It was an ugly, ugly affair, but LA came out on top. There will be a detailed recap of both the game and series in the coming days, but for now feel free to mourn, vent, cry, or pout.

The Grizzlies overcame the Clippers 90-88 last night and are on the verge of becoming only the 9th team in history to overcome a 3-1 lead in a 7-game series. However, the real story of last night's game was the, for lack of a better word, kooky officiating, which the Grizzlies were often the beneficiaries of.

For the series, the officiating has been universally bad, with both teams ending up on the wrong end of some really terrible calls. Due to this, it's difficult to argue that it has tipped the scales of the series for either side. However, last night reached a new low (or high, depending on your sense of humor), much of which has already been documented in the form of gifs on the Mothersite. Consider this your discussion thread for the officiating (game recap to come later). Stretch those creative muscles as you suggest answers for some of the following questions:

-Why did the refs call a wacky technical on Reggie Evans?

-How would Blake Griffin's travel dance play with the judges on "So You Think You Can Dance?"

-If Reggie Evans falls in the woods, does a ref call a foul?

Those are just to get you started. Please add your own questions and answers below.

Author's Note: There's been way too much internet blood spilled over this topic in the past 8 hours, especially on the Straight Outta Vancouver and Clips Nation comment threads, so we're going to address this issue one final time, and then move on. I am offering up my opinion, and feel free to either praise me or take me to task in the comments. However, after this post, I don't want to see any more arguments on the matter from fans of either side in any future threads. Consider this post your bridge to get over the matter.

By now, you've no doubt heard that in the 3rd quarter of last night's game LA forward Blake Griffin drove to the hoop, came into contact with center Marc Gasol, and fell to the floor clutching his knee. Griffin lay on the floor for a full 45 seconds during which time the Memphis crowd booed him. Color commentator Chris Weber was quick to scold the home crowd, and various NBA scribes have weighed in on the matter. The belief from many is that the Grizzlies' fans demonstrated a real lack of class by booing an injured player.

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Author’s Note: this is the second of a two-part series in which Kevin and I take a look at where the Grizzlies are right now and where they can be going forward. If you haven't already, do go read his excellent piece, which takes a cynical but honest look at our future prospects. However, it's my job to cheer everyone up. This article will hopefully convince you to remain optimistic both for the remainder of this series as well as the Grizzlies' long-term future. Before you begin, take a long hard look at the cover picture. Then listen to this song. Hopefully you're now in the right state of mind to read this.

Lately, I seem to have developed the nasty habit of talking too much about myself in my posts. Despite my best efforts, those damn first-person pronouns keep forcing their way into everything I write (you see?). Seeing as how the use of the first-person implies that you, the reader, actually care about the writer as a person (which is an honor I certainly haven't earned), it's a habit that really needs to be curtailed. That being said, I think it's important to understand where I'm coming from when I say that the Grizzlies are in a good situation for the relative future. So if you'll forgive me, I'm going to indulge in one more paragraph talking about myself.

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My freshman year of college I had this buddy who was a bit...funny. You know this guy; everybody knows someone like this. As we'd be getting ready to go out for the night, this guy would buttoning up his shirt and putting gel in his hair while his stereo blasted that really obnoxious Black Eyed Peas song "My Humps," (you can probably guess my age based on this) which, of course, he knew all the words to. While the rest of us were goofing around playing X-Box or talking shit about Adam Morrison or whatever, this guy would be singing along with Fergie and planning what pickup lines he was going use that night. The whole ritual was even funnier, and somewhat unsettling, considering that this friend had been an offensive lineman in high school and towered over the rest of us average-sized people. Although he almost inevitably struck out with the ladies (as it turned out, even freshman girls don't swoon for stupid pickup lines), he was still doing the same ritual week after week with an idiotic confidence that it was eventually going to pay off. I don't really think much about my freshman year, because I had even more fun when I was older and less of a moron, but the image of my buddy checking himself out in the mirror while mouthing the words to "My Humps" sticks with me. In fact, the older version of me actually admires how unflappable he really was. All of us Grizzly fans are feeling a bit desperate and more than a bit cynical at the moment, but instead we ought to emulate my college buddy's idiotic confidence.

