SB Nation - O.J. Mayo

Backsided: Randolph Carries Grizzlies Past Warriors 121-108

djturtleface — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 04:46:57 -0000

More photos » by Joe Murphy - NBAE/Getty Images

about 4 hours ago: MEMPHIS, TN - DECEMBER 22: Zach Randolph #50 of the Memphis Grizzlies smiles after his buzzer beater before halftime in a game against the Golden State Warriors on December 22, 2009 at FedExForum in Memphis, Tennessee. (Photo by Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images)

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Two nights after Zach Randolph led the Grizzlies to a big win over the Denver Nuggets, he took the Grizzlies back to the promised land, leading the pounding of the Warriors 121-108.

Z-Bo led all scorers by dropping 33 points and snagging 18 rebounds, 6 of which were offensive, which was a huge boost for Memphis tonight.

He was complemented by the rest of the starters though. O.J. Mayo and Marc Gasol each had 22 points (Marc's stat line was stuffed tonight, with 9 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 4 blocks) , while Rudy Gay only managed to score 16 with 2 blocks in limited minutes. Mike Conley rounded out the bunch with 11, the low total a result of some serious shooting woes (5-15 from the field).

Another good home win for the Grizzlies, who are pushing ever closer to .500 despite their difficult schedule lately. Our residents by the Bay, Golden State Of Mind, have their own take, and I'll have more in the morning.

Get Deep: Grizzlies Close to Signing Von Wafer

djturtleface — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:56:05 -0000

More photos » by Pat Sullivan - AP

8 months ago: Houston Rockets' Von Wafer celebrates a dunk against the Portland Trail Blazers during the second half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, April 5, 2009, in Houston. The Rockets won 102-88. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)

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***UPDATE***

Apparently Von Wafer is now signing with Rockets, though rumor has it that it may only be on a 10-day contract. Wafer and rookie Chase Budinger fill similar roles, so this is somewhere between a "what the hell" and "I hate history" moment.

***END UPDATE***

The Memphis Commercial Appeal is reporting that the Memphis Grizzlies put guard Von Wafer through physicals today and could announce his signing as soon as this afternoon. Both parties interest has been acknowledged by multiple sources for over a week, though it now appears that Von Wafer will join the team sometime this week.

Von Wafer is a 6 foot 5 inch tall shooting guard who specializes in just what his job description belies -- shooting. Wafer is known to be occasionally explosive off the bench; as last season with the Rockets he was readily able to get his own shot and sink it at will on many nights.

That being said, Von Wafer doesn't just have a reputation as an explosive scorer, but also as an explosive locker room influence. While Wafer seemed to fit in well for the bulk of the season last year, he shouted at Rocket's coachRick Adelman in the playoffs and was immediately expelled from the team. The Rockets made little to no effort to bring Wafer back this season.

Of course snap reactions to the prospect of adding Von Wafer are over the jump, and be sure to add your own comments as well.

Another downside to Von Wafer is his oftentimes questionable shot selection. Like most scoring guards who primarily rely on their jumper, Wafer oftentimes looks out of control and will do nothing to improve the shortage of assists for the Grizzlies. His game is actually fairly comparable to O.J. Mayo, which could be a bad thing (lack of a "change of pace") or a good thing (consistency) for Memphis

And then, piled on top of those negatives, there is the question of playing time. The Grizzlies starters are logging enormous minutes, so it wouldn't seem like carving out a few minutes would be a struggle. The problem, however, is that the Grizz's bench has proven itself too terrible inefficient to warrant taking back any of those minutes from the starters if Memphis wants to keep winning.

Adding Von Wafer could improve this problem, yes, but I'm not sure how much better he is than Sam Young. With Wafer the Grizzlies would have a full lineup off the bench -- Jamaal Tinsley, Von Wafer, Sam Young, DeMarre Carroll, and Hasheem Thabeet. Consider me skeptical, however, that this lineup is good enough to play together without support from the starters.

Still, every bit of support off the bench will help this team, who, as Kevin Pelton has pointed out, can't keep relying on Sam Young as their primary backup scorer. His efficiency is simply too poor too rely on, especially since his shooting stroke is clearly not NBA ready from 3-point range.

