Nice win for the Grizzlies at Detroit Tuesday night. It was a bit of an aberration, since a) it was a blowout, and b) the starters didn't get their usual numbers because they didn't play their usual minutes. Coach Hollins substituted liberally in the second half. Made sense to call off the dogs, since they have the second half of back-to-back games Wednesday night.
Toronto also played last night, at Washington. Their victory was the fifth in a row. Former Grizzly Rudy Gay has helped make this team more entertaining to watch. With him and DeMar DeRozan on the wings, Kyle Lowry has great choices on the fast break.
Gay even got 8 rebs against the Wizards last night. He's normally a 5-6 rebound guy, since he tends to slip out early to join fast break opportunities. That is one thing I'm interested in seeing from his game tonight.
This is the first match-up between the teams since Gay was traded to the Raptors, so I'd expect him to want to put on a show, get the crowd fired up, and ultimately show Memphis what they lost as he leads the Raptors to victory.
Reality is the Grizz are a better team, and their new players are settling into their roles. Prince takes the role of checking Gay. Tony Allen gets DeRozan. If Gay and DeRozan combine for 50+ points (like Tuesday night), Toronto can win. If Gay and/or DeRozan have to take half the roster's FG attempts and either shoots under 40% from the field, Memphis will win. I suspect the latter will happen.
Memphis has won four in a row. Wednesday night will be number five. My guess - Memphis 100, Toronto 96. Gay will get 21, 5 rebs and a couple of steals, but he will shoot something like 7-19 from the floor. He'll get a flashy dunk or two, but Memphis will win the game. I'd rather have the team victory.
After the Game: Memphis 88, Toronto 82. I watched the first six minutes before leaving. Score was 4 to 4. Lots of effort up and down the court, but it didn't translate into buckets for either side.
Gay (5/15 FG/A, 13 pts) and DeRozan (1/9 FG/A, 7 pts) combined for 20 points. Gay also had 5 turnovers in his 39 minutes.
Conley went for 17 pts, 6 rebs, 6 assists and 3 steals. Randolph went for 17 and 18 rebs. Allen got 12, Prince got 11. In my opinion, the Grizzlies are making up for the loss of Gay's scoring with Allen and Prince. Conley is also looking for his shot more, and seems more comfortable in that role.
Toronto's bench outscored Memphis' reserves 28-22. Memphis had 20 assists on 29 baskets (20/10 assist/turnover ratio).
Next up for Memphis is a home date with Orlando (who just traded J.J. Redick to Milwaukee The Grizz are two games ahead of Denver for the four seed in the Western Conference. This is important since Memphis struggles in Denver - if the two meet in the first round, Memphis would need game seven at home to have a chance to advance to the next round.
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