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Despite the promise of several exciting matchups, this postseason's been brutal so far for anyone who considers themselves to be an NBA fan. Let's take a look at what's been happening around the league:

Derrick Rose--torn ACL, out for the remainder of the postseason

Iman Shumpert--torn ACL, out for the remainder of the postseason

Caron Butler--broken left hand, may play Game 3

Amare Stoudemire--(dumbass), may play Game 4

Josh Smith--strained left patella, missed Game 3

Avery Bradley--injured shoulder, uncertain for Game 4

Al Harrington--broken nose, will probably play Game 4

Joakim Noah--injured ankle (possibly a fracture), ????

Granted, this list doesn't even include the injuries that occured prior to the playoffs like Dwight Howard (out for the remainder), Al Horford (possibly back in Second Round), Jeremy Lin (possible back in the Second Round), and Wilson Chandler (out for the remainder) and the nagging injuries that guys like Ray Allen, Luol Deng, and Chris Paul are currently playing through. In other words, we're not even past the first round and this postseason already sucks. Don't get me wrong, I'd love nothing more than to see my Grizzlies advance as far into the playoffs as possible, and if that means we're the beneficiaries of injuries, so be it. Yet, as a basketball fan first and foremost, it pains me to see a bunch of players that I like hobbling around on the floor or sitting in a suit. More importantly, each injury lessens the thrill in besting an opponent. Don't get wrong, I'm sure that the 76ers would love to knock off Chicago, but does it mean nearly as much when the Bulls are missing their best two players?

Thus, in light of all these injuries, I propose a new goal for Memphis: don't get injured. Obviously, I don't want our guys to stop diving for loose balls and just generally working their asses off on both ends, but none of us want to have to deal with another postseason of "what if's." As special as last year was for all of us, losing to the Thunder hurt just a little bit more because we all felt that the Grizzlies would have won that series if Rudy Gay had been able to play. So all I ask is that if we lose, it's because we were the lesser team, not because one of our key players was wearing a suit. Stay healthy guys.

Chris Wallace as NBA Executive of the Year is about as unsexy of a pick as you can get. That's not a comment on the man's attractiveness, rather it is commentary on the nature of the voters. When it comes to managment awards (Exec of the Year and Coach of the Year), the most likely winners are always those who have made high-profile moves or dramatically reversed their team's fortunes. We can argue all day about David Stern's involvement, but, ultimately, the Chris Paul trade was a sexy trade, and that makes Clippers' GM Neil Olshey a sexy pick. Likewise, the fact that the Minnesota Timberwolves were unexpectedly in the playoff hunt until Ricky Rubio got hurt also makes David Kahn a sexy candidate. Actually, hold on for a moment. because that bears repeating: David Kahn could actually make a case for the Executive of the Year. What a funny world we live in.

In any case, Chris Wallace is a thoroughly unremarkable candidate, except for one thing: he probably did a better job this year than anyone aside from Spur's GM R.C. Buford and Larry Bird of the Pacers. After the jump, we'll evaluate each of his moves:

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Despite the fact that the title contains a reference to the Game 1 disaster (hereafter referred to as "The Titanic"), that ship has already sunk and doesn't need to be dissected anymore. It took me two days, but I've moved on, and all of us, especially the Memphis Grizzlies, need to as well if we hope to get anything out of this series.

Throughout the season, we occasionally referred to games as "must win," well tonight's game is a "cannot lose under any circumstances." Homecourt advantage has shifted to the Clippers, meaning that Memphis has win every single home game. Further, historically teams that go down 0-2 in a series don't win. They just don't. The good news is that we have every reason to believe that Memphis will play well tonight. If there's one thing that the Grizzlies have proved to us time and time again in the Lionel Hollins-Zach Randolph era, it's that they respond incredibly well to adversity. Actually, there's a whole lot of reasons to feel positive tonight, and they all begin with Chris Paul.

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Alright, we're finally here. This should be a great series, but as always things get competitive. If you're Clippers fan, play nice. Likewise, if you support Memphis and drop by the wonderful ClipsNation, be on your best behavior. In any case, this is going to be the best series in the whole damned first round, so let's all get pumped and talk it out! #GritandGrind

Today marks the beginning of what we hope will become an ongoing tradition around the SBN blogosphere. Each site with a team in the playoffs will be posting a preview today for their respective team. These previews are an opportunity to catch up to speed on any team you may not have watched during the regular season. Below is Straight Outta Vancouver's Memphis Grizzlies preview. There's another post dedicated to links (updated as they come in) to the other previews. Be sure to check out everyone's contribution!