Von Wafer will give the Grizzlies significantly more shooting and offense, but fans need to hope that Coach Hollins's magic is going to need to keep him playing a positive role just like the Grizzlies last two productive castaways, Jamaal Tinsley and Zach Randolph.

Fast Times: Grizzlies Stun Nuggets 102-96

djturtleface — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 02:57:39 -0000

More photos » by Nikki Boertman - AP

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Remember what I said about the Denver Nuggets having a serious problem with focus? It showed tonight.

The Nuggets came out playing some seriously uninspired basketball, seemingly lacking any sort of respect for these upstart Memphis Grizzlies. After the Grizz took a 33-19 lead, the Nuggets quickly found some respect. After a little more effort in the 2nd quarter still kept the Grizzlies securely in the lead, Carmelo Anthony quickly realized that the Nuggets weren't playing in the FedEx Forum of old and turned on the jets.

And dang did Melo sure put on a show tonight in Memphis. He dropped 41 points, picking it up to make up for the absence of Denver's spiritual leader, Chauncey Billups.

But Carmelo's 41 weren't enough to net him Rockness Monster or the win. Get over the jump to see what our main man Zach Randolph got done, hear the Grizzlies side of the story, and to drop a line in the comments.

Rockness Monster: Zach Randolph- Zach Randolph had a season high in rebounds tonight -- not a personal season high, a league season high. He snagged 24 boards, including 9 offensive rebounds, even against defensive stalwart Kenyon Martin.

But Z-Bo didn't just hammer the boards. He scored 32 points also, including a set-play 3 pointer that seemed to stop the bleeding with under a minute left to go. The man just makes things happen for the Grizzlies. He keeps plays alive with his rebounding and has started to look like a legit leader. The Nuggets didn't have their spiritual leader tonight, but the Grizzlies might be finding theirs. By the way, that's terrifying.

U-Turn: The Bench- After a horrible, horrible, horrible, and terrible game last night for the bench, the Grizz bench played surprisingly nicely tonight. They might not have logged many, or hardly any, minutes out there, but they filled in nicely. Hasheem Thabeet and Jamaal Tinsley continue to be the most solid, consistent contributers -- yes, that Hasheem Thabeet.

Bitter Limon: O.J. Mayo- I can explain this one pretty quickly. O.J. Mayo: 5-19, 1-6 on threes. At some point you got to know when to start passing O.J. I've heard of shooting your way out of a slump, but in O.J.'s bad games it seems like he shoots his way into slumps.

Even with Chauncey Billups chilling on the sidelines, this is still another huge win for the Memphis Grizzlies. Yes, you're right, the Denver Nuggets were missing Big Shot and don't travel well, but this win was still every bit as momentous as those few against Cleveland, Dallas, and Miami.

The only difference is that all these wins against good teams are no longer shocking Grizz fans or even basketball fans across the country. Sound like pretty soon other teams are going to stop being so surprised too.

Doing Dirt: Grizzlies Hammer Pacers 107-94

djturtleface — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 18:45:30 -0000

More photos » by Joe Murphy - NBAE/Getty Images

4 days ago: MEMPHIS, TN - DECEMBER 18: Rudy Gay #22 of the Memphis Grizzlies dunks past Troy Murphy #3 of the Indiana Pacers on December 18, 2009 at FedExForum in Memphis, Tennessee. (Photo by Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images)

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Well I picked the winner in this one, and it's good to see the Grizzlies managing to definitively beat the teams that they should beat.

The Pacers, short breakout star Danny Granger, struggled on offense despite pushing the tempo for the bulk of the night. They only shot around 40% from the field, which is especially poor given the Grizzlies inability to hold much of anybody below 50%.

Instead of listing all the guys who played well for the Memphis Grizzlies, I suppose it would just be easier to list off the starting lineup: Mike Conley, O.J. Mayo, Rudy Gay, Zach Randolph, and Marc Gasol. All of them got busy last night.

And Z-Bo got especially busy, dropping 26 points with 16 boards, 3 assists, and 3 blocks. The dude has been playing inspired ball for Memphis.

A little bit worrisome, however, is that even with extended minutes the bench only managed to score a measly 7 points. They didn't shoot much, with only 11 field goals attempted, but that's probably warranted since they only made 3 shots in the entire game.

