Guest Post: Grizzlies v. Mavericks Recap

By @GrizzFaithful

Last night in the Bluff City featured a showdown between two of the leagues best teams. The Memphis Grizzlies and the Dallas Mavericks. Both of these teams are in the top of two separate fields, Dallas being one of the NBA’s top offenses so far in this early season, and Memphis being one of the best defensive teams in the league. So you do the math here, something was going to have to give a little in this game. It was either going to be the Mavericks shooting lights out and running away with it, or it was going to be the Grizzlies bringing out that defensive tenacity and putting a stop to the high octane Dallas offense. Well how about a little of both?

Dallas got off to a very hot start and hit 7 three pointers in the first quarter alone, and topped it off with three more to give them 10 three pointers in the first half; which accounted for about half of their points going into halftime. The Grizzlies however were keeping up in the first half, they were trying to match bucket for bucket, and if my memory serves me correctly they were not but just a few shots behind Dallas at the half. But the thing was the Grizzlies were getting majority two point baskets, while Dallas was hitting three after three. It was frustrating to watch, if I’m going to be honest. I saw time after time where the Grizzlies guards were going under screens and that was just letting Dallas have a wide open shot from beyond the arc, which of course they knocked down.

The Grizzlies did everything they could to keep this a close game in the first half. A much needed thanks goes out to the Grizzlies bench. They were the ones keeping it close. The first unit really didn’t have the defensive intensity at the beginning of the game; but the bench came in clutch and did its job and kept us in the game. At the end of the first half the Mavericks were up 62-56.

At the half my thoughts were:

1. If it’s just going to be one of those shooting nights where practically everything goes in, then the Grizzlies were going to have a tough time getting a W.

2. If we could just come out and have a strong 3rd quarter and really focus in on our defense, we could tie it up and even take a lead.

Well I’m happy to report that it wasn’t one of those shooting nights for Dallas and our Grizzlies came out strong in the 3rd quarter and really took over the game. Memphis out-scored Dallas 36-17 in the 3rd quarter. 36-17!!! That is VERY impressive! This is when the game honestly changed.

Zbo had a very strong 3rd quarter. He scored 13 points in that quarter alone and that Grind it out Memphis defense was most definitely obvious in the 3rd quarter as well. So at the end of the 3rd, the Grizzlies were up 92-79. Dallas however was not just going to hand this one over so easily, they hit a few three pointers to cut the lead down substantially in the 4th. It even got to be a 7 point game with a little over two minutes left in the game, and yes you may think that isn’t enough time to get back in a game, well you would be thinking wrong here.

As hot as Dallas was from beyond the arc last night, just two simple three pointers and they are back in it. Thankfully that didn’t happen and the Grizzlies took the win! The final score from the Grindhouse was 114-105, obviously in favor of the men in Beale Street Blue. Overall I thought this was a great TEAM win. They didn’t let a hot start by the Mavericks phase them in any way and they buckled down and Grinded this victory out in true Memphis Grizzlies fashion improving their record to 17-4.