Following a Wednesday night loss in Oklahoma City, the Memphis Grizzlies bounced back in Houston with a 110-105 win over James Harden and the Rockets.
The Memphis Grizzlies are an NBA phenomenon. One night, they’re trampled by the Sacramento Kings at home. The next, they’re erasing double-digit deficits on the road against the best teams in the Western Conference. Though it’s hard to understand, it certainly offers an interesting question:
Is Memphis for real?
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
| Rockets | 31 | 33 | 21 | 20 | 105 |
| Grizzlies | 25 | 26 | 32 | 27 | 110 |
Friday night, the Grizzlies visited Houston to cap off their two-game road trip. A sloppy first half resulted in a 64-51 lead for the Rockets at the start of the third quarter. Fortunately, Coach of the Year frontrunner David Fizdale was able to spark some intensity in his squad during halftime.
Tony Allen spoke about it:
"He told guys we need to stop lying to ourselves. We were not playing hard — and guys took it to heart the second half and you could tell by the way we played down the stretch."
Grind mode: engaged.
The Grizzlies held Houston to 41 second-half points. Fueled largely by a 15-5 Memphis run late in the third, the Grizz pulled within two points (85-83) to begin the fourth quarter. The Grit ‘N’ Grind mentality was alive and well, holding the Rockets to only two 3-pointers and 25-percent shooting in the third frame.
In the fourth quarter, Memphis scored the first nine points (five from Zach Randolph), giving them their first lead of the second half. Houston retaliated with a run of their own, tying things up at 92 with around 8 minutes remaining.
From there, it was ALL MEMPHIS.
Give me a wild half-court pass from Mike Conley to Tony Allen for a layup, and I’ll raise you a Troy Daniels triple to ice the cake.
Okay, so who did what?
Tony Allen led the Grizzlies efforts with a season-high 22 points. He fouled out with just under four minutes left in the fourth. Mike Conley and Zach Randolph followed closely, adding 17 and 16 points, respectively. Randolph grabbed 12 rebounds to add another double-double to his Sixth Man of the Year resume.
Related Story: Zach Randolph is embracing the Sixth Man role
In total, six Grizzlies scored in double digits. Marc Gasol netted 14 points (six rebounds, six assists), Troy Daniels sank 13 as well — perfect considering he’s now made a 3-pointer in 13 straight games. James Ennis added 12 points and six rebounds.
James Harden (duh) led the Rockets with 27 points and dished out nine assists. Eric Gordon (a former potential Grizzly) was next in line, adding 13 points.
What does this mean?
The Memphis Grizzlies are now 4-0 against the Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets, two of the top-three teams in the Western Conference.
They are also the only team in the NBA to have secured victories over the Warriors, Cavaliers, Clippers, Thunder and Rockets this season.
Memphis faces a consistency problem. With news that Andrew Harrison is out of the rotation in exchange for Troy Daniels, you can expect those consistency issues to continue a bit longer.
The good news is that a healthy Chandler Parsons is making 18-minute statements. A lifted minutes restriction, combined with the development of Troy Daniels signals exciting times ahead as the Grizzlies head into the second half of the season.