Next game, against the Denver Nuggets, is going to be tougher than this one. And judging by both team's play lately, it looks like it will be a shootout between the starters.

Five Game Cycles: New Year Early

djturtleface — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:31:35 -0000

More photos » by John Amis - AP

The Grizzlies got off to a bad start to this five game cycle, getting blown out and dunked on regularly against the Hawks last night. (AP Photo/John Amis)

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The Grizzlies had a tough set of five games, which is how Coach Hollins has told the young team to see their schedule, over the past two weeks. With Dallas, Cleveland, and then Oklahoma City at home, Memphis saw some serious superstar scoring.

They then took it onto the road against Miami, and then came back home against the Celtics. For those of you that don't really follow the rest of the league, that's five teams currently in the playoffs with a combined 82-41. For those of that don't really follow mathematics, that means they win twice as often as they lose.

And yet the Grizzlies came away from this five 3-2, which is one win better than Coach Lionel Hollins wants to average on the season, and two wins better than I predicted in the last edition of 'Five Game Cycles'

Get over the jump to see how the Grizzlies made dreams come true and also what to expect from this five game cycle.

The Breakdown- (3-2): Talk about some kind of goodness. The Memphis Grizzlies just lit it up on offense, just torching some big time defensive squads. The Grizzlies averaged a nice 105 points per game.

Yes, that number is somewhat high because the Grizzlies battled, and beat, the Cavaliers in overtime, though they probably also would have dropped a few more buckets had they needed to play the starters longer during a blowout against the Mavericks. And against Miami the Grizzlies offense barely even had to play to score 118, all they needed was to put the ball in Rudy Gay's hands -- he scored a career high 41 points.

The two losses came against Boston and Oklahoma City. The Grizzlies looked flustered by a very motivated, and increasingly talented, Oklahoma City Thunder. But when Boston came to town they worked out Boston's defense, getting up and down the court, shooting 50%, and scoring 105. It was too bad Boston had even less trouble on offense.

What Feels Good- Big wins against big teams always feel good for the Grizzlies. But this five game cycle was special because it also included two blowouts against playoff teams, not to mention the young Grizzlies leaving their hearts on the court in losses against the Celtics and the Thunder.

Rudy Gay continues to prove that he can contribute in more ways than highlight reel dunks. Rudy is racking up steals and rebounds like never before, and is sharing the ball better than ever also. Most importantly though, in my opinion at least, that extra muscle is helping. Rudy is now averaging a career-high number of free throw attempts per game -- if only he could start making some.

You've also got to like seeing Marc Gasol coming out of his relative slump, Mike Conley has been scoring much better at times, Jamaal Tinsley has made some serious intangible contributions, Sam Young and Hasheem Thabeet are both playing better, and O.J. Mayo is getting some consistency on his stroke.

Tell Me What Hurts- We're going to harp on this all season, I think, because the Grizzlies defense is just downright poor at times. It's definitely improving, but I also have a feeling that no amount of cohesion and growth under Coach Hollins is going to get rid of this problem.

I mean Zach Randolph, Mike Conley, and O.J. Mayo all have significant shortcomings as defenders. Zach just isn't that great and, more importantly, isn't respected by the other team. No matter how many hands he puts in their face, other power forwards just shoot right over him with confidence because they have no fear. Mike is too small and isn't strong enough, and O.J. Mayo arguably is as well.

Also there has to be some serious concern over the minutes these starters are playing, especially Rudy, who is around 40 minutes per game and still doesn't really have a sub. If Von Wafer is signed, he will slide to backup shooting guard and Sam Young will be at the forward spot, but our sub teams definitely need at least one starter on the floor with them at all times.

Into the Horizon- Here's a big prediction: the Grizzlies are going to lose to the Atlanta Hawks 110-97. Joe Johnson will handle the much, much smaller O.J. Mayo. And Rudy Gay will roll his ankle, which is more than a little bit worrisome without much depth on the bench.

But the next four are Indiana, Denver, Golden State, and then Dallas again. Indiana has some serious problems without Danny Granger, and T.J. Ford is one of the few good matchups for Mike Conley. Denver will be somewhere between tough and impossible, especially if Rudy Gay is laying on the sick bed all game. Golden State should be a win, but even in their dilapidated state, that franchise is always dangerous. And Dallas certainly isn't planning on crapping out against against Memphis, especially not at home.

