So Fresh and So Jeff Green: Memphis Grizzlies’ Week in Review and Three Takeaways

The Memphis Grizzlies won two of three games last week thanks to timely baskets and a Jeff Green alley-oop.

November 30th- December 6th

Remember that time Jeff Green caught Courtney Lee’s inbound pass above the rim and punched it through with a jam at the buzzer and the Memphis Grizzlies beat the Phoenix Suns?

If not, wow it’s been less than 24 hours but we still have you covered. If yes, then you’re going to revel in reliving it right here.

Your Grizzlies capped off the weekend in spectacular fashion, beating the Suns with a last-fraction-of-a-second alley-oop, and went 2-1 overall in games this past week. Taking a look back at the week that was along with three key takeaways, let’s start with Memphis’ most impressive victory of the week: a road victory at the Smoothie King Center.

December 1st: Memphis Grizzlies vs. New Orleans Pelicans

Marc Gasol crushed it.

Inside and out, Gasol destroyed the New Orleans Pelicans with a barrage of brilliant mid-range set shots, fadeaways, aggressive drives to the hoop and back-to-the-basket post moves. Gasol poured in a career-high 38 points including a perfect 16-for-16 from the free throw line. He did more than put the ball through the hoop as he also stuffed the stat sheet with 13 rebounds, six assists, and four blocks.

We also saw Zach Randolph (14 points and 6 rebounds) hold his own inside against a Pelicans squad lead by Anthony Davis. In an encouraging sign for the Grizzlies, the bench packed a punch with Matt Barnes, Mario Chalmers and Lee all scoring in double figures (13, 11 and 13 points respectively) and the Grizzlies looked in control for most of the game.

New Orleans has struggled so far this year, but wins have been hard to come by for the Grizzlies against the Pelicans for the past couple seasons no matter how outmatched they may look on paper making this a great road win for the Grizzlies.

December 3rd: Memphis Grizzlies vs. San Antonio Spurs

Outside of the still unbeaten Golden State Warriors who may never lose a game of basketball ever again, the San Antonio Spurs might be the toughest egg to crack for the Grizzlies in a Western Conference that has a fairly wide-open field competing for a spot in the 2016 playoffs.

With the obvious exception of the historic 2010-11 campaign that saw Memphis dominate against the Spurs both in the regular season and postseason, San Antonio has been a perennial thorn in the side of Memphis. As if the Spurs weren’t tough enough with the best coach in basketball in Gregg Popovich, a seemingly ageless core trio of Tony Parker, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobli and the 2014 Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard, the Spurs fortified their frontcourt with the addition of NBA All-Star and former Portland Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge.

As a Spur, Aldridge outmuscled the Grizzlies’ veteran bruiser for several inside buckets and tough rebounds. Leonard went off for a game-high 27 points, including 7-of-9 from outside, and San Antonio breezed by the Grizzlies’ lauded defense for much of the night while shooting 50 percent from the floor.

The Spurs were tough on both sides of the ball, and torched Memphis from deep hitting 10-of-18 three-point attempts. The Grizzlies on the other hand, shot 2-of-16 from downtown and saw no player score more than 15 (though Gasol, Conley and Chalmers each hit that number).

Once again the Grizzlies’ inability to defend against good three-point shooting teams doomed them. For years, so much has been made about the Grizzlies’ need, granted a legitimate need, to add shooters and improve their perimeter defense, and I think many of us have overlooked how terrible the Grizzlies are at defending everyone else’s three-point shooters, but more on that later.

December 6th: Memphis Grizzlies vs. Phoenix Suns

This was a pretty competitive game in which your Grizzlies nearly squandered a late lead thanks to a couple consecutive closing possessions that saw Memphis try to force predictable and well-defended Conley to Gasol pick-and-rolls that failed miserably.

All of this set the Suns up with an excellent opportunity to steal the win. Thankfully, partially due to good defensive pressure and Brandon Knight momentarily forgetting how to basketball, Knight got the ball for the Suns and immediately lost his dribble out of bounds turning the ball over back to the Grizzlies for another shot with less than a second to go. Coach Dave Joerger took the timeout to advance the ball and decide on a play, and the rest is history.

To fully appreciate the masterpiece in motion, let’s view Lee’s perfect lob pass and Green’s epic poster dunk on former Grizzly Jon Leuer from a few different angles:

After the streamers fell and “All I Do Is Win” blared through the Grind House, the Suns got the ball back for one last shot attempt. The shot didn’t fall, preserving the Grizzlies’ thrilling victory. Thank goodness it fell, otherwise this blissful celebration might have looked a bit premature in hindsight.

