Grizzlies suffer 2 tough losses

The Grizzlies have suffered 2 straight tough losses. Last night the Grizzlies were the better team, but unfortunately, didn't come away with the win. Portland's coach McMillan said "We got lucky, We got some breaks in this game." Memphis had 15 fouls called on them in the 2'nd half while Portland only had 6. In the last 10+ minutes of the game, the Blazers weren't called for a defensive foul.

Again tonight the Grizzlies played another good playoff bound team and played well, but didn't win. The Grizzlies got into foul trouble early and played through it very well. But when it came to the 4'th quarter, they just ran out of gas. It is encouraging to see the Grizzlies battle 2 playoff bound teams to a one possession game with a chance to win both games at the end. Hopefully this is a glimpse of what we will see next season. Read more!

Grizzlies have been Winning

I have been out of the country on vacation and come back home to find that the Grizzlies are on a 4 game winning streak and have won 5 of their last 6 games. Maybe the Grizzlies should pay for me to go on an extended vacation next season. I went to tonight's game and had a great experience tonight. I will post tomorrow regarding tonight's game, but it included a pre-game locker room tour. I have pictures that I will post tomorrow from the tour. Read more!

Memphis wins in Detroit

Wow, what a first half today in Detroit. The Grizzlies played inspired basketball in the first half. To go into Detroit who is a great defensive team and to score 57 points while only allowing 40 points was great. Detroit made some great adjustments in the second half to make a great comeback. They actually took a lead late in the 4'th quarter. Something that rarely ever happens lately is that Memphis didn't fold and lose the game when pressured in the last 3 minutes. I realise that the Pistons were missing a couple of players, but injuries occur all throughout the season.

Darko Milicic came out with a grudge and played a great game. In just 20 minutes, he had a double double with 12 points, 11 rebounds along with 3 assists and 1 block shot. Conley also had a great game scoring 20 points. He must cut down on the 7 turnovers that he had today, but most teams are as good defensively as Detroit is. For Detroit I was quite surprised with Kwame Brown. He played great with 13 rebounds, 5 steals and 6 points.

Today's game was an enjoyable game to watch and just hope that the Grizzlies learn from today's game. They must remember how they played team ball today. They played aggressively both on offense and defense. Come home and win tomorrow night and build a small winning streak. Read more!

Another loss, but glimpses of the future

Last night the Grizzlies fans experienced another loss. Fortunately this game was an exciting game that wasn't decided until the last 3 minutes. The Grizzlies have shown the last week some individual improvement. The last week, Marc Gasol has been a beast on the court. Gasol has set some career highs in points and assists. In the 3 games last week, he averaged over 22 points, nearly 12 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks per game. I hope this is a glimpse into the future of Gasol.

Mike Conley has been playing very well also. He had a nice career high of 31 points last night. Hopefully, next season will be a continuation of his current play. Consistently averaging double figures and a great number of assists.

We must get the recent play of Marc Gasol and Mike Conley along with the play of O.J. Mayo from the beginning of the season with the play of Rudy Gay from last season and this team could become dangerous. We see glimpses of great play from these players, but we need to see it from all 4 of them doing it together. Read more!

Frustration

The feelings of a true Grizzlies fan right now is just pure frustration. The Grizzlies lost another game last night at home to a team that has a worse record than us. The last two home games have been losses to teams with worse records than us and have had players missing. Last night the Thunder were playing without Kevin Durant. We have our full team and couldn't win. What is our excuse for losing this game.

Taking a look back over the season, it is very frustrating to look at the facts that 9 of our 15 wins came in two stetches of games. Between December 5'th and December 14'th we won 5 of 6 games. We won against Chicago, Miami, Houston and the LA Clippers at home, and Oklahoma City on the road. This was a nice stretch of the season and we thought we were seeing some growth. Then the team proceeds to lose 20 of its next 22 games. Then we go on a 4 wins in 5 games again stretch under new Coach Hollins. Since then we have lost 7 straight games again.

Having won 9 of our 15 games during a stetch of 11 games means that we have gone 6 and 41 outside of those 2 periods. That is a winning percentage of just .128. I am a loyal Grizzlies fan, but it is very frustrating to keep seeing them lose games that they shouldn't lose. At the beginning of the season, I was hoping for 25 to 30 wins with the addition of O.J. Mayo and Marc Gasol. I thought an improvement of 3 to 8 wins was reasonable. Now I don't believe the team can get to 20 wins this season. If they win just 20 games this season, that would mean 64 wins over the last 3 seasons when the 3 seasons prior to that gave us 144 wins and 3 playoff appearances. That is a dropoff of 80 wins and that is frustrating.

No, I am not a bandwagon jumper and was a fan of the Grizzlies prior to the playoff runs. I am still a Grizzlies fan after these last 3 losing seasons, but a true fan can voice frustration when their team isn't performing like they should. Losing to the Kings and the Thunder at home when the opponents are playing short handed is unexplainable for a team that should be improving.

It is a new month and hopefully the Grizzlies can play better in March than they did in February.

Go Grizzlies. Read more!