Hot-dogging it during another Grizzlies skid
If there were a pair of experiences more contrasting in the Vancouver Grizzlies’ first season in the NBA than the club’s two mammoth losing streaks, I can’t remember what they might be.
But that was a long time ago and time is supposed to heal all wounds, right?
Twenty years ago today, in a contest the Grizzlies most surely had a chance to win, they would take a lead over the host Cleveland Cavaliers with just under six minutes left, then got mismatched to death by having power forward Anthony Avent guarding Cavs’ guard-minded big man Danny Ferry in the late going.
The 90-85 loss not only pointed to a lack of adaptability present in the expansionist roster, but also the lack of confidence that was present in the locker-room as Vancouver dropped its 18th straight contest, one shy of the club-record 19 it had established through mid-December of that season after opening the year 2-0.
The first streak came amid a time of giddy adrenalin for the fan base.
The current one? It was about as ugly as you could imagine.
An 11-55 record with 16 games to go.
While they weren’t saying it publicly, it was pretty clear they wanted the regular season to end yesterday.
So repetitive had the stories of losing become that any opportunity to write about something else was welcomed, like the fact Bryant Reeves’ good friend and fellow Oklahoma State alumnus Garth Brooks played a sold-out show the night before the Grizzlies-Cavs contest.
Brooks sent Reeves four tickets to the show.
The next day, however, Big Country couldn’t get room service to deliver his pre-game meal before the team hopped on the bus to the game.
He still managed, however, to get in a pre-game meal.
“Just mustard,” assistant coach Jimmy Powell said of the hotdog he got for Reeves just under an hour before tipoff.
“Maybe I should have put some onions on it for the guys that’ll be guarding him.” Record: 11-55. Next game: March 26 at Detroit. (Howard Tsumura covered the Grizzlies for their entire six-year NBA run in Vancouver. Personal remembrances of that season are all a part of our ongoing series, ‘It Was 20 Years Ago Today’).