Team Record: 41-25

First Round Opponent: LA Clippers

How would you describe the Grizzlies in the regular season?

After the last year's incredible playoff run, Memphis was under greater expectations, and, for the most part, they met them. This is even more extraordinary considering that Zach Randolph, the team's biggest star and arguably one of the 4 best players in the last postseason, missed considerable time due to injury. Due to his absence as well as Darrell Arthur's season-ending injury, GM Chris Wallace brought in Marreese Speights, Dante Cunningham, Quincy Pondexter, and Gilbert Arenas off the metaphorical scrap-heap. All of whom became pivotal role-players for a Memphis team that tied the Lakers for the 3rd-best record in an extremely deep Western conference. Additionally, almost every member of last year's squad improved their production, and Marc Gasol earned his first All-Star bid. This was easily the best regular season in franchise history.

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I didn't get to watch this game live last night, but when I did check in at halftime, I saw that the Grizzlies were down. Having been through this a couple of nights ago, I assumed that I would see another Memphis lose this morning when I watched the game. As we've all observed thoroughout the season, our Bears have a disturbing tendency to play down to our opponents. Not only that, but New Orleans is the only bad team in the league that has consistently been able to take advantage of this (remember, they also beat us twice in the preseason). In any case, there was no real reason for concern because Memphis took care of business tonight; at one point they lead by 20 points and finished with 12-point lead.

Other than the slow start, there wasn't much to complain about in this game. No Grizzly played more than 30 minutes. The team shot 50% from the floor, including 36% from deep and 84% at the line. Further, they forced 22 turnovers and got out in transition. If you're going to nitpick, you could argue that the Hornets shot close to 48% from the field themselves; however, 1) many of those easy buckets came in garbage time, and 2) to their credit, many of them just made difficult shots, such as Marco Belinelli's shot from about four feet behind the 3-point line.

The most refreshing thing about this game was seeing Memphis come out with a real fire in their eyes. Rudy Gay, who many would accuse of drifting from time to time, was really out for vengence. He scored 24 efficient points in 30 minutes. Marc Gasol, Tony Allen, and Zach Randolph also were fantastic tonight. However, Mike Conley was the real star last night. He chipped in an efficient 20 of his own as well as 5 assists (with only one turnover) and 2 steals. More importantly, Conley was aggressive and looked for his shot rather than defer to his teammates as he is often prone to do. Conley and Gay both finished with a game-high +27.

While the outcome was expected, it was still comforting to see Memphis put on such a dominant performance. If the team can continue these kinds of performances while still resting their starters, we should be in a good place heading into the postseason.

C'mon Grizzlies! Let's get this done.

And seriously...don't let us down again tonight.

Take two.

Days after their most embarassing loss of the season, the Grizzlies have a chance to redeem themselves tonight as they facing the New Orleans Hornets, this time at home. Considering that the Hornets are the worst team in the Western Conference, things should go more according to plan this time. Furthermore, the middle seedings in the Western Conference are almost set. Memphis probably won't surpass Los Angeles, but they probably won't be surpassed for the fifth seed either. This is a bit disappointing for Grizzlies' fans who had legitimate aspirations of the third seed, but it also takes some of the pressure off the team's shoulders heading into the postseason. Though Memphis seems to play best under pressure, it might do the team some good to play relatively carefree against some of the league's weakest teams.

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I don't feel like writing about this game anymore than you guys probably feel like reading about it. This game is a good candidate for one of the team's worst performances this year. While it's entirely possible that the team is gassed, there's really no reason for this kind of loss. Unfortunately, as we've seen throughout this season, the Grizzlies have a disturbing tendency of playing down to their competition. Admittedly, considering that the Grizzlies have gone into battle with almost all of the league's best teams in the past couple of weeks and come out ahead, it's probably difficult to get up for a game against one of the league's worst teams. Still, when you consider that we're in the midst of a battle for favorable playoff seeding, then there's no reason why we should have lost this game, much less by 13 points. Whatever, it's done. The less said, the better.

If there is anything to take away from this dreadful affair, is that it's been a pretty good week for the New Orleans Hornets. They have a new owner who is committed to keeping the team in New Orleans. Alongside this win, the team and its fans have to be feeling pretty good. And you know what? They deserve it. Classy team, classy front office, classy coach, classy fans. Again, they deserve it.

