said Zach Randolph, but after seeing the team without him earlier this season, it’s obvious that they aren’t as good, but were still one of the better teams in the league, even with Marreese Speights starting at power forward.

In January of last year, a lot of people may have said Rudy Gay, as he was in the midst of his best season, but the Grizzlies did advance in the playoffs last year without him and has been inconsistent at best this season, even as the team has played well.

There is no obvious back-up for Gasol on the roster. Hamed Haddadi rarely sees the floor and is up-and-down at best. Maybe you could play Speights and Randolph together, with Dante Cunningham coming in for stints at the 4. Maybe the Grizzlies move to a more wide-open offense like the seven seconds or less Suns.

Gasol’s presence on offense would be tough to replace, which is a huge blow for a team that struggles to score in the first place. However, the Grizzlies’ defense has his fingerprints all over it. He’s not a leaper by any stretch of the imagination, but he’s a surprisingly good shot-blocker, and forces players who drive the lane to alter their shot to get around him. He and Randolph also form one of the league’s best rebounding duos.

Maybe the injury isn’t serious and Gasol will be ready to go Tuesday night. If that’s the case, forget we ever had this discussion. But, if he is seriously hurt and can’t play in the last two weeks, things will be pretty tense. If he has to miss any playoff action, that’s a serious blow to a team that was starting to peak at the right time.