The Memphis Grizzlies got beaten up by the Los Angeles Clippers in game 7.
You can look at any stats you like, or point to the Grizzlies’ ridiculously terrible shooting percentage, but when the game came down to which of the teams was going to take control over the other, and muscle up and beat the other team down, it was the Clippers who took advantage.
Even when the Grizzlies lost games in the opening round series, they won the rebounding advantage, or matched the Clippers’ physicality. On Sunday, the Clippers punched and the Grizzlies never punched back.
Take nothing away from the Clippers, they deserved to win the most entertaining first-round series of 2012, and it’s never easy to win on the road in the NBA playoffs, especially in a game 7.
The Clippers won and got the worst of Chris Paul and Blake Griffin in the same game and were still able to win in front of a hostile road environment.
The Grizzlies wasted Rudy Gay’s best effort of the series behind a ton of missed opportunities. It was their worst game of the series, and it came at the worst possible times.
The end of a season is a sad time for everyone. The team, the fans, anyone who has anything to do with anything. Leaving FedEx Forum after a game 7 loss was one of the worst sports experiences I’ve personally experienced.
I’m not sure that anyone thought that the Grizzlies were going to win a championship, but losing in round 1 has to be awfully disappointing.
The Clippers will move on and play the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday night.
The Grizzlies will start their off-season on Monday, where the biggest question will revolve around O.J. Mayo and his future with the team. The Grizzlies will almost certainly extend him a qualifying offer, which gives them the opportunity to match any offer made to him, but it’s unclear as to how much the team would be willing to pay him.
In the coming weeks, we will look at some of the Grizzlies’ options regarding their roster, but I wouldn’t expect to see too much change. There will be rumors surrounding Rudy Gay, but I’d say it’s unlikely that he’s moved unless the Grizzlies get a great deal.
Game 7 was one of the worst affronts to offensive basketball that anyone has seen, as neither team got to 40% shooting. The Clippers pulled away in the 4th quarter with a 6-0 run that swelled their lead from a single point to seven. The lead would eventually grow all the way to 10 before the Grizzlies went on a run, but never got closer than four again.
Rudy Gay had 19 points, as did Marc Gasol, but Zach Randolph shot just 3/12 from the field and never got into the same rhythm that he did in games 5 and 6. In a way, maybe the Grizzlies were tired from battling through two must-win elimination games or maybe they just played poorly.
Whatever the reason, the Clippers are moving on and the Grizzlies are going home.
As I’ve said before, just because the season is over doesn’t mean that we’re going away here at Beale Street Bears. We’re going to have a lot of stuff about the Grizzlies’ roster, the draft, potential free agent targets and all of that stuff, because here at BSB, there is no off-season.
Thanks for reading, Grizzlies fans. We’re just getting started here and we appreciate the support. This is only the beginning.