Throughout this season, my game previews have followed a very simple formula. However, seeing as one Greg Popovich recently criticized the (over)use of "Keys to the Game"--he said the only key to the game was scoring more points than the other team...BA-ZING!--I'd thought I switch it up and do something different. So here's a list of 20 things that I would like to see in tonight's contest. Be sure to add your own in the comments.

1.The Grizzlies come out strong.

2. Memphis wins the rebounding battle.

3. The Hornets commit more than 17 turnovers.

4. Al-Farouq Aminu dribbles the ball off his foot multiple times.

5. Rudy Gay successfully scores by posting up his man at least once.

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Suns vs Grizzlies boxscore

I've long suspected that several members of the Grizzlies' organization are secret readers of Straight Outta Vancouver. Granted, this belief is fueled only by my irrational self-confidence, but last night there was a load of circumstantial evidence to suggest that I may be onto something. What follows are several quotes taken directly from yesterday's game preview and its comment section. You can be the judge of how accurate these thoughts ended up being.

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Before I begin, I should issue a disclaimer: as many of you are probably aware, Rudy Gay is my favorite player. From a purely sentimental standpoint, I would hate to see him in anything other than a Memphis uniform.

In the past few weeks, there has been a debate brewing in the comments and game threads surrounding Rudy Gay. He has always had his detractors, but his poor play as of late has spurned many to argue that we ought to explore the possibility of trading him. Tom has already defended Rudy and Zach, which if you haven't read yet you should, but I would like to approach this problem from a different standpoint by looking at how Rudy's role on this team has changed and exploring his future on this team including the possibility of a trade. This is a long post, so my apologies in advance. After you finish reading, I ask you to post your thoughts in the comments section, particularly if you agree or disagree with my logic.

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Considering how often the Grizzlies often come into a game flat and have to work themselves out of an early hole, it was nice to see them come out strong and control the entire game. Although the Miami Heat may have the most talented trio in the NBA, it's obvious to anyone that they are no longer even thinking about the regular season. Meanwhile, Memphis is in the midst of a 3-way battle for the 4th seed. As the common cliche goes, one team simply wanted this win more.

Surprisingly enough, when the Grizzlies charged out of the gate in the first quarter, it wasn't one of their high-paid players like Rudy Gay, Marc Gasol, or Zach Randolph who led the charge. Instead it was Marreese Speights, the afterthought on the 76ers roster before Memphis acquired him as a knee-jerk reaction after Randolph went down in December with an injury. Speights quickly drained two shots, grabbed a rebound, and knocked down two free throws in the first quarter. The bigman would finish the game 15 points (6-9 FG, 3-3 FT), 5 rebounds, and a team-high +14.

His energy was infectious. Although he struggled to score for most of the night, Rudy Gay was a terror on defensive, especially in the first half; he collected 3 steals in the first quarter alone. Mike Conley (15 points, 4 assists, 3 steals) and Marc Gasol (10 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocks) also gave strong performances.

Yet, tonight's biggest impact came off our bench. Zach Randolph once again played the role of super-sub with 14 points and 14 rebounds. O.J. Mayo chipped in 10 of his, and Gilbert Arenas had it going from deep. All five of his shots were from beyond the arc and he drained 4 of them. Overall, seven Grizzlies reached double figues in points. This balanced attack was a sharp contrast to the Heat, who saw their Big 3 combine for 60 of their 82 points.

Elsewhere in the NBA, both LAC and Dallas lost last night. Memphis has now passed Dallas, but remains a game-and-a-half behind Los Angeles. Regardless, this was a good win and will hopefully fuel continued good play.

This is the big one. Despite the fact that they're not actually the best team in the league, I tend to think of games against the Heat as being a kind of epic battle against some supreme demigod: Superman vs. Darkseid. Cloud vs. Sephiroth. Luke Skywalker vs. Emporer Palpatine. (Note: "David vs. Goliath" is one of the most overused sports analogies, so I'm doing my best to bring in new ones, even if it means nailing three separate nerd categories). Actually, the Heat aren't necessarily worthy of this kind of consideration, but the presence of Lebron James and Dwayne Wade (two of the 5 best players in the NBA) along with Chris Bosh (top 20) makes them seem much more dangerous than the Bulls, who only have one such player, but make up for it with one of the deepest and most versatile rosters in the league, a fantastic coach, and a great system. The fact that we're playing the Heat on their own turf makes the game feel like an even greater challange. Both teams figure to be fairly fresh for tonight's game, with neither playing last night. However, Miami would appear to have even a slight edge in that regard as well, as Memphis is coming off a back-to-back-to-back.

