Green’s for the Money: Memphis Grizzlies Week in Review and Three Takeaways

Jeff Green hit his stride while coming off the bench, and the Memphis Grizzlies went a perfect 3-0 on the week to close out the month of January.

In three wins against the Orlando Magic, the Milwaukee Bucks, and the Sacramento Kings, the Grizzlies bench shined, thanks in large part to the stellar play of Jeff Green. Here’s everything you need to know on the week that was, and three key takeaways.

January 25: Grizzlies vs Orlando Magic

Jeff Green took control of this game, and were it not for his season-high 30 points, the Grizzlies may not have been able to stave off the Magic. Lead by Green, Memphis defeated Orlando 108-102 in overtime.

Starting at power forward again, Zach Randolph added 18 points and 13 rebounds to the Memphis cause. Z-Bo starting and Green coming off the bench was a positive trend for the entire week.

Marc Gasol, Courtney Lee, Mario Chalmers, and Tony Allen also supplied the Grizzlies with their fair share of offense, scoring 17,16,12, and nine points, respectively.

It looked like a certain victory for the Magic in the final minute of the fourth quarter, until Uncle Jeff saved the day. Down with under 10 seconds left in regulation, Green helped force a steal on an Orlando inbounds play, then on the other end of the court, he sank a one-handed shot over two defenders to force overtime. During the segment of free basketball, the Grizzlies owned the final five minutes with an 8-2 run to secure the win.

January 28 Grizzlies vs Milwaukee Bucks

The Grizz actually ran away with a blowout victory against a decent team. Apparently the trick to building an insurmountable lead is for Matt Barnes to drill four three-pointers in the fourth quarter. Barnes was quite the closer, and the Grizzlies looked good throughout their 103-83 rout of the Bucks.

Jeff Green, in yet another prolific scoring burst off the bench, scored a game-high 21 points while Marc Gasol added 15 points to go with eight rebounds, four assists, and four steals. Barnes, Allen, and Lee each tacked on 13 points for Memphis.

Watch this Tony Allen play and use it as your barometer for how fun this game was:

January 30 Grizzlies vs Sacramento Kings

Story of the game: Grizzlies built a huge lead, victory nearly eluded them as the Kings made a huge fourth quarter run, but the Grizz managed to hang on for the win. Once again, the man of the match for the Grizzlies was none other than Jeff Green, who lead all scorers with 29 points. Green wasn’t the only Grizzly to make an impact off the bench; the Grizzlies’ resident dunk champ emeritus Vince Carter converted 5-of-8 shots for 13 points in only 14 minutes. Memphis may have allowed an unthinkable 40 points in the fourth quarter, but the Kings’ explosive fourth quarter was not enough to stop the Grizzlies from attaining the elusive undefeated week.

Three Takeaways

1.If you attempt to write a thoughtful piece on why the Grizzlies should trade Jeff Green and then give him a mediocre player grade,  he will promptly make a fool of you

In the last couple weeks since posting about the option of trading Jeff Green, and assigning him a pedestrian grade for his play during the first half of the season, Green immediately began the best stretch of basketball we’ve seen since he joined the Grizzlies. He recently went off for 30 points, was the Grizzlies’ leading scorer in every game last week, and on Saturday he carried the Grizz to victory with a 29 point showing. I dared to reference a shot chart indicating that Jeff Green has shot poorly from three-point range this season and should refrain from jacking threes from the wing and the top of arc where he’s been especially lousy, and then Green knocks the wind out of Sacramento with a trio of three-pointers from those same spots.

Kudos, Uncle Jeff.  

1. The Grizzlies are successful in close games, but holding on to double-digit leads could also be nice.

The Grizzlies have won several close games this season, and it’s been well documented that their staggering crunch-time adroitness is too phenomenal to comply with logic.  However, this is partly due to the Grizzlies’ tendency to squander big fourth quarter leads against teams they should beat. We can all appreciate the excitement of a close game, but sometimes it would be nice to watch our basketball bears just outright steamroll someone, with the outcome never in doubt.  There’s no reason to believe this trend will change, and as long as Memphis is adding to the wins column, why should we care? The next time you’re watching the guys in Beale Street Blue play impeccably while burying an opponent under a massive lead, then watching them surrender that huge lead only before recapturing the game by a narrow margin of victory at the end, embrace it.  Embrace the Grizzlies for their unconventional success, because every strand of this team’s existence is a triumphant and rebellious mockery of convention and logic.

1. Tony Allen can outscore Mike Conley for a whole week and that can work for the Grizz

Normally this would seem like a cause for concern and multiple losses, but the Grizzlies went undefeated last week in three games that featured Tony Allen scoring a total 34 points while Conley only totaled 25 points on the week. All year when the Grizzlies struggle we look to the offensive shortcomings of Conley and Gasol, the clear leaders and most responsible parties on this team, but if the Grizzlies can depend on eight to ten points or so from Allen plus all the other things he can do to wreak havoc on a game, that will be a tremendous relief to the Grizzlies’ primary scoring threats.

In the Grizzlies’ biggest win of the week, a 20-point victory over the Bucks, Conley only scored five points. If the Grizzlies can consistently rely on solid production from talented veterans like Randolph, Allen, Green, Barnes, and Chalmers, Conley’s burden becomes very manageable. Granted, the wins last week all came against losing teams who are fringe bottom-seed playoff hopefuls at best. The mantra for this season will remain “as Gasol and Conley go,” but they’re both going to need a great deal of help from the entire roster if they hope to survive the top-heavy Western Conference.

And One:

More from Beale Street Bears

• Dillon Brooks speaks out after beating former Grizzlies teammate in World Cup
• Jaren Jackson Jr. puts ex-Grizzlies teammate on notice
• 3 players Grizzlies would consider trading Ja Morant for
• Grizzlies star Jaren Jackson Jr. put on blast following FIBA elimination
• Ex-Grizzlies guard signs with title favorite, joins forces with 6-time All-Star

Also from around the ‘Net:

In case you missed it, last week a great piece on NBA public address announcers circulated the interwebs, highlighted by some anecdotes from the Memphis Grizzlies’ own, Rick Trotter.

Geoff Calkins, lead sports writer for the Commercial Appeal, shared a sweet story about a Memphis Grizzlies fan, and the special bond that a fan can build with the Grizzlies.