Fine, so the Memphis Grizzlies apparently had one of these meetings after the Houston debacle. Big deal, right?
But then they go out and beat (an admittedly depleted) Minnesota. Then they come in Wednesday night and play an utterly dominating game against the Clippers, leading wire-to-wire. Even though the victory came against a discombobulated Clipper team on the second night of a back-to-back roadie, the Grizzlies showed us some things we haven’t seen much of this season — Defense for one. Lots and LOTS of assists. Rudy hustling a bit on defense and not forcing (many) shots. Even Hasheem scored a couple of buckets and blocked a shot or two.
via What Goes On Behind Closed Doors | 3 Shades of Blue.
It’s sad that I’ve gotten to the point of openly rooting against this team because of their management. I love watching Gasol play, he’s the best player on the team right now, OJAM’s going to break through a wall one of these games, and Rudy Gay had the most focused game I’ve seen from him, possibly ever, in the last game. Even Marcus Williams is playing well, and he’s a reclamation project. So really, it’s just Randolph.
You’ll notice a lack of Randolph quote in Chip Crain’s piece on the team meeting and how they talked about coming together as professionals. Maybe the quotes are out there and I haven’t seen them. And don’t get me wrong, Randolph is playing great this season. His assists have dropped off (two assists total in the two wins), but he’s two points from the vaunted 20 and 10 average. And he’s the only starter anywhere close to positive plus/minus.
So why can’t I let it go? Is it just pride because of how much I hated them bringing in Randolph and Thabeet when they had Gasol? Mostly. But I think a large part of it is that I see Randolph as a ceiling capper for them. He’s going to play well, they may even improve as a team. But they’re not going to come into their own as a unit, like OKC or Portland. It’s going to be “the young guys and Zach.” And since Randolph’s not likely to improve, there’s always going to be a limit on what they can accomplish. Tonight would be a huge step for them in making something relevant out of this win streak, even against depleted Philly. More on this, well, kind of, in this afternoon’s 15 footer.