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Boxscore

As repetitive as it may be, it has to said that in spite of a win, it's concerning that the Grizzlies once again barely beat an inferior opponent. It's especially frustrating that Memphis only won by 4 considering that Monta Ellis, the Bucks' best scorer, went 2-12 for 8 points. Admittedly, Drew Gooden and Ersan Ilyasova both dropped 20 points, but I can live with that when we limit the rest of the team (Note: Brandon Jennings also scored 24, but it was so inefficient that it actually worked in our favor). Once again, the Grizzlies didn't dominate this game because they couldn't put the ball in the basket. O.J. Mayo, Zach Randolph, and Quincy Pondexter had nice offensive outings and that's it. More than anything else, Mike Conley was sorely missed for his ability to create turnovers and push the ball in transition.

The problem with these wins is that we're past the point of accepting any win now that Zach Randolph has returned. Prior to his return, we were satisfied with grinding on defense and doing just enough on offense. However, Zach's presence was supposed to open up the floor and create easy scoring opportunities for everyone. Needless to say, that hasn't been the case. Personally, I don't want to call out Zach because he's played well in limited minutes and this is team-wide failure, but if Memphis is truly serious about making a deep playoff run, they must improve their offense. We will see improvement as Randolph continues to get back into game shape, but in reality, the Grizzlies need at least one other player to step up their level of production.

The most obvious candidate for improvement would be Rudy Gay. There's not much hope that to happen. As Jay Caspian Kang wrote at Grantland yesterday:

Which brings us to a familiar but frustrating conclusion, at least for Grizzlies fans: Memphis could be a perennial contender to make the NBA Finals if Rudy Gay would just play up to his $15 million per year contract. The problem, of course, is that Rudy Gay will most likely not do that. He, perhaps more than any other superstar talent in the league, seems completely comfortable with who he is as a basketball player.

Go read the rest of the article. It's truly a must-read for any Grizzlies fan. Unfortunately, Kang is spot-on here. Even though I'm Rudy's biggest defender here at SOV, I'll admit that A) he's overpaid and B) he'll never become the elite scorer that we hoped he would become. I don't think it's from lack of effort, lack of motivation, lack of passion, or any of those other cliches that pundits love to latch onto (read: they're too lazy to come up with other explanations). Frankly, there just isn't much room for improvement on offense, unless you want him to really force things. My only wish is that he'd attempt fewer 3's, but even that isn't totally his fault as there's no one outside of him, O.J., and Mike is capable of making those shots on this team, and someone has to keep the defenses from packing in the post.

Ultimately, there is hope for the future. Kang points out that the Grizzlies are the only budding, young team in the West other than the Thunder and the Clippers. It's entirely, possible that Memphis simply outlives Dallas, San Antonio, and LAL. Or, if we could just get one solid perimeter shooter, everything would be alright. In the meantime, we're going to have more struggles on offense.

The Grizzlies' Jekyll-and-Hyde act continued with last night's loss to the Kyle Lowry-less Houston Rockets. As Griffin mentioned yesterday, the Grizzlies have a 91% chance of making the playoffs, so we're only playing for seeding at this point. However, considering that a single loss or win could be the difference between matching up against the Lakers, the Clippers, or Mavericks in the first round, it's extremely important for Memphis to quit giving away easy games. Tonight's game against Milwaukee should give them a good chance to rack up another win. Although the Bucks are currently fighting for the final playoff seed in the East, they recently traded for Monta Ellis and are working to incorporate him into their offense. It's also worth mentioning that there is a clear disparity in talent in the Eastern and Western conferences. Portland has an almost identical record as Milwaukee but is 12th in the West. If the Grizzlies play fairly well tonight they should easily overcome the Bucks.

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Boxscore

I originally intended to write this recap immediately after the game, but then I found myself so disgusted that I couldn't even think about the Grizzlies, much less write about them. I've now had a full night to digest this crapfest, and while I'm just as angry, I think that I can at least cover this game in a semi-rational way.