Three Takeaways

1. If you need a game winner in under a second, Coach Joerger and the Grizzlies are your guys

The jubilant finish to the Grizzlies’ win over the Suns was reminiscent of the game winner from the Grizzlies’ incredible comeback against the Sacramento Kings last season.

As you probably recall, trailing with less than a third of a second to go, Lee was on the receiving end of that game-winning alley-oop inbounds play. If it’s a tight game and a unit leaves Green with even a fraction of a second, that opposing team may as well walk off the court and warm up the bus because the Grizzlies have got it on lock.

2. Tony Allen needs to re-establish a role on this team.

Like every Grizzlies’ fan with a pulse, I love Tony Allen, and I hate seeing him struggle so much on a basketball court.

In the same week that Kobe Bryant recognized Allen as the most challenging defender who has ever guarded the Black Mamba, Allen consistently delivered an exhibition of absolute dumpster fire basketball. To say Allen has been worthless lately would be inaccurate, because his play of late has been something much worse than that.

While in some games Allen has had no impact, in others he’s had a notably negative impact despite limited playing time. Allen started against the Suns and in the opening minutes the Grind Father bricked two wide-open jump shots, missed a lay-up and perhaps most unsettlingly struggled to stay in front of his man on defense as Phoenix’s guards cut through the lane and around screens with ease.

Memphis quickly fell behind by double digits and Joerger subbed Allen out of the game. Then in the third quarter, when coach Joerger sent Allen back into the game for a mere few minutes, the Grizzlies quickly lost the lead as the Suns went on another run similar to the one at the beginning of the game. Allen went back to the bench and finished with zero points on four field goal attempts and a turnover to go with one steal.

In the past Grizzlies fans have been able to find solace in the fact that even though Allen missed some open jump shots and uncontested layups, he was going to make life miserable for the other team’s best scorer with his world-renown defense and hustle plays and would even score a few times. But lately, his offense has somehow been even worse, and his defense hasn’t been up-to-par with his usual work that could act as a saving grace for the poor shooting.

Right now, Allen doesn’t deserve recognition for any end-of-season awards. Despite having a rough go of it the past few games, there isn’t enough evidence to indicate that Allen has completely outlived his usefulness to the Grizzlies.

He’s not over the hill, and he’s not really as bad on offense as the numbers have shown lately. He’s only a few months older than the Allen who flexed his defensive muscle and helped the Grizzlies into the playoffs.

Memphis has an influx of other backcourt and wing players trying to find their groove in the Grizzlies’ rotation, including Lee, Green, Barnes, Chalmers, Vince Carter and possibly Jordan Adams when he returns from injury, so it won’t get any easier for Allen unless his performance improves. He needs to find a way to use his strengths to be effective in an adaptable role, even if that’s in a reduced role or a non-starting role.

3. The Grizzlies continue to refuse to guard obvious three point threats

My least favorite thing in the NBA is watching the Grizzlies let guys like Matt Bonner, a player who’s in the league because of one obvious skill, take and make completely unguarded three-point shots.

Why do you think he’s on the court? What is the one and only thing he can possibly do to hurt your team in a game of basketball? Why leave him all alone standing beyond the arc, the one painted line on the court that allows him to make an NBA roster at all?

The Grizzlies gave him so many open looks when they got swept by the Spurs in the Western Conference Finals a few seasons ago, and Bonner got one again against the Grizzlies this past week. It’s not just Bonner the Grizzlies rotate away from to help inside, sometimes it’s another three-point specialist like Ryan Anderson inexplicably left wide open in games versus New Orleans. Against the Suns, Devin Booker and Mirza Teletovic had multiple uncontested looks from three-point land. In the playoffs last year, the Grizzlies once left Stephen Curry open for a three more than any team ever has. With no defender within 15 feet of Curry, the MVP carefully squared up his shot and airballed one of the most shockingly terrible shots I have ever seen in an NBA game.

After that, maybe coming into this season the Grizzlies just decided they would forgo conventional defense against three-point shooters and try to psych them out mentally by leaving them absurdly wide open from long range. Sometimes a contested three-point shot still goes in, but it’s unbelievable how many three-point shots the Grizzlies can surrender.

And one:

Like a septuagenarian Mick Jagger flatly crooning through the Rolling Stones’ half century catalog while trying not to fall off the stage again as fans watch in horror, Bryant is a sad old shadow of his former self making the rounds on his farewell tour.

Last week Kobe returned to Philadelphia so the Sixers could finally win a game this season. A former high school teammate documented Kobe’s homecoming and it’s hilarious. Please watch if you get a chance.

For the Grizzlies going forward, what is the future of Allen’s role with this team? What adjustments can the Grizzlies make to keep up with a league that is increasingly more reliant on three-point shooting?

Add your comment to join the discussion!