So I'll give us a number that will make Coach Hollins nice and happy. The Grizzlies should come out of this stretch 2-3, and this next couple weeks is definitely going to test their staying power. The national media is starting to give respect -- the Grizzlies are 16th in ESPN's newest power rankings -- and this week, especially possibly dealing with Rudy's injury, is going to go a long way towards proving they deserve to be there.

The Truth: Boston Celtics Edge Out Grizzlies, 110-105

djturtleface — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 05:56:13 -0000

More photos » by Mark Weber - AP

Marc Gasol channeling his inner Darko. (AP Photo/ Mark Weber)

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The Grizzlies may have lost two of their last three games, but they're still moving up my power rankings.

And while they might not be rising quite as fast as a couple weeks ago, the Memphis Grizzlies are showing a hell of a lot more resilience than anyone expected from this team. This recent run has seen the Grizzlies playing the Mavericks, Cavaliers, Thunder, Heat, and Celtics. That's quite the spread right there.

I don't want to take anything away from the Celtics, because that's not my point. It takes an enormous change in team culture for the Memphis Grizzlies that most people remember as the Memphis Grizzlies to come out on the second night of a traveling back-to-back and play a full-strength, reloaded championship squad down to the wire.

And this game wasn't just down to the wire, it was the Memphis Grizzlies making all the easy plays while the Celtics seemed to make all the hard ones. Don't call it luck, because it's clutch execution since the C's do it time and time again, but I honestly believe that the Grizzlies played better than the Celtics tonight.

A little more post-game plus a return to the awards are on the other side of the jump; CelticsBlog probably has clips of that Ray Allen three if you'd rather just face it now than in your nightmares.

Even a moral victory is a tough loss though, huh? I honestly believed the Grizzlies would pull this one out. They had great contributions from Jamaal Tinsley and Hasheem Thabeet. Sam Young scored a little bit too. In what seems to be becoming the norm here in Memphis, there were three scorers over 20 points on the night.

Everything seemed to go right. Rudy Gay was showing his new aggressiveness, shocking the Celtics by getting to the line seemingly at will in the first half. O.J. Mayo was a rock solid shooter, Zach Randolph was being Zach Randolph, which, as it turns out, isn't so detrimental to a team.

The difference in the game was that the Grizzlies couldn't hit their threes, with a hand in their face or not. Rudy blew it by shooting 0-5 from deep, and OJAM's long ball wasn't exactly splashing tonight -- he shot 1-6. The Celtics, by the way, made 10-20 of their three pointers. Difference maker? I wonder.

Rockness Monster: It's tough, because I really liked O.J.'s game and he defense on Ray Allen, but I have to give this one to Rudy. I don't know if it's Coach Hollins, him just putting it all together, or steal-master Z-Bo's sage advice, but Rudy has finally figured out how to make his agility, awesome hands, and creepily long arms work to start some serious thievery. The 3 steals against Paul Pierce, just like the one's against Prince James, were just a bit bigger than huge.

U-Turn: Hasheem Thabeet posted 8 rebounds and 4 blocks in 18 minutes. This boy's learning how to play the game of basketball.

Bitter Limon: Is plus/minus really one-hundred-percent useful in a single game. No, not really. But after several solid performances, Mike Conley looked pretty mediocre and posted a team worst -12. Jamaal Tinsley tied his 4 assists. The difference is that Ashey Larry only played a third of the minutes and was the only Grizzlies with a positive plus/minus at +7.

Sleeping With the Enemy: Maybe it's my Midwestern sensibilities, but if there's one thing I hate more than the city of Boston, it's their sports teams. Don't care about the enemy. I have nothing to say terrible about the Celtics that I haven't already said a million times about Dancing With the Stars -- they're all fake, way past their prime, and their knees will be shot by the end of the year anyhow.

Game 21: Oklahoma City at Memphis

Zorgon — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:49:46 -0000

More photos » by Lance Murphey - AP

Ryan Bowen gawked at the fact that the Thunder lost against the Grizzlies in the Pre-Season. Kyle Weaver was concerned too, but at least he tried to do something about it.

