Annual MLK game celebration: Bulls vs Grizzlies

Share the joy

Before a sellout crowd of 18,119, the Memphis Grizzlies went to battle with the Chicago Bulls in the annual MLK day celebration game. Historically, the MLK game is not a good game for the Grizzlies. Entering last night, the Grizzlies were 6-8 in the annual celebration game. Unfortunately, they are now 6-9 after dropping a close one to the Bulls 108-104.

The Grizzlies wore their MLK50 Pride uniforms for the first time this season.

Notes from the game

1) Mike Conley led the Grizzlies with 28 points, eight assists and five rebounds. In the last six games, Conley is averaging 21.7 points and 9.3 assists per game. He has scored 20-or-more points in 14 games this season.

2) Marc Gasol finished the game with 24 points, 11 assists and three assists. Gasol recorded his sixth double double of the season. 

3) Zach Randolph ended the game with 15 points and 16 rebounds (season-high for rebounds). Zbo recorded his 10th double-double of the season which was his fourth double double in the last five games.

4) Randolph (3,087) grabbed eight offensive rebounds to pass David Robinson (3,083) for 25th in NBA history. Randolph (17,189) also passed Chris Webber (17,182) for 88th in NBA history for total career points.

5) JaMychal Green scored 14 points and grabbed five rebounds. Green went 6-of-8 from the field and 2-of-3 from the three point line.

6. The Bulls had five players in double figures. Taj Gibson (18 points, eight rebounds), Jimmy Butler (16 points, eight rebounds), Michael Carter-Williams (14 points, seven rebounds) and Robin Lopez (12 points, seven rebounds). Doug McDermott led the team in points off the bench (more on him later).

Stats of the game

What went wrong?

Grizzlies bench was particularly awful which is uncharacteristic. Doug McDermott outscored the Grizzlies bench alone. Grizzlies bench 27, Doug McDermott 31. The Grizzlies had no answer for Doug McDermott who recorded a career high. McDermott scored 20 of his 31 points in the second quarter alone. 

 

The team has been inconsistent. They are victorious against teams they aren’t predicted to beat and lose to team they are should more than likely should win. It’s like a rollercoaster ride. The lack of consistency is a common theme:

“I don’t know, to be honest. Obviously, we’re trying different things, trying to figure it out. We’re talking a lot, doing different stuff. If we don’t get stops, it’s going to be hard to win. That, for me, is what changes from game to game. There are times that we get stops and we figure it out on the fly, and we get the other team to turn the ball over or get enough stops. Or, like tonight, we couldn’t get stops the last two minutes of the game. That makes it really tough on your offense, especially because our offense…We’re not a super firepower team. It’s a lot by feel. [The Bulls] had it going [tonight]. They find out something that works for them and they exploited it. And we couldn’t stop it.” — Marc Gasol

“We are searching for consistency and just playing our basketball. Tonight is one of those games. We played hard, the effort was there. I missed a lot of easy shots around the basket. They hit big shots in the end and that was the game.” — Zach Randolph

Lack of communication on defense was a problem as well.

“We couldn’t get to our defensive coverage to save our lives there down the stretch. The second and the fourth quarter we didn’t defend at the level that we are capable of defending.” — David Fizdale

“You know, we tried to talk it out, communicate with each other. We had some times out there where we kind of lost each other, lost our man and didn’t know where to be or what to do, so we’ve got to be better with that. I thought we did a good job of just trying to communicate it, talk it through, figure it out.” — Mike Conley

After holding the Bulls to 14 points in the first the quarter, the Grizzlies gave up 38 points to the Bulls in the second quarter and most of those points came from Doug McDermott.

Where do the Grizzlies go from here?

The Grizzlies need to continue to win games against the elite teams in the league and win games against the teams below .500. It’s quite simple. They have to be consistent in winning going forward. It won’t matter if they continue to beat teams like the Houston Rockets and then go on to lose to the Phoenix Suns. The significance of beating the elite teams will continue to get lost if they continually lay eggs against teams that won’t make the playoffs.

Whatever it takes, this team NEED to get themselves together. I have no idea what it will take at this point. It can’t be said enough, they have to be consistent no matter who is on the floor. Consistency has to be the cornerstone going forward. 

 

Up Next

The Grizzlies travel to D.C. to take on the Washington Wizards on Wednesday, January 18 at 6:00pm CST.

Sharon Brown
Follow me
Latest posts by Sharon Brown (see all)

Share the joy