Frustrating loss to the Kings

This week has been a frustrating week for Grizzlies fans. We start off with a loss at the Utah Jazz. They were missing Okur and Boozer but are still a good team so it was an understandable loss. Then we go to Portland and suffer a tough loss there. The technical foul called on coach Hollins really hurt us down the stretch. Then we come home to play the lowly Kings who were shorthanded dressing only 8 players for the game. The Kings have the worst record in the NBA and came into last nights game with just a 3-26 road record which is the worst road record in the NBA as well. So with that in mind, you would think that the Grizzlies would take care of business at home.

Last nights game just seemed destined for the Kings to win. Every time the ball got loose on the defensive end, it seemed to always bounce into a Kings player. One time there were 3 or 4 Grizzlies players around 1 Kings player and it still bounced into the Kings players hands. The Grizzlies couldn't shoot well last night either. They had 21 more shot attempts yet only hit 2 more shots than the Kings. The Kings out shot them from 3 point range 10-5 and also hit 8 more free throws than the Grizzlies.

Some positives for the Grizzlies was the play of Mike Conley. He didn't shoot the ball well going 3-13 but did get to the line 10 times converting 9 of them. He also tied Rudy Gay with leading the team with 10 rebounds for his second straight double double. He should have had a triple double but he ended with just 7 assists. The frustrating part was that he had 7 assists at the end of the 3'rd quarter and didn't get a single assist in the 4'th quarter. We must have our point guard setting us up for scores in the 4'th quarter if we are going to win ball games. We got outplayed in both the 2'nd and 4'th quarters last night.

Another positive was the play of Darko Milicic. He had 12 points, 8 rebounds and 2 block shots in just 21 minutes. I thought he should have been on the court more last night. The team was +10 points when he was playing. Darrel Arthur was the only other player that had a positive number while on the court. He was at +3. Marc Gasol who Darko shares time with was -14 last night.

The Grizzlies made a strong run with 2.5 minutes to go in the game and got as close as 3 before stumbling in the last minute. We must learn how to close out games. The next home game is February 28'th against the Oklahoma City Thunder. They currently have the 2'nd worst record in the league and are only 3-23 on the road. We MUST win this game at home. If we don't the fans are really going to lose hope in this team. February started so well, don't lose the momentum we had built.