Grind City Views: Grizzlies in national power rankings (week 15)
By Jake Finnen
Welcome to Grind City View’s Weekly Power Rankings, Beale Street Bears’ roundup of the Memphis Grizzlies’ spot in national power rankings
The Grizzlies are all over the place in the power rankings. Sounds about right.
USA Today – No. 11
“Veteran big man Zach Randolph has picked up his play in January, averaging 15.9 points (on 47.6% shooting) and 9.8 rebounds, up from his 12.4-point, 7.5-rebound, 41.8% averages in December.”
The Grizzlies are going to fluxuate around the 10-12 position all season until they consistently start to win games against quality opponents. Putting them at 11 seems fair, seeing how hey have suffered a few surprising losses, but have still managed to beat teams like the Jazz, Warriors, and Rockets. Zach Randolph has been huge during this stretch. If he can continue to produce off the bench, the starters will be able to stay fresh without sacrificing any losses.
CBS – No. 8
“They lost to the bad team and beat the good team on the back-to-back road trip. They haven’t been playing well the past two weeks, but then, that’s never stopped them from getting enough wins in the past. They’re 3-4 in the past two weeks … with wins over Toronto and Utah. So Memphis. Very Grizzlies”
Yeah, it’s hard to dispute this being, “Very Grizzlies.” They cannot seem to win consistently and establish themselves as a premier team in this league.
ESPN – No. 9
“How do you follow up the first 40-point game that the Grizzlies have mustered since Rudy Gay served one up all the way back in December 2009? Answer: If you’re Marc Gasol, you celebrate with your third career All-Star selection to pass Zach Randolph for the all-time lead in franchise history. The only downside here, of course, is that Mike Conley is still stuck on zero All-Star selections compared to GA sol’s three and Z-Bo’s two. We’re sticking to our story that Conley was the most deserving Memphian this time around.”
They moved up one spot from last week, which makes sense. While it seems the worst may be behind them, this current road trip is going to decide whether the Grizzlies are a contender or a pretender. They need a winning record in this six-game road stretch to get that back on the right path. Memphis has slipped, ever-so-slightly, and a few comfortable wins over beatable opponents can make a serious impact on the team’s overall confidence.
NBA.com – No. 11
“The Grizzlies have been treading water against a tough schedule over the last month and a half, going 12-13 in a stretch where 17 of the 25 games were against teams that are currently over .500. They’re just two games into a six-game trip, but they got a big win in Utah on Saturday (with Zach Randolph taking Rudy Robert and the Jazz to school) and their schedule is about to get easier. Nine of their next 13 games are against teams under .500, a stretch that includes three games against Phoenix and two against Denver.”
NBA moved the Grizzlies up, mostly in part to the Grizzlies having a decent record against high-quality opponents. It;s clear that the Grizzlies are a solid team, but you never know what you are going to get every night. All I know is that we expect Marc Gasol, Mike Conley and Zach Randolph to be the sparkplugs to get the team going each night.