Grizzlies woes
For a while there, it looked as if the Grizzlies would do just fine. Despite a tumultuous offseason which saw Zach Randolph and Tony Allen, erstwhile fixtures that helped craft the franchise’s “Grit ’N Grind” identity, move elsewhere, they managed to begin their 2017-2018 campaign with their nose to the grindstone. They won seven of their first 11 games, and against quality opponents to boot; in prevailing against such notables as the Warriors, Rockets (twice), and Clippers, they relied on the same brand of determination and resolve that marked their best seasons. And even in the highly competitive West, they appeared ready and able to take the measure of more-stacked teams.
And then Mike Conley, the engine that effectively ran the Grizzlies, got injured, rendering him ineffective in their next two outings and decommissioned through the next six. With supposed vital cog Chandler Parsons’ minutes still restricted, they wound up losing all eight, marking a swoon not seen in nearly nine years. Absent their point guard, All- Star Marc Gasol was compelled to hold the fort, to decidedly mixed results; their offense became stagnant, featuring myriad ill-advised one-onone forays leading to haphazard passes and contested shots Little wonder, then, that only two of the eight setbacks were close.
The good news is that the Grizzlies don’t know how to stop battling. Not for nothing have they developed a well-deserved rep for toughness; for all their relative lack of talent, they are guaranteed to plod on from opening tip to final buzzer. Moreover, head coach David Fizdale knows how to squeeze the most of his charges. Or at least he did. Against the Nets yesterday, he seemed at a loss, and so desperate was he by the end of the third quarter that he saw fit to bench Gasol and tap hitherto-untested combinations.
To be sure, there’s time for the Grizzlies to right the ship. Conley will presumably be back soon, never mind the absence of news on how his left Achilles tendon injury is faring, and Parsons is improving, however, slowly. That said, they’re far from happy campers right now; a fourth into a campaign that began with promise, they’re just two and a half games out of last place in the conference. And some feathers need to be smoothed; Gasol, who leads the squad in points, rebounds, and assists, said he didn’t like riding the pine for the last 15 minutes and change of yesterday’s set-to. “I hate not playing. That’s what I value the most. (If ) I’m not on the floor, it means I’m not valued,” he argued. “I don’t like it one bit, and I’m more (angry) than I can show.”
If history is any indication, the Grizzlies will recover from their stumbles. And Gasol is, if nothing else, a professional who, with time, will appreciate — even if not accept — Fizdale’s decision to keep him from the action. As he contended, “We have to play. We can’t keep looking to the sideline for answers. We have to figure out how to get five guys to do their job. We just can’t give up.”
If history is any indication, the Grizzlies will recover from their stumbles. And Gasol is, if nothing else, a professional who, with time, will appreciate — even if not accept — Fizdale’s decision to keep him from the action. As he contended, “We have to play. We can’t keep looking to the sideline for answers. We have to figure out how to get five guys to do their job. We just can’t give up.”