In yesterday's game preview, I mentioned that the Clippers, to date, had the third-worst (tied with Washington) defense in the NBA. Based on this fact, my prediction was that several Grizzlies would have good nights. Memphis wasn't great on defense, but, more importantly, they were horrendous offensively. Now I don't mind being proven wrong, but, in this case, I shouldn't have been. Again, it should be reiterated: the Clippers have the third-worst defense. Marc ought to scored more than 6 points. Surely Rudy and Zach can manage more than a combined 25 points on 25 shots? Mike Conley, Quincy Pondexter, and Marreese Speights were arguably the only ones to have good games, and combined they only took 13 shots.

In theory, I think the Grizzlies are fine in spite of this loss. Looking at this roster, you can see that it's pretty solid. It certainly has fewer glaring weaknesses than many of our Western conference competitors, LAC included. However, it's troubling that Memphis can't seem to gel offensively. As someone who's inclined towards statistics, I can point out all the hard evidence, but in this case, I'll simply say that on the offensive end we don't pass the "eye test." For comparison, go back and watch Game 1 of the Western Conference Semi-Finals and then watch the past few games. Even without Rudy, our offense was incredible to watch; we would run screens to get Zach and Marc good post position, and they would either finish or feed cutters. We just haven't seen that type of performance this season. Now many have questioned whether Zach and Rudy can co-exist. Personally, I feel that there's overwhelming evidence that suggests otherwise, but for whatever reason, it isn't working right now.

Whatever the case may be, the team needs to sort out its issues quickly. In some ways, last season's stunning upset against the Spurs is working against us here: the team seems to think that playoff seeding isn't that important because they can just repeat last season's magic. While that series was no fluke, I wouldn't place any bets on another 7th- or 8th-seed overcoming the odds. That means we need to concentrate on winning our remaining games and getting the best seeding possible.

Tonight features a match-up between two strong teams that have been struggling as of late. The Grizzlies' recents losses have been well-documented here at Straight Outta Vancouver, but the Clippers (who many experts believed to be the 2nd best team in the West until recently) have undergone a severe skid of their own. Not only have they lost their last 3 games, but the losses included a loss against the league-owned Hornets and a 23-point blowout loss to the Thunder. Worse yet, there have been rumblings of firing head coach Vinny Del Negro. Both teams are coming into tonight's game looking to get back in the right direction. More than likely, after tonight one of these teams will feel confident going forward while the other is only faced with more questions.

Honestly, with the way that we've been playing the past couple of weeks, the Memphis really needs to win this game, if only to restore some of their confidence. That being said, I don't want to go as far as labeling this a "must-win" because, frankly, I don't see any glaring flaws on this Memphis team. On the other hand, I'd be concerned if I were a Clippers fan regardless of their record. While Chris Paul has been everything that they hoped for and then some, there are nothing but question marks elsewhere. As Andrew Sharp pointed out over at the mothersite (it's a great read, be sure to check it out), Blake Griffin really hasn't grown or developed...at all. They have no depth. Their defense is terrible. It goes on. Then again, most basketball fans and experts have notoriously short memories (except for bloggers....we don't forget ANYTHING), and if LA crushes us tonight, VDN will probably keep his job for the rest of the season and things will be rosy again.

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To be honest, this is the kind of game that I really hate to recap. In a tightly-contested game with a superior opponent, you can at least take solace in the fact that while Rocky may not have beaten Apollo Creed, he pushed him to the limit. Likewise, we may not have beaten the Lakers last week without Rudy and Zach, but we took them into double overtime. On the other hand, blowout losses are much easier to swallow in that they can usually be written off as a fluke (unless you're the Wizards). You can't do either of those things with games like last night. Let's examine why for a moment:

• Although they have several great players, Portland is pretty much in tank-mode after the trade deadline, meaning that it was truly a winnable (or should-win) game.
• Memphis is coming off several losses to bad opponents (more on that later) and should have come out tonight ready to compete.
• Heading into the 4th quarter, the Grizzlies were actually in the lead.
• Tony Allen (!!!) went off for 11 points in the 4th quarter.

Basically, Memphis had no right to lose last night, but they did anyway. I could go on for another 500 words, but that's a waste of everybody's time, especially when I can summarize it in three sentences and less than 40 words: the Grizzlies didn't give a damn about playing transition defense or defending the 3-point line. Also, Portland went 25-25 from the free throw line, which is kind of neat, while Memphis went 16-23. We lost by four points.