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This also counts as an open thread, so feel free to post your thoughts during the game here.

Time: 7:00 PM Central Standard Time

Place: The Fedex Library, Memphis, Tennessee

TV: Fox Sports Oklahoma, Fox Sports Tennessee

Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1)

Enemy Blog(s): 3 Shades of Blue, Straight Outta Vancouver

Backstory: Just another game, or just another surprise?

Okay, so there's not a whole lot to marvel over or write about when concerning the Memphis Grizzlies.But, contrary to popular belief, they are doing relatively well. Sure, they're only on pace to win 30 some games, but they've won their last 3 games against Minnesota, Dallas, and Cleveland. And the team is showing no signs of slowing down. The starting lineup has had the talent there, but they haven't yet had the teamwork in place in order to win. Until now, at least. With a lean, mean mix of veterans and young'uns in their starting lineup that Garry St. Jean could only dream of, this team is poised and in position to upset the Thunder tonight.

Meanwhile, the Thunder got their anger out when they played the lowly and depleted Warriors, and they're well rested going into tonight's game. They straight up dominated the Grizzlies last season, and history would say that the Thunder could easily be the team to end the Grizzlies win streak.

Below: Matchups, Prediction

Matchups:

Center: Nenad Krstic vs. Marc Gasol

Pau Gasol lite may not be as good as his brother, but he's definitely much better inside than Nenad Krstic. Expect limited minutes and less than 10 points for Krstic, while the majority of the game is spent with battles between Gasol, Collison, and Thomas, with Gasol winning most of them.

Power Forward: Jeff Green vs. Zach Randolph

The story of Jeff Green's season has been his struggles against bigger power forwards, but luckily for Jeff, Zach Randolph is much of a defender. Expect both of these guys to score bucket after bucket upon each other, and for each of them to get their fair share of rebounds.

Small Forward: Kevin Durant vs. Rudy Gay

Rudy Gay is quite the dunker, but history says that Kevin Durant will win this matchup every time.

Shooting Guard: Thabo Sefolosha vs. O.J. Mayo

O.J. Mayo is a solid overall shooting guard, and history has dictated that he usually performs above-average against the Thunder. But with Thabo Sefolosha guarding him now, who knows what will happen?

Point Guard: Russell Westbrook vs. Mike Conley

Mike Conley is a solid point guard, but not the best player on the Grizzlies by any stretch of the imagination. He'll provide scoring for them in the pinch, but Westbrook will have a better game.

Battle of the Benches:

For how good their starting lineup is, the Grizzlies bench is extremely thin. A lot of guys will play, and one will occasionally step up and be an X-Factor, but in general, they're all pretty ineffective. The only real notables are this years 2nd Pick in Hasheem Thabeet, and former Pacers PG Jamaal Tinsley. In any case, our bench has this thing covered.

Coaching and Intangibles:

The Grizzlies are at home, but that doesn't make that much of a difference, as it's a pretty quiet arena, and it's where we got our much-heralded 2nd win last year. Both teams are well rested, so all in all, it makes a pretty even intangibles matchup on the floor tonight.

Bottom Line:

I know things have been going well for the Grizzlies lately, but I'm still not convinced. This is a team we beat 3 times last year, and a team without any bench help. They could win, but they'd need everything to go right with all of their starters, and they'd need to put up a good defensive effort. That being said, this team can be dangerous, and they will be able to compete. But, in the end, I'll just chalk this one up as another Thunder win.

Prediction: Thunder 103, Grizzlies 97

Let's rock the library!

How do you think the game will go? Vote in the Poll!

And, again, feel free to drop any comments you might have during, before, or after the game below. I might be by during the game to drop my thoughts as well. Go Thunder!

Poll

Who's going to win tonight?

You're Twenty Deep: Analyzing Sam Young

djturtleface — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:49:32 -0000

More photos » by Mark Weber - AP

Sam Young has been drawing lots of fouls as a sixth man for the Memphis Grizzlies. (AP Photo/Mark Weber)

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Sam Young, not unlike our last featured player DeMarre Carroll, was a feature scorer on his college team. Unlike DeMarre, however, Sam Young's Pittsburgh Panthers were a #1 seed and predicted by many, including myself, to win the NCAA Championships with Young typically bringing the bulk of their offense.

