The Grizzlies crossed the 50-win mark at home Monday night against a depleted San Antonio bunch. The same night, Portland lost by 10 points at Utah. The Trailblazers have lost their last five games, and look to get well at home Wednesday night. Portland has eight games remaining, and must win all eight to finish at .500 for the season. So, they have motivation. Aldridge has a sprained right ankle, and was inactive against the Jazz.
Portland will bring more Damian Lillard against the Grizzlies. Look for Lillard to take shots early in the shot clock, pulling up on the break, and when he tries to run the pick-and-roll. Conley and Bayless (off the bench) must stay alert offensively. Wesley Matthews, Nicolas Batum and Eric Maynor (off the bench) will also look to assert themselves offensively. Memphis' wing players must start the game with a high energy level to make Portland's wings use a lot of effort getting off those shots.
Gasol, Randolph, Arthur and Davis should have the advantage in experience over Meyers Leonard, J.J. Hickson, Victor Claver and Joel Freeland. Leonard (7-1), Claver (6-10) and Freeland (6-11) are big bodies, but all are rookies. Will Gasol and Randolph get calls against the young Portland post players? Or, will the referees allow the rookies to bang around Memphis' post players with impunity? A younger, more sprightly Randolph would have a field day against these young 'uns. Today's Z-Bo? We'll see.
My guess: Memphis 97, Portland 94. Guards are gonna jack up lots of shots in this one. If you like seeing outside shooting, you will get lots of it tonight. Post players may be fussing in time-out huddles about not getting touches, but it probably won't change a lot.
As always, my guesses are just that. They're not for gaming purposes. They're not even for pranks. They're just for my own entertainment.
After the Game: Memphis 94, Portland 76. Portland was missing Aldridge and Batum. At one point, the Trailblazers had five rookies on the floor. To their credit, the Portland fans didn't bail on their team, but the energy was sucked out of the building. It's tough to be that type of team, playing out the schedule.
Memphis had 34 field goals, 27 assists, 12 turnovers and 10 steals. Conley scored 20 and added 5 assists. Randolph scored 17 with 8 rebs, and Allen scored 14 with 5 steals. New signee Keyon Dooling got 2 minutes at the end of the game. Memphis had 28 free throws (22 made), versus only 10 (6 made) for the Trailblazers.
Portland had 33 field goals, 21 assists, 16 turnovers and 5 steals. Lillard had 17 points and 6 assists, but 5 turnovers. J.J. Hickson had 17 points, 9 rebs. Their lack of experience & lack of depth was too much to overcome. They do have a bright future, with all the young post players on the roster. A year or two of constant experience, and these guys are gonna be a beast of a team.
Memphis led 32-21 at the end of the first quarter, and the teams went back & forth after that.
The Grizzlies notched their franchise-record 51st win of the season. By that measure, this team is the best Memphis Grizzlies' team ever. Since the Rudy Gay trade, the team is 22-8 (9-2 in February, 11-6 in March, 2-0 in April). Maybe the trade wasn't a surrender after all...?
Next, Memphis has two road match-ups: the Lakers (Friday night in LA), and Sacramento (Sunday night). Seven regular seasons left, so Memphis needs to continue fine-tuning things for the upcoming playoffs.
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