Now, if you're counting at home, this makes the Grizzlies 1-4 in their last five games. All but one came at the hands of teams under .500. Even including the Lakers, those teams are a combined 82-104. If there's anything good that can be said about last night, it's that the Clippers lost to the pathetic Hornets, so we're still holding onto the 4th seed. Yet, if we would have beaten Portland, Sacramento, and Toronto, we'd be 28-16 and the 3rd seed in the West. Also, in this fantasy universe Rudy Gay is MVP. I can dream.

Memphis got the win tonight, which, by all rights, they should have, but I can't help feeling a bit disappointed. I try not to be too disparging, but this Washington team is just horrendous. Obviously, their record speaks for itself, but their bad is a different kind of bad than a team like the Raptors. Although Toronto lacks talent and consistency, they look and play like professional basketball players. Unfortunately, the Wizards do not. Look, I love John Wall. I admire the ferocity of Trevor Booker and Chris Singleton. I even believe in Jan Vesely, but for whatever reason (coaching, management, lack of positive veteran leadership), on most nights this team does yet play like a professional basketball team. Therefore, Memphis should have come out, immediately beat down their opponents, and never let up, especially after losing to Toronto on Friday night. After all, not many teams are lucky enough to have the luxury of bringing a player Zach Randolph off the bench. Instead, the Grizzlies were content to let the Wizards hang around.

Games like this make me nervous about how we'll fare in the playoffs. Memphis has been great this season at grinding out games, but tonight their opponent was inferior enough that they didn't need to grind anything out. Keep in mind that Washington just traded their starting center for Nene, who didn't even play tonight. You hate to question a team that has overachieved so much this season, but isn't it at least a bit troubling that we haven't been able to really crush the weaker teams of the league. Other than the March 3rd game against Detroit, we just haven't seen a truly dominant performance from Memphis. Currently, we have 2.0 point differential, just behind the Clippers and Dallas (both 2.1). OKC (5.9), San Antonio (4.0), Philadelphia (6.3), Miami (8.2), and Chicago (8.6) have a significant lead on everyone else. The reason why I bring this up is that historically point differential is one of the best indicators of postseason success. Last year's squad had a point differential of 2.3, hopefully we can get closer to that. Regardless of my concerns, we got the win, so there's that.

Friday night Zach Randolph returned to the court after an extended absence due to injury. Fortunately, the injury doesn't seem to have hampered his ability as he looked like the same player who led Memphis' exciting playoff run. Randolph scored 25 points and pulled down 9 rebounds in only 24 minutes. Rudy Gay also returned from a concussion and played well, with 26 points and 11 rebounds. In spite of these positive performances, the Grizzlies managed to drop a game to the lowly Toronto Raptors. Tonight they will surely be looking to redeem themselves.

One of the bigger deals around the trade deadline was the Wizards' acquisition of Nene. Washington has been even worse than Toronto this season, and their franchise cornerstone, John Wall, hasn't emerged as the star that many thought he would be. In Wall's defense, the lack of quality teammates and coaching has hindered his development. Now that he finally has a strong running partner, the hope is that he is able to reach his potential.

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Author's note: The full details of many of these trades have yet to emerge. Once they do, I'll update accordingly.

I originally intended to cover every trade in a single post...then I got to 1,200 words without an end in sight. Here's Part II:

Houston Rockets (24-20, 8th seed) trade Hasheem Thabeet and Jonny Flynn to the Portland Trailblazer (20-23, 12th place) for Marcus Camby

I really like Chris Wallace, and, for the most part, I'm really happy with what he's accomplished in Memphis. However, during the trade deadline, I'd love to have Daryl Morey as my team's GM. Every year without fail, he manages to swindle some poor fool. This isn't an outright theft, but Houston managed to get a great back-up center for basically nothing. In the ultra-competitive West, this is a move that could really go a long way. Combined with a relatively easy remaining schedule, Houston can easily overtake a few teams in the playoff picture. Regardless, as Kurt Helin over at NBC Sports wrote, they're going to be a tough out for whichever unlucky team that faces them in the first round.

The fire-sale in Portland continues with the trade of Camby. There's an off-chance that the perennially-disappointing 2009 lottery picks Thabeet and Flynn actually become solid NBA players; Thabeet is 25 and Flynn is 23, but it's unlikely. Both have team options, so theoretically they could be on the Blazers' roster next year if they can impress in the remainder of the season. More than likely, Portland will use this move to get some cap relief. Portland has a good scouting team and usually finds serviceable players in the 2nd round, so maybe they'll be able to make use of the pick.

See: The Dream Shake and Blazers Edge

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