But Sam Young, somewhat ironically, fell into the second round due to the fact that he was a 4th year senior and a staggering 24 years old. 'A man among boys' is probably not a fair description of Young's college career, but it certainly comes to mind. Chris Weinke also comes to mind, and I don't think his record f most consecutive losses by a starting quarterback is a precedent to follow.

In fact by drafting Sam Young the Memphis Grizzlies actually slightly increased their team's average age, which sat somewhere around 23.5 years old. Yes, I'm serious, rookie is older than like half of the team.

So get over the jump to check how good ol' Sam Young working out for the Grizzlies.

While you, arguably, get less 'upside' out of drafting a 24 year old player (Note: Personally I believe this is absurd; many players break out or add significant facets to their games well after the age of 24. If there is any reason that Sam Young has limited upside, it's because he isn't particularly athletic.), that should be somewhat offset by the older player being more 'NBA-ready.'

And the Grizzlies need Sam Young to be plenty ready to ball, because in the post-Iverson era, and with Darrel Arthur's injury, Young is pretty much the Grizzlies only option at 6th man.

In another similarity to Carroll, Young was originally pitched as a tweener, though he was clearly either a shooting guard or small forward. But unlike Carroll, data on his play so far shows that Young hasn't really figured out either position just yet.

Sam Young has a much higher PER at small forward due to significantly higher efficiency, his eFG% is 8% better from the forward slot, and rebounding statistics. But his defensive efficiency while playing forward is an abysmal 106 points per 100 possessions. At shooting guard his defensive efficiency jumps to a much more reasonable 102 points per 100, but his shooting is terrible.

That defensive improvement at the shooting guard is pretty much the only reason that, statistically speaking, Sam Young is warranting much playing time at all. In all the minutes he's played compared to all the minutes he hasn't, the Grizzlies are about 2 points per 100 possessions better defensively. Compare that to a 3 points per 100 possessions decrease in offense, and Sam Youngs On/Off efficiency splits are only a -1.

A negative certainly doesn't sound like a good thing, but it's actually solid for a rookie drafted so late.

And Sam Young does seem to have some clear benefits for the Grizzlies. For instance the Grizzlies get significantly more free throw attempts while Young is on the floor because he attacks the rim with a lot of confidence. This has something to do with his replacing the jump-shooting O.J. Mayo, but it is a clear benefit. Also Sam Young is one of the only players on the Grizzlies who has a positive number for net turnovers per 48 minutes. This is mostly due to Sam turning the ball over far less than either the high-usage O.J. Mayo or Rudy Gay.

While Sam Young is definitely not a top-10 sixth man in the NBA at this point in his career, he is giving the Grizzlies some positives. The main problem for Sam is finding a way to play his game on offense while playing shooting guard, which I believe will be much easier for him than becoming a better defender at small forward.

Like other sixth men around the league, when Sam Young is hot, he has helped the Grizzlies. But he just doesn't heat up often enough to warrant that role at this point. I think it's fair to say that an upgrade at this position would certainly benefit Memphis this season, though despite his age, Sam Young is showing signs that he'll develop into a well-rounded contributor off the first seat on the bench.

My Back Is A Wall: Grizzlies Thrill Big Crowd, Beat the Cavaliers

djturtleface — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:25:45 -0000

More photos » by Lance Murphey - AP

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The Memphis Grizzlies blew up in the second half, just outright hustling to this win against the Cavaliers. The bench might not have done much, but the entire starting lineup put in an incredible night's work.

O.J. Mayo kept the Grizzlies in it through the first half, Rudy Gay closed it out on both ends in the second half, but Zach Randolph was a fixture throughout. Randolph led the Grizzlies with 32 points, O.J. Mayo had 28 while dropping a mini-triple double with 5 boards and 5 dimes, too. Rudy Gay scored 21, but his biggest contributions were the 4 steals.

After a terrible 2nd quarter, the Grizzlies equalized it in the 3rd quarter with fantastic ball-denial defense. They duked it out in the 4th, tying the game up with a Rudy Gay drive right past LeBron James. In overtime O.J. Mayo hit a huge three pointer on a set play, and then Mike Conley sealed the win with a nice layup drive on another great, intuitive play-call by Lionel Hollins.

