This win wasn’t pretty but this team doesn’t want it to be. The Memphis Grizzlies struggled for much of this game offensively but Mike Conley led this team down the stretch to secure a victory.
The Portland Trail Blazers got off to a hot start and it seemed like the Memphis Grizzlies were destined for another bad loss. The second unit came in and made a big difference to keep them in it which gave Mike Conley a chance to take over down the stretch as he did.
After Portland got up 26-15 after the first quarter the Grizzlies locked in defensively. CJ McCollum scored 40 of the Trail Blazers 83 points in this game.
Besides, that Memphis did a really good job defending. Outside of McCollum they only made 27% of their shots.
That includes Damian Lillard and Jusuf Nurkic who combined to shoot just 5-33. They were primarily defended by Marc Gasol and Conley.
Those two took it upon themselves to get it done on the defensive end of the floor. The Grizzlies had a great game plan defensively and they executed.
They did what it took to win the game on both ends of the floor. They locked in defensively and made a few shots on the offensive end to put this team away.
The Grizzlies bench unit was huge in getting this team going early on though. JaMychal Green had 12 points and 6 rebounds while MarShon Brooks had 13 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists.
“Our bench came in and really sparked us” - HC J.B. Bickerstaff after tonight’s win pic.twitter.com/h5E9zHwpam
— Memphis Grizzlies (@memgrizz) December 13, 2018
They provided the energy the team was missing early on and it made a big impact. The second unit has been playing at a high level in recent games and has picked up some of the scoring slack from the starters who have been struggling.
That’s not to say the starters didn’t have an impact because we all know that each of them impacts the game on both ends of the floor.
They all helped out with the rebounding as they outrebounded Portland 51-44. Kyle Anderson led the team with his 12 rebounds.
While Gasol did shoot just 4-15 from the field he still had a huge impact on this game. He finished with nine points, seven rebounds, five assists, and six blocks.
Gasol made a Defensive Player of the Year statement in this game. Some games it seems like he doesn’t do much but if you watch closely you see how truly elite he is on the defensive end.
While Gasol was doing that Conley was making his case to be an all-star as well. He led the team with 23 points to go along with six rebounds and six assists.
His play in the fourth quarter made a huge difference. He did a great job defending Lillard while also carrying this team on the other end as well.
Conley scored 10 of his points in the final period including eight points in the final 3:45 when the Grizzlies only had a three-point lead.
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The Trail Blazers as a team only scored five points the rest of the way.
Memphis would go on to win the game 92-83. They shot 42% from the field to Portland’s 37%. The Grizzlies outworked the Trail Blazers in this game and it showed.
They didn’t like how they played in the first quarter and they completely flipped the switch after that.
Portland scored 20 of their 26 first-quarter points in the paint. They only scored eight paint points the rest of the way.
The Memphis Grizzlies continue to bring people into the mud to win games. So many teams in the NBA today can’t win games like that.
Very few teams play defense anymore but the Grizzlies are showing it can still win you a lot of games in this league no matter how good the offenses are becoming.