The MarShon Brooks show: Memphis Grizzlies vs Portland Trailblazers recap

The Memphis Grizzlies are now on a two-game winning streak after defeating the Portland Trailblazers 108-103 last night.

In a thrilling game, the Memphis Grizzlies helped answer a question that literally no one had been asking: Are the Portland Trailblazers a bad team without Damian Lillard?

Even though they didn’t have Lillard, the Blazers were beaten by a Grizzlies team that played its best player Marc Gasol 21 minutes, didn’t have its second best player in Tyreke Evans, and ran their entire offense through a player from the Chinese Basketball Association who hadn’t played in an NBA game in 4 years.

So yeah, the Portland Trailblazers are pretty terrible without Lillard.

Here are a few takeaways from the game.

Mar$hon Brooks

MarShon Brooks was the 23rd pick in the 2011 NBA draft and was an excellent rookie. As a member of the New Jersey Nets, he averaged 12.6 points and generally looked like a good NBA role player. However, he became a journeyman and was out of the league by the end of the 2014 season. He did find success in the CBA, where he has averaged 36.6 points this season.

And in his first NBA game in 4 years, he lit the world on fire for the Memphis Grizzlies.

MarShon “NBA 2K13 Legend” Brooks took over the game in the 4th quarter as the Grizzlies ran their entire offense through him. He finished with 21 points as well as a perfect 5-5 from three. It was incredible to see an electrified FedexForum for the first time in quite a while.

MarShon will likely have a future with the Memphis Grizzlies beyond his 10-day contract. A two-year partially guaranteed contract very well may be in his future, or at the very least, a training camp contract for next year. There will always be a place in the NBA for pure scorers.

As awesome as it was to watch, MarShon Brooks’ performance was also somewhat frustrating. If the Grizzlies win because their young players are playing well, then that’s great. But when the Grizzlies win because a journeyman who has been out of the league for 4 years goes off for one night, that is a little tougher to swallow.

But if the Grizzlies get my beloved Trae Young, then everyone will be happy in the end (or at least I will be).

Chandler Parsons Lives

Chandler Parsons continued his excellent play for the Grizzlies, finishing the game with 15 points on 6-12 shooting in just 19 minutes of play. You can joke about him all you want, but when he plays, Chandler Parsons is still a very good basketball player.

Like it or not, Parsons will likely play an important role on the team next year. They don’t need him to play 30 minutes a night. The time when he could do that has long past. But if he can give them a solid 20 minutes while playing at the level that he has this year, he will be a valuable role player.

Chandler Parsons is not an old man just yet, and he doesn’t play like one when he’s on the court. The key for next year will be whether he can stay on the court.

Wade Baldwin Revenge Game

When the Memphis Grizzlies waived Wade Baldwin in order to keep the corpse of Mario Chalmers, everyone criticized them. “Why would you give up on a first round pick after just one year?” the children cried. But Chris Wallace ignored their tears and embraced his own stupidity.

It appeared that Wade Baldwin wasn’t too happy that the Grizzlies cut him as he took advantage of his chance for a revenge game. However, since Baldwin still isn’t very good, his revenge game was limited in scope as he finished with a career-high of just 15 points.

I always liked Wade Baldwin. After all, he somehow found a way to be the 17th pick in the 2016 NBA draft despite being bad at basketball. And if someone who is bad at basketball could go in the first round, so could I! I guess you could say that I had a kinship with him.

The next game for the Memphis Grizzlies will be on the road against the Utah Jazz on Friday.