Jazz Make Grizzlies Sing the Blues
Final Score: Grizzlies- 87, Jazz- 92
What did I just watch?
Your Memphis Grizzlies chalked another one in the loss column tonight against the Utah Jazz, during their first game of 2016. Not a great look for a team trying to turn around a season that been heading off the rails from the outset.
I’m guessing the Grizzlies didn’t hear that Christmas was over, or perhaps they still felt in the spirit of giving, because they practically gift-wrapped this game for Utah. With a bow on top, even.
Jazz SG Rodney Hood scoring a career high 32 points, including 5-10 from beyond the three point line, certainly didn’t help matters.
Some Grizzlies fans may recall that Rodney Hood was on the shortlist of names tossed around for the Grizzlies 2014 draft pick, which they ultimately used on the rarely seen and now perpetually injured Jordan Adams.
If not, that’s okay, because Grizz Twitter remembers:
Rodney Hood could be a grizzly right now…
— Grizz Legion (18-17) (@ClutchLikeMac11) January 3, 2016
Rodney Hood is a solid player…that the Grizzlies passed on in the draft.
— Cameron Symlar (@CameronSym10) January 3, 2016
Of all the players the Grizzlies have missed on in drafts, Rodney Hood hurts me the most.
— Drew Garth (@DrewGarth) January 3, 2016
If only the Grizzlies had been in position to draft Rodney Hood.
— Geoff Calkins (@geoff_calkins) January 3, 2016
Once again, the Grizzlies missed a passel of free throws, going 14-26 from the charity stripe. Giving away twelve free points in a game you lost by five points is a bad idea, so please stop doing it.
Everyone in the 901 is hereby ordered to shoot 1000 free throws tomorrow.
I’ll elaborate more below why this is such a big deal for this Memphis team.
Matt Barnes was DNP, serving the second of a league-issued two game suspension. Tony Allen returned to the starting lineup in his absence.
This is a change from the previous game against Miami, which saw Zach Randolph resuming his place in the starting lineup. It may be of note to mention that the previous game resulted in a W, while this one of course did not. I am not saying the roster adjustment is the determining factor, but I’m also not saying that it’s not.
By the Numbers:
Overall:
Points in the Paint: MEM 36, UTA 30
Second Chance Points: MEM 5, UTA 14
Fastbreak Points: MEM 13, UTA 9
Biggest Lead: MEM 6, UTA 10
Lead Changes: 23
Times Tied: 7
Grizzlies:
Tony Allen- 13 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals
Jeff Green- 6 points, 10 rebounds
Marc Gasol- 20, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks
Mike Conley- 15 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists
Courtney Lee- 17 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals
Zach Randolph- 8 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists
Mario Chalmers- 8 points, 1 assist
JaMychal Green, Ryan Hollins, and Vince Carter all finished the night scoreless, playing just under 20 minutes collectively.
A Few Things:
• Free Throws. Why the hell can’t we make them anymore? Or at the very least, why can’t we make them with any consistency lately? Jeff Green (0-2) and Zach Randolph (0-4) both missed ALL their free throw attempts in this game, Mike Conley (3-6) missed half of his. THEY CALL THEM FREE THROWS BECAUSE THEY ARE LITERALLY FREE POINTS
• We recently lead the league in free throw shooting, we are still tied for second place with Atlanta at 79.8%, although that is sure to change if we continue to have nights where we leave so many free points on the board like we did here.
• The impact of these poor FT shooting games becomes much more significant when you take into consideration that Memphis (20.3%) is 3rd in the league in percentage of points from free throws. A team that on average gets nearly a quarter of their points from free throws cannot afford to keep missing so many. Not and expect to win games.
• The Grizzlies have played 13 games where they shot ≤ 75%,FT and lost 10 of those games.
• Winning the 3rd quarter becomes irrelevant if we lose the game. Again for emphasis: Winning the 3rd quarter becomes irrelevant if we lose the game.
• Memphis is last in the league in 2nd half points per game, and tonight the 4th quarter showed why that is, even if the 3rd did not. Remember last season when we used to come out and dominate the second half?
• Why did we make so many moves to add depth to our bench if we’re still going to be playing Marc and Mike as many minutes as they played last night? Particularly Mario Chalmers, who added a quick scoring boost giving the Grizzlies 8 points in just over 12 minutes, including 2-2 from beyond the arc.
*All statistics from NBA.com and TeamRankings.com
Doesn't bluff, stays grinding.
Bluff City Born and Memphis Made
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