The Grizzlies got the win despite a huge night from LeBron, who scored 43 points and tallied 13 rebounds and 6 assists, and nice contributions from both Shaquille O'Neal and Mo Williams. The rest of the Cavaliers were quiet, though LeBron was

I'm going to get in an update on this later tonight, so be sure to get over the jump for the opinion section in a hot minute.

I grew up around Cleveland hating the Cavaliers and getting hated on constantly for being a Grizzlies fan, so I'm just soaking it all in right now. To see this young team that I backed hard all summer, despite some moves most pundits called questionable, fight for this win in front of a near capacity crowd just could not have felt better.

I'm just trying to put myself in the shoes of O.J. Mayo, who gets clutch-nasty all game, is willing to drop back and trust his teammates in the second half, and then comes on for a post-game interview responding, "Yes sir, Coach McHale." Wow, I had to slap myself to check if his attitude was for real.

Talk about a team that's actually working hard to get away from their dunk-silly, Allen Iverson signing, ball-hogging recent pass. Jamaal Tinsley, who's trying to play for redemption, looked happy to be on the bench, coaching his teammates into the right defensive scheme. This is a guy who the Pacers just paid millions and millions to get the hell out of the clubhouse.

Did I see Zach Randolph missing some wide open shooters? Yes. But I saw him make some smart exit passes out of the post as well, including an under-handed gem that got Hasheem Thabeet room for a nice flourish. Did Rudy Gay takes some selfish looking shots? Yes. But he took a hell of a lot less of them then LeBron.

This game might not have meant that much to the Cavaliers, and I'm not sure if it meant that much to the Grizzlies either. Why? Because it's becoming increasingly clear that the Grizzlies players already are trusting each other and playing hard for the win.

But to move back to myself, as well as every other Grizzlies fan I can hear the voice of around the world wide web, it meant a lot to us. Why? Because the Memphis Grizzlies are finally starting to prove to everyone else that they're coming together as a basketball team that demands respect.

Turtle Time: Memphis Grizzlies upset Dallas Mavericks 98-82

djturtleface — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 18:26:53 -0000

More photos » by Nikki Boertman - AP

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It seems like I can't remember the last time I knew the Grizzlies were moving in the right direction. As I'm watching this game on League Pass, I can tell that the Memphis Grizzlies are starting to do something right.

The Mavericks played the Grizzlies hard during the first, and it actually looked like they outplayed them by a solid margin -- watching Rodrigue Beaubois, who I really like, dominate Mike Conley didn't help that.

But over time the Grizzlies began to adjust on defense. They started tipping passes. They began trying harder to exploit their advantages on the boards. They threw multiple looks at Dirk Nowitzki, which clearly frustrated him, and were smart enough to exploit Jason Kidd by matching him up against O.J. Mayo.

And Mayo killed the old man. He went 10-16 for 25 points, tipping and stealing several slow passes on the other end. Zach Randolph also played well and hard. Rudy Gay didn't stun anyone with his stat line, but had a team best +17 and was covering up whatever Maverick he was facing.

The bench gang were the real heroes though. Nobody's stats popped off the page, but Thabeet, Tinsley, Carroll, and Young all got into the game and logged meaningful minutes. Their play got the Grizzlies ahead in the second and helped them resolutely seal it off, something the young Grizz have trouble with in past wins.

The Grizzlies fired on all cylinders tonight, but it didn't feel lucky. Fans were in the Forum and these kids put on a show for them; how couldn't you feel good about that?

Rockness Monster: O.J. Mayo proved that as much as we like advanced statistics and should value other contribution, sometimes points are still king.

U-Turn: The Grizzlies three-point shooting tonight was spectacular, and it's something Memphis has really missed. Check out this chart by Ziller over at FanHouse; the Grizzlies shoot the three pretty inefficiently and also the least in the league. That's dangerous for a high-scoring, offensively-geared team. O.J. probably should shoot more, and so should Mike Conley once he finds his stroke.

Bitter Limon: Point guard is pretty much still a hole for this team. I know Mike Conley played the hero with 20 points in the win against Minnesota, but his defense is abysmal and he scored that many by forgetting about facilitating and only really pushing his offense. It worked that night, but it doesn't on most.