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Memphis Grizzlies’ Allen Receives First Team Honors

By Christian Dudley

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Apr 29, 2015; Memphis, TN, USA; Memphis Grizzlies guard Tony Allen celebrates with teammates on the bench in the fourth quarter against the Portland Trailblazers in game five of the first round of the NBA Playoffs at FedExForum. Memphis defeated Portland 99-93. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports

On Wednesday, the Memphis Grizzlies’ Tony Allen received First Team All-Defense honors for the 2014-15 NBA season.

Tony Allen has made quite the name for himself since becoming a member of the Memphis Grizzlies in 2010. He was the innovator of the “Grit ‘N’ Grind” phrase that everyone now uses to describe the Grizz. Due to the “GnG” and being Memphis’ leader on the defensive end, he was quickly coined with the nickname of “The Grindfather.”

How did Allen go about representing his title this season? In the regular season, he posted an average of 2.1 steals per game–third-best in the league amongst all players. He bumped this average up to 2.4 in the postseason–tying for first place out of all players on playoff-eligible teams.

Additionally, the Grindfather was fourth-best in the NBA during the regular season in the category of defensive ratings. Allen recorded a 94.9–a very astounding figure. Memphis also had two other players in the top-four for this statistical category.

Today, the NBA acknowledged TA for his defensive prowess by naming him to the All-Defensive First Team. Not only was Tony exceptionally deserving of this honor, he was able to make the list amongst some very elusive company. The First Team consists of players all from the association’s Western Conference–all being very familiar foes of the Memphis Grizzlies.

Here is the breaking news from the NBA.com Twitter account:

In case you were wondering, here is the All-Defensive Second Team:

The voting was somewhat narrow, as seen from these next two tweets:

The Tony Allen was predicting the future yet again when he constantly proclaimed “First Team!” this season on multiple occasions while the Memphis Grizzlies must have had a great feeling about the Grindfather’s chances by making these shirts (below) about a month ago.

Please take a few minutes to watch this video (below) to appreciate Tony Allen’s tenacious defense that has made his name known in all households throughout Grizz Nation.

Congrats, Grindfather! This award was very well deserved!

You can personally tell your congratulations to Tony Allen via Twitter by tweeting him here.

Go Grizz!

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